She tilted her head in an exasperated, oh come on way.
I crossed my arms, hating the sympathy she was trying to conceal.
Halley blew out her breath again. “Lils, I know how stressed out you are about having to defer for a year. I know you’re still trying to figure out what you’re going to do. I know you almost bailed on this trip because you didn’t know if you could afford the airfare. And you know I’d do anything for you, right?”
“Right,” I said stiffly. “But you know I’d never ask you, so I’m not sure–”
“And you should know you don’t even have to ask me,” Halley said, a smile sneaking back across her face. She rocked from her heels to her toes and let go of the hem of her dress, brushing out the wrinkles.
My trepidation built. What had she done? “Halley–” I started.
“It’s perfect.” Her words rushed over mine. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before.”
“What’s perfect?”
“You need to make money for law school, right? And you’re interested in entertainment law, right?”
Her voice had hardened with determination, and she was firing the questions like I was on the stand, and she was cross examining the witness.
“I mean I’ve never said anything about entertainment law, but I’m not opposedto it,” I agreed. “But I don’t see how that…”
“And you need somewhere to live that isn’t going to eat up all the money you’re making, right?”
Part of me wanted to laugh, but I was too worried about where this line of questioning was leading. I didn’t bother answering, just tilted my head and waited for her to get to the point.
“So, what if I told you I knew exactly where you could get a decent paying job for as long as you need it and live for free?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but she did it for me.
“You’d say, ‘no, Halley. I couldn’t possibly.’” She lowered her voice gravely. “And I’d say, oh come on, Lily, what’s the big deal?” She went back into her imitation of my voice again. “And you’d say–”
“Halley!” I cried in exasperation, finally running out of patience. “Get to the point! What can’t you believe you didn’t think of before?”
She blew out her breath. “I called my dad.”
In my stomach, the threads of tension turned themselves into a double knot. I groaned out loud; embarrassment and disbelief made my heart palpitate harder in my chest. She’d called her dad. “You didn’t,” I said weakly. “Halley, come on.”
“I did,” she said, lifting her chin. “And I know you’re so pissed right now, but I’m not sorry because I was right—he can fix it.”
Behind her, the sky was more blue than gold. The beautiful stone house rose up against it, a symbol of everything that Halley had that I never would. I shouldn’t be surprised she was trying to force her dad’s help on me. All throughout our friendship, she’d wanted to share everything she had with me. We were the sisters the other had never had. Still, there were limits to what I could accept, and Halley had a hard time accepting that.
“Call him back,” I said finally. “Tell him I already fixed it myself.”
She put her hands on her hips again. “Have you?”
No, of course I hadn’t. But the real possibility of poverty was better than letting Conall Walker think of me as his daughter’s charity case. Unwillingly, I pictured him. He wasn’t like the other dads who dropped their daughter off at college in the fall and picked her up in the spring. There was no frayed baseball cap or soft paunch beneath his t-shirt. His hair didn’t thin at the top or gray at the temples. He was only forty. Imposingly tall, almost always in dark suits that had been tailored to fit his wide, sculpted shoulders, lean torso, and long legs. Crisp white shirts, shoes that cost more than my college education. Always in dark, frameless sunglasses that hid his eyes and made his expression impossible to read. He never smiled just to be polite, and the few times we’d met, I’d quailed under his direct gaze. Not that he ever really seemed to see me. He only had eyes for his daughter, always making sure she had everything and the best of it at that.
“Don’t you want to at least know what I thought of?” Halley wheedled after my prolonged silence confirmed what she already knew. She didn’t wait for my answer but plunged ahead. “You’re going to have a paid internship with his agency. It’s a salaried position, which kind of sucks because you won’t get overtime, and believe me you’ll work overtime, but you’ll have benefits.”
A salaried position at Walker Entertainment Agency. Against my will, my heart beat faster at the possibility. It wasn’t a direct line to entertainment law, but I would make good connections. I flattened my lips, trying not to show Halley how interested I was. She grinned triumphantly, knowing me too well to be fooled.
“And,” she said with the flair of someone putting a cherry on top of a dessert, “you can stay in my condo for free. It’ll just be sitting there after I go back to school in August.”
“I have to pay rent,” I said automatically.
“There is no rent—it’s paid off.”
“Then I have to pay the association fee, or whatever,” I insisted. “Seriously, Halley. I can’t stay there for free.”
“Okay fine, you can pay the association fee.” She stuck out her hand. “Deal?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it, feeling like I’d been neatly boxed in.