Page 64 of Because of You
“Oh, I think you might get to do it sooner than tonight.” He nods towards the front of the bar where the door is swinging open.
I turn around just as Hallie flies through it. She storms around the bar and straight to me. She fists my t-shirt in both hands and yanks me down to her, crashing her mouth to mine. My hands go to her hips, holding her against me as our mouths move together. Whatever it is that has gotten into Hallie, I am here for it. She breaks the kiss, panting a little, and grins at me.
“Hi.”
“Hey, Hal. What brings you here?”
“I need to talk to you about my meeting. I couldn’t wait until tonight.” Her green eyes are glowing, and her cheeks are flushed. She looks fucking gorgeous and so elated that I can’t help myself. I bring my hands up to cup her face and lay my lips on hers one more time to taste all that happiness. Something important clearly happened at her meeting, and she ran here. To me. To give me the thoughts in her head that she rarely gives to anyone. When we break apart, my heart is drumming out a beat that sounds a whole lot likemine.
“Well, hey there, Hal. Whatcha doing here?”
Shit. I forgot all about Jeremy. I turn around, and he is looking at us with a shit eating grin on his face.
“Just need to steal my guy here for a couple minutes. Got some big news.”
My guy. My heart speeds right up at the sound of that.
“Seems to be going around. You guys go to the office. I’ll take care of things out here.”
“Thanks, Jer.” Hallie takes my hand and leads me back to the office, shutting the door behind us. She starts talking before the door is even closed. Like the words have been building up in her brain and she can’t keep them all from tumbling out.
“Charlie Callahan is retiring at the end of the year, and he wants me to take over his adoption practice.”
“Hallie, that’s incredible. I am so damn proud of you.” I have a million questions, but I stay quiet, hoping she’ll keep talking. I fucking love the sound of her voice.
“There’s more. He knows about the firm, obviously. And he assumed that I wouldn’t want to leave it, so he figured it all out for me. He wants me to move his current clients to our firm and build my adoption practice under our name. He has already spoken to all of them and also to the various family court judges involved in the cases. He got everyone’s approval, so all that would be left is to formalize the change of counsel and have the clients sign engagement letters with us once our firm is up and running. He knows this would give Julie a bigger burden since she would eventually have to take over my estate planning clients, so he wants to pay the salary for a year for an extra associate for us to relieve that burden. I still have to contact all my clients to make sure they’re okay going with Julie. But with an additional lawyer, I can focus on my new practice while also helping Julie with my estate planning clients until we get everyone fully transitioned and get the distribution of workright. I still have to talk to Jules and the girls. It’s not exactly what we had planned, so they might not want to do it. But Charlie thinks it will work. And, Ben, I really think he’s right.”
I thought I knew how heavily this decision was weighing on her. I thought I understood how hard it has been for her to live in this limbo, making a choice between two things she wants, thinking she can only have one. But it turns out I didn’t have a clue. Her smile is pure sunshine. The kind of smile that comes from deep inside her. She is all lit up, and it hits me right in the chest. It’s been so long since I’ve seen this kind of happy on her. I wrap her in a hug and kiss the top of her head. Then I lead her to the small two-seater couch along the back wall of the office, pulling her down next to me, not letting go of her hand.
“Fucking yes, he’s right, Hallie. This may not be exactly what you planned, but sometimes plans change. Jules, Emma, and Molly will be fine, and the four of you will figure out how it’s all going to work. They want you to be happy. And so do I. Hallie, I want you to be so happy. Outrageously happy. And this makes you happy. I can see it all over you. You can do this. You were meant to do this.”
She takes a deep breath and looks up at me. “You really believe that, don’t you?”
I turn and bring one leg up on the couch so that my whole body is facing her, and I take her other hand in mine. “I believe it with every single part of me. I believe inyou. I always have. I will never not be your biggest fan. I can’t wait to watch you help all those kids find their families. You’re my fucking hero, Hallie.”
Her eyes fill with tears then. One escapes, and I reach up and catch it with my thumb, wiping it away and holding her face in my hand.
“I didn’t think I would figure it out,” she whispers. “I really thought I would have to leave the friends I love to do the thingI love. I didn’t want to make that choice. But now, I think I can have both.”
I pull her to me then. I wrap my arms around her and settle her on my lap. She curls right into me. I guide her head to rest against my chest and stroke a hand down her hair.
“You’ve been through a lot this past year. I wish I had known how much you were struggling. I would have helped you sooner.” It kills me that she went through so much of this on her own, without anyone to lean on.
“You’re helping me now. More than you can possibly imagine. Ben, I…” She trails off, and I wait her out, knowing there’s more. “This. You and me. It feels…right. Is that weird to say?”
I lean down and kiss her hair. “No, Hal, it’s not weird to say. It feels right to me, too. It has since the first night at the lake.”
She sits up then and looks at me. “So, are you, like, my boyfriend?”
My heart fucking leaps at her taking this next step first. I have to fight to keep my cool and not maul her on my office couch.
“Hallie, that’s all I want. To be yours, and for you to be mine. So, what do you think, Hal? Do you want to be my girlfriend?”
She smiles. “I would really like that.”
I do maul her then. I push her back on the couch and fall on top of her, peppering kisses all over her face until she is laughing hysterically and slapping me away. But I can’t help it. Until she said the words, I didn’t realize how badly I needed to slap a label on what we have. To claim her for the whole world to see. It’s caveman thinking, but hell, I guess I’m not really that evolved after all.
My hands press into the couch on either side of her head, and I claim her mouth with mine. The kiss is needy and heated. She moans into my mouth and raises her head up off the couch totake it deeper. I groan as I tear my mouth away from hers. If I let this kiss go on any longer, I’ll be fucking her on my office couch, and my staff really doesn’t need to hear that. I rest my forehead against hers for a second, trying to get myself together. As my brain re-engages, I realize I never told her about my talk with my dad. No time like the present I guess.
