A Guide to Being Just Friends, page 8
She turned to look at Fiona’s profile. Even from the side, she was lovely, with a delicate jawbone and perfect lips. She could easily be a model for one of the magazines she wrote for, but she was so down-to-earth, Hailey felt perfectly at ease. At one point, she’d felt that way in her food services truck at whatever set she happened to be on. She knew people were just people and she’d chatted with the stars as she would have anyone else.
Until Dorian. He’d explained to her the necessity of not interrupting their day, their thoughts or musings. Who even said that kind of thing? But in truth, it was one of the many things he’d said that poked holes in her self-confidence.
He’d deflated it one prickly, under-his-breath comment at a time. He’d told her that a movie star, a famous actor or actress, didn’t want to get chummy with the person who knew what they really liked to eat when the cameras weren’t rolling.
Of course, maybe the truth was he’d been getting a little too friendly with many of those women he didn’t want her chatting with. The sad part was, she hadn’t been overly surprised when she found out he was cheating. Instead, she’d been disappointed with herself for not realizing sooner.
“They aren’t supportive?” Her own parents hadn’t exactly thrown a party when she said she was opening a salad shop. They’d wished her luck, though, and said they’d pop in. Eventually.
“They’re not not supportive. It’s like when people are dating and everyone says, ‘When are you getting married?’”
Hailey smiled. Boy had Dorian not liked that question. “Or people who are married getting asked when they’re having kids.”
Fiona slapped the steering wheel. “Yes! If a couple has one baby, when’s the next one coming. That’s how it is. They can’t believe I’m enjoying exactly this place in my life. People assume I’m just working my way up to hard-hitting journalism, maybe a piece in Time magazine. But this is what I wanted. To be honest, if I could write full-time for an entertainment outlet, I would.”
“I love that. We need that in the world. You’re absolutely right, and when did it stop being okay to chase what you really want instead of what everyone thinks you should?”
Fiona tapped the signal and took the exit labeled Harlow Beach. Like most people, Hailey hadn’t really explored too far in her own state. She should take a road trip. That would be fun. Maybe after I get some more revenue.
“I think when social media exploded and the world decided they could share or weigh in on everyone’s decisions.”
Lush palm trees dotted the stretch of road, the ocean in the background. Now that they were off the highway, she could see the actual beach. People sunbathed and sat, played in the water. Today was fun already. She needed this. She’d hold on to the light feeling for the next several weeks as things hopefully got busier at the shop.
“I try to avoid social media. I need to get more active for the shop but on a personal level, I’ve always tried to avoid it.” Dating an actor and social media was a very bad mix.
“It’s probably healthier. I’m on it way too much. Have you googled Wes yet?”
Hailey shook her head even though Fiona was looking out the window. “No. I don’t want to blemish an otherwise beautiful friendship.”
Fiona burst out laughing the same moment Hailey did. “Then don’t look me up either.”
* * *
Hailey had no idea why she’d pictured a quaint seaside shanty, but that wasn’t what they saw.
“Holy shit,” Fiona said, arching so she could look through the windshield at the gorgeous … could you call a house like that a house, or was it automatically a mansion?
“Wow.” Hailey’s chest tightened. This was not at all what she’d expected. Wes’s brother must be well off. She’d gotten the impression they all were, but there was I-can-eat-out-every-day-of-the-week wealthy and then there was I-live-in-a-mansion money.
Directly beside the beach, it had a spacious lawn, expertly manicured. There was a one-story bungalow, more like what she’d pictured, to the right. The other houses in the neighborhood seemed to range in between the two drastically different ends of the spectrum.
“Why does this seem familiar?” Fiona asked after they’d grabbed their things from the back of her Smart car.
The only thing that felt familiar to Hailey was the sinking feeling in her stomach. It was the same one she’d get right before walking into a party with Dorian. He always stopped her, like a willful child, to tell her how important this event was to his career. It was one of the many things she’d pushed down, let go, and not made a fuss about. One of the many things that made her lose herself.
“Not sure. I hear people out back.” Wes’s text had said to go through the gate but she hoped they’d get a tour of the house later.
They took the cutely paved path down the right side and found a yard full of people spread out. There were conversation sets on the deck and in the yard. Part of the green space, closest to the fence separating it from the neighbors, was cordoned off with posts and yellow tape.
“Hey,” Noah called out from the porch. Chris was sitting on a love seat next to Everly while Stacey and what had to be her boyfriend, if her position on his lap was any clue, shared an Adirondack chair.
A very pretty woman came to Noah’s side. He turned when she approached, looked down at her, and pressed a kiss on her lips.
“They’re familiar, too,” Fiona muttered.
“Not to me.”
Wes came out of the house as Noah and presumably Grace came down to the yard.
“Glad you could make it, Hailey. This is my girlfriend, Grace,” he said, offering a happy-go-lucky smile. He shared many physical traits with Wes but she’d seen hints of that smile last night at the grocery store. Wes’s was much harder to draw out than Noah’s. But totally worth the effort.
Grace leaned forward, her hand out. “Hi. We’re so happy you came.”
“I’m Fiona.” They shook hands as well but before they let go, Fiona’s other hand came up and she pointed back and forth between them. “The magazine! You guys were in Home and Heart.”
Hailey had no idea what Fiona was talking about but she felt her lungs relax when Wes came to their side, a beer in his hand.
“Hey,” he said.
Fiona dropped Grace’s hand and offered her own to Wes but her gaze stayed on the couple. “One sec.” She looked at Wes. “You must be Wes. I’m Fiona. I could spell it if that helps?”
Hailey wasn’t sure if her cheeks went as red as Wes’s but they felt like they were on fire. She bumped Fiona with her hip.
The group laughter suggested that the others already knew this story so she felt better about it. Had he told them?
Noah looked at Wes. “You do like to leave an impression.”
Grace rubbed her hand over Wes’s arm. “Leave him alone.”
Wes gave Noah a smug grin.
Grace smiled up at Noah. “Let’s introduce everyone and then we can tease him some more.”
Wes stepped to the side, gestured to the porch. “Nice to meet you, Fiona. I see my reputation precedes me.”
“Like Taylor Swift,” Fiona said with a teasing smile. Hailey could only laugh. When Wes looked back at her, she mouthed “sorry.”
The porch was wide and inviting, with a gorgeous view of the water. Chris and Everly said hello and Stacey gave her a big hug before introducing her to her boyfriend, Rob.
As Hailey took a seat next to Fiona on one of the love seats, an older man shuffled out of the house. His stark white hair looked like he’d stuck a knife in a socket. He was mumbling to himself before he reached the porch.
“Damn kids can’t buy any regular beer. What the hell happened to Budweiser?” He looked at Noah with a deep frown marring his weathered face.
Noah smiled. “Live a little, man. It tastes good.”
“Tastes like piss,” he said, dropping into a chair. He did a slight double take when he saw Fiona and Hailey. “Where’d these two come from? None of you are good-looking enough to be surrounded by all these beautiful women.”
Grace walked over to the man, put a hand on his shoulder. “This is Morty. He’s like a great-great-grandfather to me.” Her lips twitched.
“Brat. I’m barely old enough to be a father figure to you. You’re getting up there yourself.”
Laughing, Grace winked at them. “Please excuse him, he’s using getting old as a chance to be miserable. He can be quite charming when he wants.”
“Damn right I can be.” He worked up a smile, aimed it at Hailey and Fiona and to her relief, everyone else laughed. If they hadn’t, she would have had to muffle her own out of politeness.
Grace leaned over to say something in Morty’s ear but they all heard it. “Behave or I’m telling Tilly.”
They didn’t hear his response but Hailey could guess.
She couldn’t stem her curiosity. “What’s Home and Heart?”
Grace and Noah shared a look that expressed a combination of love and affection. She might not have had those with her exes but she still believed they were out there, somewhere, waiting for her.
Grace clasped Noah’s hand. “It’s a magazine. Noah is a real estate developer. He bought this place intending to remodel it. He tried to buy mine as well,” she said with a teasing smirk. “So he could put in a pool.”
Hailey glanced toward the poles in the yard and pointed. “That’s going to be a pool? Wait, is that your place?”
Grace nodded. “Yes. We’re using it as my office. I’m an interior designer. Noah’s supposedly a big deal in some circles so he was able to wrangle a fancy magazine to cover the remodel.”
Noah put his arm around Grace, pulled her close. “Best thing to come out of it was Gracie fell head over heels in love with me.”
Chris picked up his beer with the hand that wasn’t holding Everly’s. “None of us can figure out why.”
Everyone but Noah laughed. Morty took a drink of his not-Budweiser, making a face. “Definitely not because of his taste in beer.”
“Shut it, old man, or I’ll feed you Tara’s veggie burgers.”
“Wait. I read some other articles after the ones on this remodel,” Fiona said. Her gaze grew wide, then she looked at Hailey, whose heart started knocking around her rib cage. “Do you know you’re in the presence of New York royalty?”
All three of the men scoffed and balked, loudly, at this proclamation. Grace rolled her eyes and Morty mumbled under his breath.
Stacey set her bottle on the table beside her, looking at Chris. “Maybe royal pains in the ass.”
“Still your boss, Stace,” Chris said blandly. The connections between them were harder to keep track of than who dated who in Hollywood. Wes needed to make her a guidebook for this.
“Somebody tell me what I’m missing.” She looked at Wes. Should she have googled him?
Noah set his beer down on the edge of the fire table that sat between the seats. “My brothers and I used to work for our father. Pretty much doing a lot of what we do now but under his thumb. And judgment. We buy into companies, sell companies, or improve them. We each have our own skill sets and we got tired of our dad taking them for granted. Chris came here to jump through one of our dad’s hoops, met Everly, fell in love. I followed.”
“And fell in love,” Grace said, squeezing his hand.
Fiona raised her hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring anything bad up. I just made the connection and remember being super impressed with all of you. I was caught off guard but I shouldn’t have blurted it all out like that.”
“No harm. Don’t worry about it. You certainly don’t have to apologize,” Chris said.
“No, I do. That was a total lack of social grace. Also, while we’re sharing, I’m a freelance writer.”
Both brothers looked at Wes, whose gaze widened. “Oh.”
“I am one hundred percent here in a personal capacity and I don’t write about guys like you. I write about what kind of alcohol you should pair with your chocolate. I just didn’t want it to come up later.”
This means Wes and his brothers are mega rich. Hailey didn’t look him up because she wanted to draw conclusions based on what she learned about him. She wanted to prove she was a good judge of people. Of friends. That Dorian hadn’t broken her in every single way. Last night, she’d learned Wes was a serious shopper, a list maker, and a bit of a health nut. But now, she was struggling to stop herself from immediately casting her own insecurities and past onto him.
He didn’t care about how much money she had. He’d helped her for free. But did she want to be friends with a rich-boy trust fund baby? He works a lot for someone who has the opportunity to live up to that label. Still. She’d thought they were two newbies to the city both in need of a friend, someone they could bounce ideas off of or shop with on a Saturday night when the urge for chocolate hit hard.
“She really does write low-key, fun articles,” Hailey heard herself say. There was a gentle buzz in her ears and she felt Wes’s gaze.
“Is your last name Hale?” Chris asked.
Fiona nodded. “It is. Have you taken my quizzes? Oh my God. Are you a closet women’s magazine reader?”
“It’s not closet if he’s willing to just put it out there,” Noah said, laughing. “What’d you learn about yourself, baby brother? Are you a One Direction kind of guy or BTS?”
Noah flashed a grin at Fiona. “That is in no way diminishing what you write. They sound fun but it’s my duty to make fun of my brother if he’s reading Cosmo.”
Amusement glittered in Noah’s gaze and all eyes turned to Chris. Everly squeezed his hand, her other one rubbing up and down her thigh. “My mother continues to drop off a bag of groceries we don’t need and several women’s, and now men’s, magazines once a month.”
“Everly’s mom is very pro sex,” Stacey said.
Even though her cheeks went pink, Everly laughed with the others.
“Nothing wrong with that,” Fiona said.
“Unless you’re her daughter,” Hailey said, meeting Everly’s gaze.
Appreciation filled her warm brown eyes. “Exactly.”
Fiona picked up her drink. “That’s fair. My mom takes all of my quizzes but I told her she’s never allowed to tell me the answers. Even if it’s just which nail polish you should pair with your summer drink.”
“Your articles and quizzes sound so fun,” Grace said.
“I love making them. I love writing happy-making articles. The reason I recognized you guys and the house is because I was researching the magazine to write a fun article on which house matches your personality. I like to know the outlet I’m working for so I always do some prereading. You guys did a beautiful job renovating.”
Both Noah and Grace beamed. “Would you like to see it?” Grace asked.
Fiona hopped up. “Yes, please.” She looked down at Hailey.
Feeling atypically flustered, like she had too many facts to digest, Hailey nodded. “Of course.”
Wes met her gaze. “We’re going to start the burgers. We’ll play volleyball after dinner. Either of you vegetarians?”
She shook her head.
He stood. “You want cheese or chocolate on yours?”
The laugh burst from her lips. “Very funny.”
He was who she thought he was. Just because she had some hang-ups about rich guys who took advantage didn’t mean Wes was a pompous ass who would do the same. Besides, this time, her heart was in absolutely no danger. It wasn’t even involved. Just to be sure, they were definitely coming up with that guide he’d mentioned.
11
The last few hours squashed many of Hailey’s worries. Rich or not, these people were friendly, funny, and incredibly welcoming. Noah and Grace made delicious burgers, Chris and Everly worked the BBQ, while Wes conveniently dropped it into the conversation with Rob that she was the maker of the salads he’d been talking about. Turns out Jaycee—the multisalad lady—worked at the gym Rob owned.
Hailey knew even cities of thousands and thousands had overlapping circles. Hollywood was like one of those steel circle puzzle games, nearly impossible to get the pieces to disconnect. This felt similar but in a good way for once.
“I’d love to stock some of your salads in my cooler. They’re awesome. I’ve been toying with the idea of adding a café to the San Verde location but I’m still on the fence. I get some power bars and a few select baked goods from Tara. Would you be into a weekly preorder?” Rob said.
Would she be into a steady income regardless of the amount? Hard yes. “Absolutely. I can come by this week or you can drop by the shop and we can look at the menu. I can show you some of the more popular ones or I can customize them if you’re looking for something specific.” She sounded breezy, right?
Stacey came out from the house. Her sun-kissed skin and bright eyes made Hailey think of Kate Hudson, whom she’d met once. Like Stacey, the actress was every bit as lovely and completely down-to-earth. She joked about being a big radio star when she wanted Rob to grab her another drink but it was clear she didn’t take herself too seriously.
“Tara isn’t joining us. She has a council meeting for the San Verde Shop Association.”
Hailey’s brows scrunched. She’d said next week.
“Are you part of that?” The ocean breeze fluttered through Wes’s hair, tousling it across his forehead.
“Tara mentioned it but she said it was next week.” Had she misheard her?
“I’m sure Tara can give you the details,” Stacey said. She clapped her hands together, looked around the group. “Time for some volleyball. Who’s in?”
The gleam in her gaze made her look like a warrior. She set it on Wes. “You and your brothers are not on the same team this time.”
His brow furrowed as Noah said, “Hey. Just because you lost.”
Grace lifted her brows, crossed her arms over her chest. “Which you brought up how many times?”
Noah sidled up to Grace, wrapped his arms around her stiff frame. “Aw, Gracie. You know I love you even if you can’t play volleyball.”
