Halle lit the Christmas lights around her shop, then poured herself a glass of wine. Stupid men. She wanted to turn back the tables to the beginning of December and put her closed sign out. Why did I let myself get wrapped up in all of this? Unbelievable. Truthfully, maybe not so unbelievable. Halle wasn’t great at dating; all of her past relationships told that tale. But her deal with Blake wasn’t dating. It was a mutually beneficial agreement. Except now, she wasn’t sure she’d get her benefit.
She let out a sigh, grabbed the wine bottle, and headed to her sitting area in the middle of her store. I wasn’t obligated to tell him. He never asked about my family. Halle curled her legs under her and continued her pity party until Corrine materialized.
“I thought you had a dealio tonight.” Corrine said.
Corrine sat down and took a sip from the wine glass Halle had abandoned. She wasn’t in the mood to drink. She wasn’t in the mood to do anything.
“Yep. Not going.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t feel like it.”
“Halle, what’s going on?”
“I wanted a business loan and the bank said no.” her words rapidly spilled out.
There was no use keeping details from Corrine any longer. It would probably feel good to tell her, anyway. Halle would take any comfort she could get right now.
“Then Blake came into the store,” she continued as she watched the lights on the trees change color. “He needed a date and I needed a loan. I’m not long-time friends with him. I just met him that day.” She took a deep breath into an aching chest. “So, we’ve been going to these functions, had a couple more left actually, and everything was going fairly well.” She picked at her light-pink polished fingernail.
She shouldn’t be upset over all of this. She needed to calm down. Maybe she was just sad about the loan.
“We got into a big fight last night. I’m not going to any more events. Which means no loan for me.” Halle rested her head on her folded up knees, then faced Corrine.
“Obviously there is a lot to talk about here. But why in the world do you need a loan?”
“My independence. I want to be on my own. I don’t want to be under Dad’s umbrella anymore. I want our relationship to be on my terms; ones that I have a say in.”
“Independence needs a loan?”
“To buy a store. I don’t want to rent from Dad anymore. I bought my own car, home, and this building is the only thing left financially tying me to him. I like Casper and I don’t want to move to where Mom is, so this is the only way. If Dad and I are going to have a relationship, it can’t be with strings. He doesn’t play fair.” She picked up her wine glass and traced the top with her finger. “We could go in on a building together ya know; that’d be fun.” Halle tried to lighten her voice.
“What was the fight with Blake about?”
Halle scoffed. “My dad of course. He ruins everything.”
“First, he doesn’t ruin everything. You turned out pretty good.”
“Only because I went with Mom.”
“Second, how in the world did you two fight about your dad? Blake doesn’t like him?”
“I don’t know if he even knows him. Blake was pissed I didn’t tell him all of the names of my family members in town.”
The exaggeration felt good. This whole fight was a bunch of nonsense, so why not take it to the next level of crazy?
“That seems weird.” Corrine was always one for pointing out the obvious.
“Apparently Uncle Myles is the president of the board of directors at North Platte River Bank. I guess I knew that, but honestly, it slipped my mind. I just think of him as a pharmacist. That news was apparently a personal affront to Blake because he runs the bank, or is going to run the bank.” She shook her head. “I get lost. Anyway, then it got really interesting when he found out who my dad was. That’s when he kind of went off the deep end. So, I followed. Hence, no more events.”
“I see. So you two called off your little arrangement?”
“It was implied.”
“How so?”
“We yelled and I stormed off. I doubt he showed up to pick me up tonight anyway. He’d have to be mental to think I’d go with him anymore. We might run into a cousin of mine who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows Blake,” Halle mocked.
Blake’s day had been a blur. One big, irritating whirlwind that he had no choice but to be a part of – except he really did have a choice. He hadn’t slept well – had barely any sleep – since his fight with Halle. One minute he thought he was perfectly justified and then the next he knew where he went wrong. He shouldn’t have jumped down her throat about her being less than forthcoming about her family ties in town.
He’d knocked and rung her doorbell two nights ago, standing on her porch like an idiot. He’d stood there for at least ten minutes before giving up.
Halle was calling off their deal. No more escorting her to the holiday commitments he had. No more waiting to see what she’d say or wear next. That wasn’t what he wanted to happen. Ah, hell. I don’t know what I want anymore. That was a lie. He could feel wanting and needing Halle down to the very core of his soul. What he didn’t know was what to do about those feelings.
“Mr. Ellison? Jerry is on line one.” The intercom line cut into his thoughts.
“Thank you.” Blake hit the blinking line. “Jerry. Do you have the Adams’ application?”
“I do.”
“What’s the deal with it? Why was it denied? And why can’t I get a copy of it?”
Jerry cleared his throat. “That matter has been handled, sir.”
“What matter?”
“After I received the loan application, I received a visit from Mr. Adams personally. He implied that if we gave a loan to Ms. Adams, he wouldn’t continue banking with us.” Jerry’s nervous voice came through on the phone. Blake pictured him sweating profusely at his desk.
“Did he give a reason why?”
“No.”
“Why wasn’t this brought to my attention?” Blake was doing his best not to yell. He knew Jerry had the bank’s best interest in mind, but still. That was a pretty big incident to not know about.
“I know how much business your family does with Mr. Adams in many capacities. I didn’t want it to become a big deal for you or your family. And, to be honest, Ms. Adams’ approval was right on the cusp anyway. It wasn’t hard to justify a no.”
“If something like this happens again, Jerry, I want to be notified. I take threats to my business seriously. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
Blake disconnected and leaned back in his chair. Crossing his hands behind his head, he closed his eyes. Edward plays a little dirty. Blake knew that family dynamic all too well. He was in the middle of the underhanded part right now.
For the most part, his family played nice. They helped each other and rallied when necessary. But when they disagreed, boy, they disagreed.
Grandpa had kept the peace among the siblings and other relatives who had stake in the various businesses. Since his death, though, things were falling apart. Namely, Blake’s already shaky relationship with his father. His father wasn’t considering his side of things.
Halle apparently understood more than Blake had given her credit for. She really would have been the person to talk to about his issues. She would have understood. He was a good judge of character. He’d been right about Halle, and she wasn’t anything like her dad. Maybe that is why he was drawn to her in the first place – he recognized his own plight in her eyes.
I wonder if she knows her dad interfered with her application. Blake doubted it. If she’d known, he would have seen the confrontation on the news. He laughed. Halle wasn’t afraid of confrontation and she wasn’t afraid to call people on the carpet, when it served her purpose. She picked her battles. She was smart like that.
Dammit. I miss her. Blake opened his eyes. And that was the truth. How can I miss someone I barely know?
They’d spent a considerable amount of time together at the events and he’d come to expect her by his side. When she wasn’t at the fundraiser, he was absolutely miserable. He kept expecting her to come up beside him with a new drink and whisk him away from a conversation he didn’t want to be a part of in the first place. No such luck.
All the questions as to why Halle wasn’t there had sucked also. Had she really made friends with that many people this month? He’d held a steady grin and told them she had a prior commitment. Blake left out the part about the other engagement probably involving his face on a dartboard.
He’d really messed it up this time. And he did care about her.
There isn’t any going back and changing what I said now. That thought hit him hard. It was done. It was over. He wasn’t going to see her again.