Page 97 of Best Man Speaking

Palms sweating, I knock twice before opening the door to the pool house, relieved to find it isn’t locked. My relief’s short-lived when I see her on the couch, looking down at her phone, posture slumped. I struggle to swallow.

Attuned to my presence, she turns, her spine straightening. “It’s you?” Hallie accuses, eyes narrowed, and voice as cutting as broken glass.

I know I’ve left it too long, and time’s run out. I’ve lied, even if simply through omission.

“I thought finding out you’ve been conspiring with my dad was low, but this? This might be worse.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose and take a hasty step toward her, but she stands to face me head-on instead.

“It isn’t what it looks like. It’s not as simple as it seems,” I say with a slow shake of my head.

“Then complicate it for me. Because it looks to me like you screwed me over for money and then bought my house,” she bites out, anger visibly simmering beneath the surface.

How quickly the perfection of last night has been able to seep away until I’m left with the complete mess of our current situation. I need to explain to Hallie the truth, to put it all out there, but I’m unsure of how I go about doing so without making things worse.

Hallie looks down at herself and then to her small, open suitcase, overflowing from where she’s haphazardly pulled things out. Maybe I should’ve given her more time to unpack, to shower and get comfortable. But I couldn’t. It didn’t feel like there was enough time to make this better.

“You told me we’d talk when we got home. Well,you’rehere.”

I don’t miss the stricken look on her face, the distrust in her eyes, and I hate being the one who put it there. Hal had slipped up and called my place home first, and it was true. It was home with her here, whether she wanted to admit it or not. I couldn’t imagine her not being here.

But her insinuation isn’t lost on me. This is my home, not hers. No matter what she’d said previously.

I am not her home.

“What do you want to know?”

“Do you know what? You should just go.” She throws out an arm, gesturing toward the door.

“Don’t be a coward, Hallie. You’ve got questions, and you deserve an explanation,” I push, hoping for her curiosity to win out.

“No.” Her voice is resolute.

“What?”

“I don’t want to hear a single word from you. Not a thing.” Her head is shaking from side to side, disgusted with my general presence, it seems.

“Hallie. You don’t mean that.” I’m doing my best to keep calm, to keep my own temper grounded, but I know it’s the wrong thing to have said as soon as the words leave my mouth.

“Don’t tell me what I mean, Marcus.” She seethes. “What would be the point anyway? I wouldn’t be able to believe you. You lied to Jules and Erica. You lied to me. You got in my pants, and it was to what? Get close to me? To pull out the rug from under me? To leave me again just like you did the first time, ensuring I was heartbroken enough I’d leave and not come back while you got a fat paycheck and a good price on a new renovation project?”

She isn’t done, not even close.

“Do you do anything that’s not self-serving? This person you portray to the world—who helps others, who listens, who cares—it’s a farce. It’s no wonder you’re never in a relationship. You can’t keep up the act of being a ‘good guy’ long enough to fool a woman into being with you. I can only imagine that if you play the role for any longer than nine to five each day, they’d see the truth and run.”

Hallie’s face is flushed, and her words are venom spilling into me. The way she views me is similar to how I’m viewed by others. If I’m honest, it’s similar to the way I view myself.

My breath is short, my own frustration rising.

Still, I let her continue. I want to absorb it all, every damn word.

“You know, they shouldn’t let those young people near you. They don’t need your type of mentorship; they don’t need the example of the type of man you are.”

Out of everything Hallie’s said, this has me taking a step back, and I see in her eyes the moment she recognizes she truly hit her mark. A hint of what I think is regret shadows her features but is gone as quickly as it appeared.

I feel the growing urge to leave, except I know it’s likely what she’s pushing for. She’s on the offensive, trying to hurt me before I can hurt her more than I already have. But even with this knowledge, I can’t hold back the words that spill from my lips in retaliation.

“And who should they have as a mentor, Hallie? Someone like you? Someone who runs when things get tough? Someone who holds the people she cares about at arm’s length and is happy to think the worst of them in a heartbeat?”

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