Sorrow fills her eyes before she says quietly, “Dad would hate it if you let this stand in the way of you finding someone who makes you happy. And Sydney does that.”
Her words are like an unexpected blow to the gut. They knock the air from my lungs. My mouth opens but nothing comes out.
“He wouldn’t want you to blame her for something she had no control over.”
It’s difficult not to double over with the pain and grief that flood through me.
“If you love her,” she continues softly when I remain silent, “don’t let her go.”
Chapter Forty-One
Sydney
“Hey, hun,” Mom says, pulling me into the warm comfort of her arms and holding me close. “Are you doing all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Although we both realize if that were true, I wouldn’t have come home to lick my wounds. I’d be at school, enjoying my life without a care in the world.
She pulls back to search my eyes. Whatever she finds is enough to have her expression faltering. “I’m so sorry, Sydney.”
“Me, too.” It takes effort to push out the response.
As much as I’d wanted to keep everything bottled up and to myself, it wasn’t possible. Lucus had been upset after what occurred at the ice cream shop and it had taken a few hours to calm him down.
These past two weeks have been a nightmare with no end in sight. I can’t say that it’s been the toughest time of my life because for obvious reasons, that’s not true, but it’s becoming a close second.
After classes wrapped up this afternoon, I packed a bag for the weekend and decided to come home to decompress. I’m hoping a little time away from campus will help clear my head so I can get back on track. Not only do I need to finish out the fall semester, but I have to make it through the spring before I’m finally able to graduate. I’ve got to find a way to put what happened with Brayden behind me and move on. At the very least, I need to stop torturing myself about it every second of the day.
That, unfortunately, is easier said than done.
“What do you think about going to the mall and doing a little shopping tomorrow? Maybe we can grab lunch. There’s a new Mexican restaurant that just opened up in town.”
I think I’d rather climb into bed and sleep the entire weekend away. Maybe when I wake up, I’ll realize that this was nothing more than a horrendous nightmare.
Instead of saying that, I force a smile. “Sure, that sounds good, Mom.”
She returns the expression, but, like mine, it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Why don’t you put your bag in your room and then help me with dinner? Ryan and Juliette will be over around six. They mentioned something about having news to share.”
One brow climbs up my forehead. “Uh-oh. What do you think the chances are of her being pregnant again?”
The corners of Mom’s lips twitch. “The last time she was over, I offered her a glass of wine and she declined.”
Hmmm. That seems like a rather telling sign.
I shake my head and think about the two-year-old demon they already have a hard time controlling. “I’m gonna be completely honest, I don’t know if they can handle another offspring.”
“Sydney!” Mom admonishes. “That’s not very nice.”
My mouth tumbles open as I give her an oh, come on look. “What? We both know it’s true.” Caden runs circles around them. If he had access to rope, he’d probably hog tie both of them.
“That might be so,” she says, which is the closest to a concession that you’ll get from Jane Daniels, “but he’s your nephew. And he’s a real sweetheart.”
A real sweetheart?
Caden?
More like the devil incarnate.
“I love him to pieces,” I tell her, “but the kid has way too much energy. If he weren’t such a handful, you would babysit more often.”
She waves her hand, dismissing the accusation. “He’s just a little boy. And boys can be bundles of restless energy. His father was the same way.”
My parents like to joke that Ryan was hell on wheels. I have no idea how they had four more kids after that. I would have stopped at one and been done.
Allowing the conversation to fall by the wayside, I grab my bag from the floor in the entryway where I dropped it and point to the staircase. “I’m going to take a quick shower and change. Then I’ll be down to help.”
“Sounds good.” She nods, pulling me in for another quick hug before padding into the kitchen to get dinner started.
As I move up the staircase to the second floor, I realize that coming home was the right decision to make. I’ve never been someone to run and hide from their problems, always preferring to tackle them head on. There have definitely been times when that tactic has blown up in my face. In this particular instance, I’m making an exception to the rule.