“I call him Mr. Cheaper by the Dozen. I had to drop twelve towels in his room earlier. What is he doing with them? I’m dying to know.”
“Hallie and I brainstormed it, but the best we could come up with is that he uses a new towel for each part of his body,” Sydney guessed.
Reese had a thoughtful look on her face. “Showers four times a day?”
“What the hell is taking so long?” Grant’s voice cut through the wall separating them. Sydney had actually forgotten he was waiting in the living room.
“I forgot about him,” Reese admitted, clearly sharing in her surprise.
Sydney laughed. “It’s good for his ego.” She looked toward the door, assuming their moment of fun was winding to a close. “Are you going to put him out of his misery?”
Reese looked at her seriously. “Why would I do that? I mean, I’m happy to correct the situation, but I don’t think I owe Grant anything, especially answers about my love life.”
Love life.
Sydney hadn’t had one of those in a year, even the fake kind.
Hell, probably longer, given the side game Grant had been running for who knows how long.
This was a horrible idea. Bound to blow up in their faces. She didn’t evenknowReese.
But when she thought of Grant’s smarmy face on the other side of the door, she didn’t want Reese to correct him. She wanted him to squirm. Really, their breakup had been his choice, and with his impending marriage, he shouldn’t even be thinking about what was going on with Sydney.
“So you’re really down to keep this lie going? All to piss your brother off?”
Reese nodded resolutely before she looked around the room, gesturing to the inn. “I feel like my life is getting a little too boring, you know?”
Sydney was quickly finding that smile disarming in the best possible way.
“Shake on it?” Sydney asked, extending her hand.
Reese met her in the middle, and when their hands connected, she felt warmth and those little zigs and zags of electricity that made her feel alive again. She wanted to chase that feeling.
“Can we work out the details later?” Reese asked, slipping into business mode. “I’ll see what Grant wants, and you can go on your run?”
“Thank you for running interference.”
They walked toward the living room together, and Reese poked her head out first.
Sydney braced for impact.
But Grant was nowhere to be found.
Instead, Hallie stood in the kitchen, making her daily smoothie.
She looked up at the sound of the door, her gaze flitting from Sydney to Reese and then back again.
Sydney felt like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, even though nothing had happened.
“I wondered where you’d gotten off to,” Hallie said to Reese as she dumped her frozen fruit into the blender, then started to chop her kale.
Reese stepped forward and ran her hands down her shirt. “This morning really went sideways. I’m sorry.”
Hallie waved her off. “I saw Grant skulking around here. I assumed something was going on, though I didn’t expect it to involve you two locking yourselves in Sydney’s room,” she finished, lifting an inquisitive brow at her best friend.
“The door wasn’t locked,” Sydney argued, not that that was really the point.
“Glad to see you’re going out. I was worried the sofa would be permanently indented with your languishing outline.”
