There hadn’t been signs except that they weren’t together every second of the day.
And if that was a requirement for fidelity, she didn’t know how any couple had ever made it work.
“How are you feeling?” Reese asked from the driver’s seat as they rolled along the coast. “You’re awfully quiet. Regretting your decision?”
Sydney understood that if things imploded, it would be far worse for Reese’s day-to-day life than her own. What Reese was really asking Sydney was if she’d be able to keep it together at the event and beyond; to really go through with this.
“I want answers,” Sydney said, staring out the window. “I just felt so blindsided by the whole situation.”
Reese made the turn onto the private road that would lead them to the Devereux home. “Do you think you’ll be able to get them?”
“I—” Sydney turned and looked at Reese, who was already focused on her. “I want to know if any of it was real. Did I waste six years of my life on someone who only saw me as a way to pass the time, only when it was convenient?”
She appreciated the strained sound that Reese made, like maybe she understood that sentiment herself.
“I don’t know if you’ll get those answers with my brother. I’ve never thought very highly of him, but you’re a capable, talented, beautiful woman, Sydney. There must have been something that kept you with him for six years.”
Lips pursed, Reese shifted her focus back to the road, looking intently at it even though she knew exactly where they were going.
“Just say it,” Sydney urged.
She could see Reese chewing on the inside of her lip, mulling over what to say. Finally she broke the silence with, “Even if that something was him intentionally misleading you.”
Sydney uncrossed and recrossed her legs. “You may be right, but still, what does that say about me? That I didn’t see it for so long? Am I delusional? Or just an idiot?”
She hated the insecurity in her voice, that she was letting someone like Grant make her feel this way.
They pulled into the cul-de-sac five minutes early. The driveway was already filled with at least a dozen vehicles of varying degrees of wealth and obnoxiousness.
Reese parked the car and pushed her sunglasses onto her forehead. Honey-brown eyes bore into Sydney’s. “It says that Grant was really good at hiding it.”
Sydney chose not to respond to that. “I thought this was a small get-together?” she asked, changing the subject as Reese cut the ignition.
Reese rolled her eyes in response. “I’m sure my father can’t help using Grant’s wedding as a business opportunity.”
“Ah, yes… Tripp Devereux. Not my favorite person I’ve ever met.” She cut her eyes to Reese. “No offense.”
“None taken. I have my own issues with the man, so let’s just add that to the list of our current commonalities.”
Reese got out of the car and walked around quickly, opening Sydney’s door again.
It gave Sydney a chance to admire Reese’s outfit. She was wearing silky palazzo pants in a gorgeous dark cyan. A white-and-magenta pattern was woven throughout, giving the illusion thatthe shapes were flowers. Reese had gone simple on her top, a similarly silky, fitted white button-down with the top three buttons undone, tucked into the high waist of her pants.
Reese’s dark hair was voluminous, a perfect abundance of tresses that flowed from her side part and cascaded around her cheeks and jawline before resting below her shoulders. Sydney wondered if it felt as soft as it looked; her attention was momentarily distracted by the strands of auburn and gold glinting throughout.
If that hair was natural, Reese had won the genetic lottery.
Reese cleaned up exceptionally well, and Sydney knew that the two of them together would turn heads today.
“You look—great,” Sydney said when she accepted Reese’s hand, changing course at the last second, even as the word ‘beautiful’ had pushed into the forefront of her mind.
Was that a faint blush on the elder Devereux’s high cheekbones?
Sydney’s grin grew impossibly wider.
The Cape Cod mansion loomed before them, and Sydney waited for Reese’s cue to head in.
“Now it’s my turn to ask,” she said, her forearm brushing against Reese’s warm skin when the brunette didn’t take a step forward. “Regretting your decision?”
