Page 60 of I Always Will

Maybe it was. Hailey did admire her go-get-it attitude after all.

“There’s only one thing left to sort out,” Esme said, looking thoughtful all of a sudden.

“And what’s that?” Hailey asked, genuinely curious. She’d given Esme tomorrow off so she could relax and rest before the wedding but, from what she’d heard from other people, those last few days before the wedding tended to be filled with a million things that needed sorting out.

“You,” Esme replied matter-of-factly, looking seriously across the desk at Hailey.

Hailey looked around in confusion. “Me? How do I need fixing? We’re totally on schedule for your catering, everything’s going smoothly, all of the staff know what to do—”

“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” Esme replied, waving both of her hands through the air.

“Then… what?”

“You.”

“Esme, I love you, but that still doesn’t explain anything.” Hailey heard herself getting a little grumpy and worked hard to reel it back in. She didn’t understand what Esme was getting at but she knew it came from a good place. She didn’t think Esme had anything but a good place in her.

“You’re sad.”

Hailey blinked. It was so blunt, so too-the-point, and yet, not judgemental at all.

She’d been trying to keep her rapidly sinking mood under wraps. Apparently, she had been unsuccessful. Which made sense, really. She spent every day around this team. They were her friends, basically her family at this point, and they were a pretty observant bunch. She always knew when something was off for one of them, it made sense that they’d notice if something was off with her too.

When she didn’t immediately respond, Esme shuffled forwards slightly in her seat, her expression sympathetic, and said, “What can I do to help?”

“You don’t need to do anything. It’s nothing important.”

“If it’s bothering you, it’s important,” Esme said sincerely and that pushed Hailey over the edge. It was so reminiscent of her conversations with Alexandria. It hurt and warmed her heart all at the same time.

Alexandria had told her once that she was magnetic. She’d said Hailey was so good, so friendly, that she brought all of these wonderful people to her and they stayed. They stuck around because they knew Hailey was something special.

Overall, she was tempted to agree. But Alexandria kept leaving, and she was the one Hailey wanted to stick around the most.

“You can tell me,” Esme said softly. “We’re friends and I want to be there for you.”

Hailey laughed, the sound sadder than she wanted. “You’re getting married in two days, you have bigger fish to fry.”

“The shop’s closed, but I can fry you some fish if you’d like?”

Hailey stared at her. “Hilarious.”

“Thank you,” Esme said, touching a hand to her chest as though truly touched. “I know.”

Hailey rolled her eyes and scrubbed her hands over her face, groaning. Esme was a good person, the kind of person Hailey was lucky to have.

She had her business and her friends and her life and so much joy and happiness, why did she want Alexandria so badly that it messed with all of that? Why couldn’t she just shake it off, and walk away, and feel fine about it all?

“How do you stay so happy and certain Dan is the one for you in the face of everything that’s been happening with his family?” she asked eventually, not sure why that was what she wanted the answer to.

Esme furrowed her brow, thinking the question through. “Dan is everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner. He doesn’t judge me or squash me or want to change me at all. He’s the person who makes me feel safe. He’s the one who makes me want to take on the world, and who lets me feel like I can. He’s the one I love more than anyone else. What’s going on with his family is sad, but it’s not either of our faults. His parents have been in a relationship where they act a certain way for a long time, and I think maybe that hasn’t been the best way, but Dan and Al are both really lovely people, so at least it hasn’t ruined them. And now, Mrs. Daley is realising that she might be different too. That the way she’s been acting might not actually be her. Just like Dan and Al both realised they didn’t want to be that way. I think that’s really brave and strong, you know?”

Hailey stared at her. When she’d called Esme’s previous boss for a reference, they’d told Hailey Esme was sweet and friendly and tried hard but that she was a little childish. It hadn’t been off-putting then and it wasn’t now. She had an innocence about her, sure, but she saw right into the heart of the things that mattered. She understood the world probably better than a lot of those who would call her immature, and that was an amazing gift.

“Mrs. Daley was upset about me wearing a colourful dress,” Esme went on, “because she had been taught her whole life that things were done one way. It’s hard to break out of the things you’ve been taught and think a different way but she’s trying. Dan sees that, I see that, Al sees that. I think even you saw that when they came in the other day. I mean, you’ve known her a long time.”

“And Mr. Daley?” Hailey prompted, curious. As far as she could tell, Susan was working on herself, but he was pretty happy where he was at.

Esme shrugged. “He’s not there yet. And that’s not great, but it’s understandable. Mrs. Daley was there, she was already thinking, somewhere deep inside, that things weren’t right. He was still thinking everything was good. It’s going to take him a minute to think things through and reassess the world around him.”

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