Bringing Back Hallie

Bringing Back Hallie: Chapter Fifteen

He asks us tersely, "And how long has this been going on?" 

I open my mouth to answer him, but Ethan speaks up instead and tells him honestly, "About a week or so, sir. We didn't want to say anything until we knew that these feelings were serious." 

Feeling my cheeks heat up because he's admitted that he feels seriously about me as well, I try and hide the giddy smile from stretching across my lips. I knew he felt for me, I just didn't know that he thought of it as serious. But to know that that is, well...it's kind of awesome.  

My dad asks disbelievingly, "And you believe that a week is enough time to develop serious feelings for my daughter?" 

"Well if I'm being honest here," Ethan says immediately, and I turn my head to face him as he speaks, just feeling a little bit more comforted by looking at him. "I've kind of had a thing for Hallie for a while, since the second week or so that I was here. It's just recently that I've realized she has the same feelings for me." 

"Really?" I blurt out, completely taken by surprise. How in the world could he have had a thing for me since the second week or so? That was the week after I'd gotten out of the hospital; the week that I'd looked so banged up and had been such an emotional wreck. How the hell could he have developed feelings for that? 

He looks over at me and gives me a soft smile, and for a second I can almost forget that my entire family is in the same room and can see us. "Yeah," he says, and I hear nothing but complete honesty in his voice. But then he ruins the romantic moment by rolling his eyes at me and saying, "Duh." 

My sister and my mom both crack up when he says this, and it's in that moment that I know my mom backs me with this. She wouldn't be laughing at our cute little moment had she hated the idea of us being together. So now the only other hurdle should be my dad, who's looking at us as if he doesn't know whether to laugh or scream.  

My dad breaks the laughter as he asks us the question that even Ethan and I are not able to answer right now. "And what happens when he goes on tour in two months?" 

I tell him, "We don't know yet. But what we do know, right now, is that we want to be together. We're just hoping that you won't kick him out because he broke one of your little 'rules'." 

My dad opens his mouth as if to say something, but my mom cuts him off by saying, "Well of course we're not going to make you move out, Ethan. We love having you here." 

"Hallie especially," Darla teases once again. 

"Would you keep quiet?" I ask her, slightly amused by all of her little sarcastic compliments, but still embarrassed by them nonetheless.  

She gives me an innocent little smile, but then says, "Yeah dad, Ethan's awesome here. He mows the lawn for you, remember?" 

"I don't want my daughter to be hurt, that's all. That's my only concern about this little thing," he clarifies, making me feel like a little girl over again. A little girl who's dad still needs to protect her. And while that may annoy some people, I like it. I like that he still cares for me like he did when I was little. It just shows me how much he loves me.  

"I completely understand you, but please know that I would never hurt Hallie," Ethan promises sincerely, and it's then that I feel his warm hand encase my own, threading our fingers together, making me feel all warm and bubbly on the inside.  

My dad runs his fingers through his hair, looking like he's struggling to grasp onto the fact that his daughter has a musician boyfriend who lives in the house, but then he gets the calmly determined look he always gets and tells us, "Fine. But I'm letting you know right here and now that there are going to be some ground rules."