Track 04 · The Album
Halfway Home
"We called it halfway home, 'cause it was halfway from yours to mine. But baby we were halfway home the whole damn time."
Lyrics
Verse 1
There's a parking lot in town
Right between your place and mine
We'd park toward the back
Where we could see the whole night unwind
Storefront lights and a highway hum
Just you and me, doors closed tight
Watching the late night go by
With the world goin' quiet outside
Pre-Chorus
You'd pull up beside me
We'd talk for hours
Nothin' but time
And the lot was ours
Chorus
We called it halfway home
'Cause it was halfway from yours to mine
But baby we were halfway home
The whole damn time
Yeah we were halfway home
The whole damn time
Verse 2
First time I kissed you
I pulled away too fast
You said "wait a second"
And pulled me back to make it last
That's just how it went with us
I'd start a thing, you'd finish it
I'd take the leap
You'd make the landing stick
Pre-Chorus
You'd pull up beside me
We'd talk for hours
Nothin' but time
And the lot was ours
Chorus
We called it halfway home
'Cause it was halfway from yours to mine
But baby we were halfway home
The whole damn time
Yeah we were halfway home
The whole damn time
Bridge
The night before you flew to Florida
We met up one last time
I rolled my window down as you were walkin' away
Said "I love you" so quiet
You almost didn't hear
You walked back to my truck and asked
"What did you say?"
I said it again, you said it back
And I drove home through the dark
You boarded a plane by dawn
Both of us holdin' the same three words
Halfway home and gone
Final Chorus
We called it halfway home
'Cause it was halfway from yours to mine
But baby we were halfway home
The whole damn time
We were halfway home
The whole damn time
Outro
Now we drive past it together
On the way to the same front door
But that lot still holds a piece of us
Like it always did before
'Cause that's where we were halfway home
Yeah that's where we were halfway home
The Story Behind the Song
The exact middle point between two houses.
The first kiss happened in a supermarket parking lot. Of course it did. That parking lot was the exact middle point between Mallory's house and Kayle's house, the natural meeting place, the spot where they could sit late at night and people watch and trade stories about their days. They liked to park toward the back of the lot. Not so far back it looked suspicious, but far enough that they could see what was going on.
Mallory had a feeling that night it was about to happen. She had also decided she was absolutely not going to make the first move. So she sat there. Kayle, by her account, looked at her for a while, got increasingly nervous, and finally just reached over and kissed her. Quick. Then pulled away. "Wait a second," she said. And then she grabbed his face and kissed him back properly.
A week or so later, she was about to leave for a trip to Florida. They met at the same lot so she could pick up a few last things on her way to the airport. As she was walking back to her car, Kayle rolled down his window and told her, quietly, that he loved her. She walked back over. He said it again. She said it back. Then she got on a plane.
"Halfway Home" is the parking lot song, in his voice. The geographic middle point that was already most of the way home.