Page 132 of Daydream
“Halle Jacobs, we are quitting this shitty job and moving on to greener pastures. Those pastures being wine and books. Come on, let’s rip the Band-Aid off together.”
Climbing out of my car in the parking lot of The Huntington, Cami and I find Pete in his office and deliver what I imagine are identically worded letters after Cami asked to look at mine for “inspiration.” By the time we’re heading back to the car, unemployed with no notice period after Pete told us to never come back, I’m in agreement that maybe he deserved to be bullied a little.
Enchanted bookstore is thriving. So much so that Inayah needed to take on someone to help during the week. She asked me if I wanted the position before she advertised it to the general public. After being heavily influenced by all my friends, I said yes.
Tired of being verbally abused and hit on by snotty rich businessmen, sometimes in the same conversation, Cami decided that if I was jumping so was she. That jump happened to land in the wine bar next door.
I feel lighter now that I’ve lost some of the responsibilities that don’t make me happy, and every time I put myself first, Henry treats me like I just saved the world. I kind of like that bit the most.
“IDON’T THINK IT’S NORMALfor you all to be this invested in something that doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“Henry,” I mutter, refreshing the competition portal for what must be the millionth time in the past hour. “Don’t be mean.”
I look up from my screen at all the people watching with interest. The front door flies open and Russ and Aurora stumble through it wearing T-shirts with giant raccoons on them. “Did we miss it? We got stuck in traffic!”
“What are you wearing?” Henry asks, looking them both up and down.
“We’re looking after the raccoon group this year,” Russ explains, pulling at his Honey Acres summer camp T-shirt before closing thedoor behind them. He sits in the chair across from us and Aurora sits on the arm of it.
“Jenna is punishing us for lying last year by putting us with our last choice of age group. Teenagers are literally so mean; what is their problem?”
“You didn’t miss it,” I say, refreshing my screen again.
“There weren’t this many people in the room when I got drafted,” Grayson says, looking around at my friends.
“Halle, Bobby just texted me and asked when you become a famous author, will you go on their podcast?” Robbie says, looking up from his phone.
My eyebrows pinch together. “Their… hockey podcast?”
He types back, then nods. “Yeah. They’re thinking of transitioning into books.”
“Sure,” I say, nodding slowly. “When I’m a famous author tell them just to let me know when to show up.”
Henry leans in, his mouth millimeters from my ear, voice low. “Refresh it again.”
“Hey!” Grayson snaps from the recliner on the opposite side of the room. “Get back onto your own seat cushion.”
“Finally,” JJ says, reclining the seat next to my brother. “Some code of conduct in this house. It’s been a lawless land for years.”
“Shutup, Jaiden,” Emilia says. “You’d break any code of conduct for fun.”
“You don’t even live here anymore,” Aurora adds. “You have no authority here.”
“You’ve never lived here!Oh, I just gave myself déjà vu. Have we had this argument before?” he says. “Has someone else had this argument before?”
He thinks about it for a minute, looking at the other guys for them to weigh in. “Probably.”
I’m about to tell the guys to shut up as well until I notice thewarmth leave me as Henry shuffles away to his own designated cushion. “You can’t be serious,” I groan.
“He’s huge, Halle. He looks like he doesn’t think fighting is for fools anymore. I love you, but I also like having all my ribs intact, which is going to be my main focus when we play football tomorrow.”
Grayson is in town for a meeting with a prospective team now that his contract is up. He’s been trying to visit more before the season starts to ramp up, and he’s back at training camp, whichever team that ends up being on. He says it’s because he misses me, but in reality, he heard I have a new boyfriend and he wants to check him out. He thinks he’s a good judge of character since he was the “OG Will hater.”
So far, he has no complaint about Henry other than he stands too close to me and he’s too affectionate.
“What if they actually hated my entry and it was so bad that they don’t know how to tell me?”
It’s the one thing that silences the room. Everyone looks at each other for someone else to answer.