Page 6 of Because of You
“Did that actually just happen?” Jeremy asks, incredulously. I chuckle. Jeremy and I have always had a weird tendency toread each other’s thoughts. You would think that I would have the twin telepathy thing with Jules, my actual twin, but nope. I have it with my college best friend instead. “What do you think?”
I shrug. “I don’t know what to think. Fireside in stadiums? Nationally? I always figured maybe we would open another location around the city, maybe two. Maybe we’d get wild and open one in Philly or something. But this is definitely more than that.”
Jeremy snorts. “I’d say so. Let’s give it a little time to settle. Maybe we think about it for a couple of days and talk over the weekend. What do you think about keeping it to ourselves in the meantime? It’s a lot to consider. I think getting everyone else’s opinions before we settle on ours might make a decision harder.”
“Yeah, I can get behind that. Let’s get to work.”
Chapter Five
Hallie
Acouple hours after Ben leaves, all the furniture is where it belongs—at least until Molly changes her mind. Julie finished her to do list for the day and double checked that the rest of us finished ours. All four of us have boxes stacked in our offices ready to be unpacked, and we are exhausted.
I wander downstairs to the kitchen where Emma is unpacking some glassware and putting it away into the glass fronted cabinets. She looks over as I collapse with a groan onto one of the barstools newly arranged around the granite covered island.
“Same, girl, same.” She laughs as she places the last glass and tosses the empty box into the corner to deal with later. She sits next to me, putting her arm around me as we both look around the kitchen. At the wide island and the porcelain farmhouse sink and the kelly green cabinets that I lobbied hard for when Molly wanted white everything. And I was right. They look fucking great.
“We’re really doing this,” Emma says quietly, her voice a little thick. She is the one of us who feels big changes the deepest. I think it comes from losing her parents when she was eleven and having to build an entire life without them. She was raised by hergrandparents, who are amazing, and she is close to my parents as well as Julie’s. Even though she doesn’t talk about it much, I think she misses her parents the most when she has big shifts in her life. More milestones they aren’t here for.
I give her a second of quiet before laying my head on her shoulder. “We are, Em.” My stomach twists at my words.
“Well, even if my head doesn’t believe it, my muscles do.” She laughs. “I need a bath and twelve hours of sleep.”
“Well, you’re not getting it yet,” Julie calls, as she and Molly come into the kitchen and take the two empty stools.
“Jules, no,” moans Molly. “We did all the things on your spreadsheets of doom. The furniture is here. The Wi-Fi is set up. We have glasses in the cabinets and cutlery in the drawers. Thanks to Em, we even have toilet paper to hold us over until the office supplies come later in the week. All the boxes are in the right offices thanks to your anal-retentive labeling system. If you are about to suggest we unpack them all before we leave for the day, we’ll have to change the name of the firm because you’ll be dead, and I’ll be in jail for killing you.”
“No need to sharpen the knife, Mol; I put the boxes on your lists for tomorrow.”
Molly slides Julie a sly look. “Knives are too messy. If I really wanted to kill you, I’d use something clean and quick, like poison.”
“Okay, then,” interrupts Emma. “If you guys are finished…why is it that I’m putting off my twelve hours of sleep?”
“Oh, yeah, we’re going to Fireside,” says Julie. “Ben texted and said he’s saving us our table, and if I text him when we’re on the way over, he’ll put in an order for our favorite apps and have drinks waiting.”
Opening his own bar was Ben’s dream from the time we were in high school. He works harder than anyone I have ever known—even Julie—and he loves that bar so much. His love isevident in every single corner, from the wooden tables scattered throughout to the exposed ceiling beams and the glossy mahogany bar and bronze light fixtures. It is warm, inviting, a little bit rustic, and one of my favorite places.
“God bless Ben.” Molly sighs. “Jules, you were so smart to get yourself a brother who owns a bar.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m the smart one,” Julie scoffs. “Oh, and Hal, I texted Jo and Hannah too to see if they want to meet us.”
“Sounds good.” I try to muster up the appropriate amount of enthusiasm in my voice. My sisters Jo and Hannah are younger than us, but now that they are both out of college, they often meet us when we go out. I love them deeply, but they are a lot. More similar and closer to each other than either of them are to me, they are both huge presences in whatever room they inhabit. They are smart and funny and deeply loyal but also loud and a little intense. For our entire lives, I have felt like they sucked the air out of whatever room they were in. They seem to demand everyone’s attention and assistance, including our parents’ and all the people who inhabit our world. I tend to stay quieter, waiting to see what, if anything, is left for me after they finish expelling whatever thoughts are in their heads at any given time and asking for whatever it is that they need. Whatever I need, I often let take a backseat. It is easier, sometimes, than trying to find a space for myself.
“If you guys are about done with the bickering portion of the night, text Ben to get the margaritas ready, and let’s get the hell out of here,” I say, standing up. “We’re taking an Uber because, drinks. We can all Uber home and then back here in the morning.”
“I think Hallie is the smart one,” I hear Emma mutter under her breath, too quietly for Jules and Molly to hear.
I shoot her an exaggerated wink and head towards the front door with the three of them following behind me. We lock upand pile into a car headed towards the South Side. As happens a lot when we are all together, I stay quiet, watching them laugh and talk over each other as I exhale the day. I think for the millionth time how lucky I am to have them in my life. But I wonder whether I would still have them if they knew what I was thinking. I’m not sure, and I’m not ready to find out, considering I still have no clue what I would do if not stick with our plan.
So, I stare out the window and watch the city stream by, hoping for the millionth time that maybe I will get lucky and all my doubt will just disappear.
Chapter Six
Ben
“That’s the tenth time in the last five minutes that you looked over at the door. Are you waiting for, like, a girl or something?” Jeremy slaps me on the back with a bar towel as he walks past. I whip my head around like a kid caught breaking the rules. Jeremy is way too fucking perceptive.
“Nothing like that. Jules is coming in with the girls and I had the kitchen start their apps. I’m about to do their drinks, but I want them to be cold, so I’m waiting to shake them until they get here.” Jeremy gives me a strange look, and I realize that I babbled all that out in a quick, practically incoherent stream. I need to calm the fuck down. “They closed on their office yesterday and spent all day today moving stuff in. They’re coming here to celebrate.”
