Just Tell Her

by Nicole Pyland

  “I know,” Hailey returned and let out a sigh. “What happened to you today was not okay, Mrs. Vincent. I wish I had something more to offer you than an apology.”

  “I don’t need any-”

  “Yes, ma’am. I understand, and I didn’t mean it like that. I mean that I wish I could do something to prevent instances like this from happening at all. I wish these kinds of attitudes and expressions of them didn’t exist in the world, because no one should have to go into a place where they’re attempting to do their business and have something like this happen to them. You wanted a loan from your bank, and this never should have happened. I wanted to apologize to you myself and ask if there was anything we could do, and not because I am an employee of the bank and this is a part of my job, but because I genuinely want to know if there is anything I can do.”

  “No, Miss Grant. There’s nothing you can do. I’m sorry to say that this isn’t the first time this has happened. It won’t be the last,” Mrs. Vincent replied.

  “I am sorry, Mrs. Vincent,” she returned. “I understand you have another appointment with a loan officer?”

  “I do, and I do not want any special treatment because this happened. I just want a chance to state my case and get my loan, if I meet the criteria.”

  “I understand, ma’am. If there’s anything I can do, please reach out to me here. I can give you my direct line.”

  “That’s not necessary. But thank you, I appreciate the call.”

  They disconnected, and Hailey took a break from work to get some coffee. She needed it, if she was going to get through the rest of the day.

  ◆◆◆

  When Charlie got home, she turned on the TV absentmindedly and let Eddie go crazy around her, while she opened her mail at the counter. She was reading her credit card statement when she heard a very familiar voice. She looked up at the TV to see Hailey on the news, speaking to reporters. Charlie stopped what she was doing and walked to the couch. She sat down and listened to the snippet of the statement the news provided her with. It was strange, because she thought she needed to not see Hailey for a while, but as she watched her on the screen, doing her job and looking professional, and also beautiful, Charlie found herself rewinding the news so that she could watch it again.

  ◆◆◆

  By Thursday, Hailey sat at Sally’s wondering if Charlie was going to show up. She knew Ember wouldn’t be there, because she’d texted that she had an appointment with her advisor at Northwestern. Ember was blowing them away in her program, which shouldn’t have surprised Hailey, but Ember had also hidden her talents from her friends for the majority of their friendship, so it was still something she was getting used too. Ember had been asked to present some findings she’d made on something math related, that Hailey didn’t even try to understand, and had to meet with her advisor one more time before the presentation at an academic conference at the end of the month, hosted by Northwestern.

  Hailey sat and drank her coffee, while she observed the others mill about the café and told herself she’d wait one more minute. If Charlie didn’t show by then, she’d leave. Just as Hailey resolved herself to stand and deal with the fact that her relationship with Charlie would forever be changed and she’d have to accept that, Charlie Adams walked through the door and gave her a confident smile. Well, that was unexpected.

  “Hey,” Charlie sat down in front of Hailey.

  “Hey there. I didn’t think you’d come,” Hailey returned honestly.

  “I almost didn’t. I knew Ember wouldn’t be here, so I thought about skipping it, but I changed my mind.”

  “Why?” Hailey asked.

  “I guess I wanted to see if you’d come.” Charlie unzipped her coat but left it on. “And I also figured that if I ever want things to become somewhat normal with us again, I need to see you in person.”

  “So, you’re hoping for normal again?” Hailey questioned.

  “Yeah, Hails.” She slid the coat off, and Hailey knew now that she was staying. “I thought that, by telling you how I felt, I’d need time away from you to figure out how to move on, but I think it’s the opposite.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think I need to be around you,” she said. “I feel so much better now that you know, and I wish I would have told you years ago, because this feels good. This feels like there’s finally no secret hanging over my head. I can just be myself now.”

  “You weren’t yourself before?”

  “Yeah, but not entirely,” Charlie said.

  “Charlie…”

  “Hails, I wanted you,” she admitted. “Every time I was around you, that was on my mind. I was myself, but feelings like that are a big part of a person too. It’s freeing now, to just have it out there, so I can move on and see you move on. And if that’s with Emma, then I hope she makes you happy. And I can just… breathe.”

  “So, you’ve spent ten plus years in love with me, but you’re over me now?” Hailey checked and wasn’t sure why she did.

  She shouldn’t be asking that question. It wasn’t fair. She should be grateful that Charlie was happy, because she looked happy.

  “Not even close.” Charlie seemed almost offended. “Hailey, I’m not even close to being over you. That will take time, but I don’t want to avoid you anymore either. I’m not saying I’m ready to hear about you and Emma together, and I know I don’t want to hear about any of the physical stuff, because that will absolutely break me right now.” She lowered her head for a moment before lifting it back up. “I’m balancing on a wire as is. It’s like I can see you and talk to you and feel okay about it, but I’m still in a place where I can’t picture you with anyone else. If I do, it might make me have a mild panic attack,” she replied with a coy smile.

  “Oh,” Hailey returned. She wrapped both hands around her coffee and then decided that if they were going to get back to normal, she needed to do something that was normal. “You’re up.”

  Charlie nodded with a more definitive smile and headed to buy them both coffee, which was one of the most normal things in their friendship. While she was waiting, Hailey thought about what Charlie had revealed. She needed to be around Hailey to help get over her, but Hailey was starting to wonder if she could be around Charlie. She hadn’t seen her since Sunday. Four days without her, and Hailey missed her like crazy, but seeing her in their normal coffee house was different now. Charlie was the most important person in her world, but she couldn’t stop seeing her hovering above her and touching her skin as she’d imagined in her fantasy. She tried to push it out of her mind as competing thoughts of Emma’s actual lips on her skin came into her mind.

  “So, I made sure to ask for that extra pump of vanilla, but I’m not entirely sure he put it in.” Charlie set a fresh cup of coffee in front of Hailey and sat down with her own cup. “He seemed a little pre-occupied with the hot chick behind me.” She nodded her head backward without turning around. Hailey saw the young women she was referring to, as well as the teenage boy, who appeared to be checking her out. “There’s a chance he put in, like, ten pumps too. It could go either way, I guess,” she said with a light laugh.

  Hailey smiled at her and glanced down at the drink, deciding if she should risk it.

  “Hardy Boys,” she stated to change the subject.

  “Is a book series?” Charlie tried to understand.

  “I told you about The Babysitter’s Club. You tell me about why you liked Hardy Boys.”

  “Oh.” Charlie laughed. “I liked the mysteries. It was fun. Plus, JJ was reading them, and I wanted to be just like my big brother.”

  “That’s cute,” Hailey said and then thought maybe she should take that back, but Charlie didn’t seem to be bothered by the comment.

  “The town that we lived in was tiny, as was our house, but when he did actually allow me to play with him, he’d make little places to discover for us.”

  “What do you mean? Little places?” Hailey took a sip of her old coffee accidentally an
d then pushed it aside, grabbing her new coffee instead.

  “He’d put boxes up places and make little forts with pillows and blankets. He’d hide things that we’d have to search for. He was really into that for a while. Then, he turned into a teenager and never wanted to talk to me again.”

  Hailey watched her as she told the story and saw the light in her eyes at the topic of her brother, who Hailey knew was very important to Charlie, despite the fact that they didn’t see one another that often.

  “Teenage boys are pretty much the worst,” she shared.

  “Our dad was away a lot,” Charlie continued. “He worked over an hour away and pulled twelve-hour shifts six days a week. When he was home, he was exhausted, and my mom worked all the time too, so it was just JJ and I against the world there for a while.”

  Hailey took another sip of her coffee and felt like it had just enough vanilla in it, but more importantly, she felt a little behind somehow. She’d known Charlie for years, but this was new information to her. This was something they’d never talked about. This was her chance to get to know more about her best friend.

  “What kind of factory was it again?” Hailey couldn’t remember ever being told exactly what John Adams had done for a living.

  “Tires,” Charlie stated as if she was embarrassed by it. “They recycled old tires. Shredded the rubber and then shipped it out to places that knew what to do with it. My dad had scarlet fever when he was a kid. He almost died.”

  “What?” Hailey exclaimed.

  “Yeah, he got really sick, and it did damage to his brain when he was around three or four. He almost didn’t make it, but he pulled through. It just meant that he had a hard time in school, and he eventually dropped out, because he hated it. He had a hard time reading and could barely pass pre-algebra. So, when he was fifteen, he quit school and got a job at a farm, doing manual labor, until he was eighteen and could work at a factory and make a little more money. He met my mom then, though, and she got pregnant right away,” she explained. “JJ came out after, and they got married when he was a baby. I came later. And my dad worked at the factory until he died.”

  “How did I not know this stuff?” Hailey questioned.

  “I don’t know. I don’t really like talking about it that much.”

  “You should talk about it more. It’s your… origin story, Charlie Adams.”

  “Tell me more about your origin story then,” Charlie pressed. “Tell me why you needed a book series because you didn’t have a lot of friends.”

  “Oh,” Hailey stated. “Well, I was a shy kid,” she admitted. “I wasn’t an outcast so much as I was just invisible.”

  “How could you ever be invisible?” Charlie practically guffawed.

  Hailey lifted the corner of her mouth.

  “I liked it for the most part. I didn’t feel like I was missing out or anything. I was invited to the slumber parties and things. Sometimes, I went, and sometimes, I didn’t. Even when I did, though, I mostly just stayed out of the way. I’d sit back and watch.”

  “And you chose PR?” Charlie seemed surprised. “I saw you on TV the other day, Hails.”

  “It took some practice, but I became a little more extraverted, when I needed to be, but I don’t exactly enjoy the on-camera stuff. I prefer the behind-the-scenes PR work.”

  “How are things going with the boss that’s leaving?”

  “Leaving? You mean checked out, because that’s what’s happened. It’s just me right now. They’re interviewing her replacement, but that won’t start until mid-April, because HR has to go through the application process, the phone screens, the first round interviews, and it just keeps going, so I’m expecting I’ll be this busy until May at the earliest.”

  “Sorry, Hails. That sucks. I would never do that to my people. Even when I was leaving the city planning office, I showed up every day and got my work done.”

  “Well, I’ll just work really hard for a while, and then things will calm down. They’ll likely ask me to help interview people so that I can have a hand in picking my next boss.”

  “You never even considered applying, did you?” Charlie checked and sipped on her coffee.

  “How’d you know?” Hailey lifted an eyebrow.

  “Just a guess,” Charlie replied as the phone in her coat pocket sounded and she reached in to grab it.

  Hailey wanted to ask if it was Lena, but she didn’t think that was fair. Things were actually going well between the two of them. She didn’t want to introduce any topic that would make things awkward.

  “I didn’t, no,” Hailey said. “I don’t want that job.”

  “Sorry, it’s one of my guys.” Charlie looked at the text message on the screen. “They need me on site.”

  It wasn’t Lena. She let out an internal deep breath.

  “Oh, okay.” Hailey smiled behind the coffee cup she lifted to her lips. “Will I see you this weekend for the rest of the planning stuff?”

  Charlie replied to the text and then reached on her chair for her coat.

  “I was planning on skipping it.”

  “Because of me?”

  “Because of me, Hails. Look, this isn’t your fault, and I was planning on skipping it, but I think I can be okay. I don’t want Ember to suffer because this is happening right now.”

  “Me neither,” Hailey agreed. “She deserves the best.”

  “She does.”

  “So, I’ll see you tomorrow night at their place?”

  “I’ll be there. Do you want me to bring Eddie? He kind of misses you.”

  “Yes.” Hailey’s face lit up. “I miss him too. Tell him that tonight.”

  “I will.” She laughed, stood, and gathered her things. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow.”

  Charlie smiled, turned, and walked toward the door. Hailey was happy for many reasons. And the most important one of all was that there was a chance they could not only get back to what they had before, but that it could get better, because now Charlie was able to truly share everything with her. And that made Hailey smile into her coffee drink with that extra pump of vanilla that Charlie never forgot about.

  CHAPTER 14

  Charlie had done it, and she was proud of herself for it. It was amazing what came along with this complete honesty with Hailey. God, she felt good. She felt like she could do this. She could actually be a complete friend now, and not just someone who was a friend, but who secretly harbored intense romantic feelings for her.

  She ran home after work on Friday and changed her clothes. She also packed a bag, because she’d likely be at Ember’s and Eva’s late. If that happened, she’d probably just stay in the guest room. Eddie loved going over to aunt Ember and aunt Eva’s, because they had a free-standing house with a small backyard and he had free reign to run around in it. Eddie also liked snow; not the ice-covered sidewalks, but the snow-covered ground. She walked him out quickly and then returned to the apartment to call Lena and check-in. They hadn’t had much time to talk this week and this wedding planning stuff was taking what time Charlie did have left over after her work week.

  “Hey,” Lena greeted.

  “Hi.”

  “What’s up?” Lena asked her.

  “Oh, nothing,” Charlie replied. “Just wanted to say hi, I guess.”

  “Oh, sorry. I’m still at the office,” she returned.

  “I can let you go,” Charlie offered.

  “Are you still going over to your friend’s tonight?”

  “Yeah, I’ll probably be with them most of the weekend. They were both on vacation this week, so they planned some more without us, and now they want to clue us in.”

  “If you get free, maybe we can have dinner.”

  “Sure. I’ll call you,” Charlie returned.

  “Okay. Listen, have fun.”

  “I will.” Charlie smiled. “Try to leave your office at a reasonable hour, okay?”

  “I will do that.” She laughed. “Bye, Charlie.”
/>
  “Bye.”

  ◆◆◆

  “Alright, calm down.” Charlie’s voice was heard through the front door when she let herself in, and then Hailey heard the pounding feet of Eddie rushing toward her, as she sat on Ember’s couch, waiting for her friend to come downstairs.

  “Hey, buddy!” Hailey greeted him.

  Edie’s front paws went up into her lap, and he barked once, indicating that he wanted her to pet him.

  “Sorry, Hails. He’s really happy to be here.”

  “It’s okay. I missed this face.” She squished Eddie’s face between her hands.

  He jumped down and made his way toward the back sliding door, that Charlie opened for him and watched him rush into the backyard. Charlie reached into her bag and pulled out his favorite rope toy to toss out with him. She watched him hunt for it in the snow, grab it, and then toss it across the yard to go retrieve it.

  “He’ll be out there for a while.” She rolled her eyes at the dog.

  “Hey, you two!” Ember’s voice rang down from upstairs. “Get up here.”

  “Hello to you too, Em,” Charlie replied and closed the door.

  “We’re being summoned.” Hailey walked toward the stairs, and Charlie followed.

  They made their way up and then into Ember’s bedroom.

  “Eva’s going to be home any minute. Tell me what you think.” Ember stood in front of an old-style floor-length mirror, facing it, but then turned when she saw the two of them standing right inside the door.

  “Wow!” Hailey took in the sight of her friend in a long white dress. It flowed off of her toned frame and had thin straps that rested perfectly on her shoulders. It shimmered on the bodice just enough to draw attention. “Em, you look amazing.”

  “Ember, it’s beautiful,” Charlie agreed. “When did you pick it out?”

  “This week. Eva and I went dress shopping with Alyssa and Hannah, and I found this one. I went back and bought it today. I just felt like this is the one.”

  “It is, Em.” Hailey thought there had never been a more beautiful bride-to-be than her friend, with her long ash-blonde hair framing her face and her light eyes. “That’s your dress, girl.”