Page 17 of Half Baked

“I mean he’s Hayden’s brother, so the guy has to listen to him. Right? Although Hayden doesn’t seem like the type that would care about the bond between brothers.”

“Hun, you’ve totally lost me.”

“No, I’ve totally lostit.” Because I must be out of my mind to even be considering this arrangement.

I lay back and press the heels of palms against my eyes. The idea of having to pitch this to Hayden is unfathomable. I can just picture his smug face as he taunts me.

“Whatever is going on, Hayden is definitely the type to care about his brother,” Stevie whispers.

I slip one hand down and crack an eye open. “Do you think?—”

“Coffee?”

As if by magic, Wren appears at my side and Ivy grabs a spot on the quilt as well. I sit up and accept the chilled cup being offered to me greedily.

“Poppy is having a moment… I think,” Stevie tells them.

“About the show?”

I take a generous gulp of coffee before diving into the story, giving them a whole retelling. From the moment the showrunner arrived, to when she first laid eyes on Hayden.

“I’m sorry. Hecarriedyou out? Like over his shoulder?”

“Yes, without my consent, mind you.”

“And how bad was the fire? Why haven’t we heard about this? Was everyone at Sam’s okay?” Stevie asks, furrowing her brow.

“Tripp mentioned something about it last night,” Ivy offers. “He didn’t say anything about it being bad enough to have to be carried out of the building next door though.”

“Everyone seemed to get out okay. This was just Hayden finding another way to get under my skin. And now I have to either give up this opportunity, or—” I feel as if I’m going to choke on my next words.

“You need to ask Hayden for help,” Ivy finishes carefully.

“But it’s not like that’s even an option,” I point out. “Could you imagine?”

Wren tilts her head at me. “I’m just trying to remember how this rivalry started. It was before the lease showdown, right?”

“It was,” Stevie confirms. Apparently, they weren’t actually asking me. I lay back down and let my friends discuss.

“But fighting over the building has definitely made it worse.”

“So, what was it then? How did this start?”

When no one answers Ivy, I prop myself up on my elbows. “He’s just so full of himself, sitting up in his castle on the hill like he owns the town. Like he’s above everyone.”

“I don’t get that vibe from Hayden. With how often he’s over to hang out with Tripp, I feel like I’ve gotten to know him even better since I moved in. I think this will be okay, he’d be willing to help,” Ivy replies gently.

“Yeah, I mean this is the guy that could have taken over his dad’s investment firm when everything went down and instead, he joined the Coast Guard. He clearly cares about helping people,” Wren adds.

“He simply didn’t want to keep that investment firm going, not with what was happening there. And do you remember when their parents disappeared? Beckett acted like a normal humanand grieved. He kept a low profile like any of us would have. But Hayden—he strutted around with his nose all the way up in the air still.”

Wren purses her lips and steals a glance at Stevie. I shouldn’t have mentioned Beckett’s grief; Stevie was the one he leaned on at that time. She experienced it first-hand.

“I’m sorry.” I turn to her, grabbing her hand. “I’m getting caught up in my little problem, I don’t mean to be digging that up.”

“It’s okay. But you do know Hayden was there for Beckett too. And he suffered the same loss. I’ll support you no matter what you decide. The thing is though—you need to decide what’s more important now. This feud, or your dream.”

We settle into a comfortable silence, enjoying the rhythmic crash of the waves and occasional call of a sea gull. They can’t decide this for me, but I desperately wish they could.

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