this scene deserves to be talked about more because not only did jay immediately soften his body language & gentle his voice, but he realized that he doesn’t know “the half of [it]” — what hailey’s going through.
he apologizes, plus reassures her that he’s on her side. all while hailey has the courage to be vulnerable w/him. 🥺❤️ that’s because she does feel safe enough w/him, but that wall she’s had built up, it’s gonna take a little more time to crumble. but jay was so sweet to her & was simply going to be there, whenever she was ready to talk to him more about it.
i mean, you guys saw the relief on his face after hailey said she was going to the hospital to see her dad. & the pure joy when she said she’d “see [him] later” — no doubt about it, that man loves her. and she loves him.
which is probably why she’s a bit hesitant to open up and share absolutely everything w/him because 1) it is slightly new territory...going from a work partnership to potential life partners 😅 (ya know: dating) & 2) trauma affects people in different ways. not everyone is healed enough or removed enough from it to vent, especially if they’re triggered, which i think is what happened to hailey w/jay’s speech (even though that’s NOT what he meant to do).... it can take a while to shake that off, to get back to even. & i think for hailey, it’ll take a little longer cause she’s not used to people being gentle w/her in a romantic sense. i mean, adam was a fling, a fun thing, y’know? but not “real love” like miss tracy spiridakos said upstead has.
idk just my two cents. feel free to add or comment if you guys have others!