Sydney held her hands up to her chest, trying her best to embody the spirit of a Disney princess. “So the date went well then? Do you think there’s a second in our future?”
She resisted the urge to twirl to really sell it.
“You were perfect,” Reese said, with an almost wistful quality that Sydney knew she must be misinterpreting.
“Any feedback from the parents? Grant?” Sydney was only half joking, wondering how the day had gone from Reese’s perspective.
She thought she saw Reese’s eye twitch when she said, “Grant and I haven’t spoken, though I’m sure he’s about as happy about it as I am.”
“Given what you know, I’m sure he’s not thrilled that you and Brynn will be spending more one-on-one time together.”
“Honestly, I can’t even figure out who knows what at this point, if it even matters.” Reese ran her hand over her hair, like she was collecting herself before she made a sound caught somewhere between a scoff and disgust. “And my dad was such a bootlicker at the party. I haven’t even given myself time to get wrapped up in that.”
Sydney laughed, mostly to hide her shock at the wordscoming out of Reese’s mouth. “Wow, yeah. I mean, I don’t disagree. Stan and Margie were really the MVPs of the day, if I get a vote.”
“And you,” Reese said earnestly. Sydney’s cheeks warmed at the compliment.
“Hey,” she chastised, waiting for Reese to look at her, needing her toreallyunderstand her. “You held your own. Absolutely.”
She could tell that Reese wanted to dismiss her words, but she didn’t want to let her. After the day Sydney had had, she wanted Reese to feel that same sense of possibility.
Reese had moved away from the clout of her family to create her own future. She’d successfully built and sold an app that helped thousands of small businesses. Now she was back in her hometown, taking ownership of the inn and working tirelessly to make sure she was doing a good job at it.
“It’s nice of you to say,” Reese finally relented.
Sydney leveled a charming smile in her direction. “I only speak the truth.”
Reese finally clocked the way Sydney was dressed, leaning over the desk to get a full look at her outfit. “Did you play tennis today?”
“What gave it away?” Sydney asked as she felt Reese’s gaze continue to scan her body.
And just like that, it was back, the spark that she’d felt with Reese last weekend. It was impossible to ignore, with them so close. Reese was leaning over the check-in desk, and Sydney’s long arm rested on the counter so that Reese’s chest almost brushed against it.
Want, surprising in its intensity, curled low in her stomach, and she enjoyed the heat it spread through her body.
In a different world, if Grant wasn’t her ex-boyfriend, and Reese had actually been a beautiful woman she’d met somewhere outside of all of this, things would be very different.
But they weren’t, and a large part of today had been about Sydney accepting reality.
So that’s what she tried to do when she willed her body to calm down, orienting herself back to the task at hand. “I was wondering if this weekend was still happening. With the Fitzpatricks, I mean,” she clarified.
Knowing they had a public event together in just a few days would help dump a little more cold water on any of her confusion about what this was. And wasn’t.
Reese sighed, looking at her intently. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but I think my dad is hell-bent on making it happen. Are you willing to come?”
Their situation—theiract—was complicated, but Sydney couldn’t deny the little thrill that ran through her body at the idea of them spending the weekend together. All she needed to do was maintain perspective, to keep any of her own confusion simmering enough to not be noticeable.
She beamed a megawatt smile in Reese’s direction, hopefully allaying any of the fear Reese had about them pulling this ruse off for longer than an afternoon. “Can’t wait.”
Eight
When Reese had toldSydney earlier this week that her dad was hell-bent on making this weekend happen, she hadn’t been lying, let alone exaggerating.
It was Thursday morning, and she’d already received at least a dozen texts from her father about the upcoming event.
What to bring. How to behave. Not to paint her brother in a bad light.
She’d laughed at the last one. As if Grant needed any help from her on that front.
