Park Avenue Player(70)

“I’m...just gonna go to my room,” she finally said before disappearing down the hall.

We stood stunned, watching her walk away.

When she was out of sight, Hollis buried his face in his hands. “Fuck.”

I panicked a little. “Should I go talk to her?”

“We both need to talk to her.”

“I can’t believe this.”

We waited a bit, assuming she was getting dressed. She never came out. It became clear that she was intentionally staying in her room. I was at a loss. Considering she’d always been pushing for something to happen between Hollis and me, I wouldn’t have expected her to be so upset about having caught us.

“I think we’d better make the first move here,” I told him.

“Okay, but before we go in there, let’s talk about how to approach this.”

“There’s no time. I think we have to wing it. Just answer her questions honestly,” I said.

Hollis nodded and followed me down the hall to Hailey’s room.

A lump formed in my throat as I knocked. “Hey, can we come in?”

After a few seconds, she said, “Yeah.”

I’d never seen Hollis look so uncomfortable. His body was stiff as a board as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

I took a seat on the pink shag carpet and crossed my legs. “Are you upset?”

She wouldn’t look at us. “I’m not upset. It was just weird to see you like that—not because I don’t like you guys together. But because…you didn’t tell me.”

I blew out a relieved breath. So this was about her being kept in the dark?

“It feels like you’re hiding it from me or something,” she said.

Hollis shut his eyes. “I’m sorry, Hailey. This is my fault. I handled it all wrong.”

“We both did,” I was quick to add.

Hollis took the lead. “We didn’t want to say anything to you, because we don’t want you to be hurt if it doesn’t work out between us. It’s all very…new.”

“It doesn’t look new.”

She had a point. Hollis had practically been mauling me. We looked very comfortable with each other.

Hollis’s face turned uncharacteristically red as he said, “Elodie and I really…enjoy each other’s company.”

“You think?” she taunted.

Now I felt flushed. “But our priority is you.”

She turned to me. “I like you guys together. I just don’t want you to hide things from me.”

Nodding, I said, “I get it.”

“But what if it doesn’t work out?” she asked.

“What happens between Elodie and me has nothing to do with your relationship with Elodie. Or my relationship with you, for that matter.”

She crossed her arms. “So, if something happens, Elodie is still going to come here every day?”

He blew out a breath. “I can’t speak for Elodie, but I would never keep you from someone you cared about.”

“But you won’t even talk about Anna when I ask you. I didn’t know who she was. Dad had to tell me. I was curious because of Huey saying her name. If you won’t talk about Anna, how do I know the same thing won’t happen with Elodie?”

Seemingly at a loss for words, he shut his eyes.

When he didn’t respond, I spoke up. “Life is about risks, Hailey. No one can say exactly what’s going to happen with anything. All we can do is try as best we can not to hurt each other. We don’t want to hurt each other…or you.”

“Were you gonna tell me?”

“Of course,” I said.

“I’ve always wanted you guys together, but it was weird to find out that way.”

“And that was my fault,” Hollis said. “No more secrets, okay?”

Hailey looked to me, then to Hollis. “Okay.”

“I’ll see you in ten minutes for dinner, kiddo,” Hollis said as he got up and exited the room.

I gave her a hug on my way out. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Hollis and I walked together to the door.

He spoke low. “What a clusterfuck.”

“She’s way more perceptive about you than I ever imagined.”

“The connection she made about Anna…” he said. “It caught me off guard. But she’s right. If I couldn’t talk about that situation, what’s to make her believe I could handle seeing you every day if things went south between us? We need to make sure we’re not kidding ourselves here, Elodie.”

This situation was the perfect excuse for Hollis to doubt us again.

My guard went straight up. “And how exactly do we not kid ourselves, Hollis?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe we need to slow down a bit.”

Are we seriously back at this place?

“Is this about Hailey or about you? I honestly don’t know.”

His jaw ticked, but he didn’t respond.

I lowered my voice. “You want to fuck me. You’ve made that very clear. But I think you’re still not sure if you’re ready for more. Wanting to be ready and actually being ready are two different things. You’re always looking for an excuse to back away.” I turned toward the door. “I have to go.”