Hallie nodded, absorbing the answer. “So you aren’t avoiding my bestie? My other half? The sun around which my Earth spins?”
Reese tempered her smile at the colorful descriptors. “I have some stuff going on, which Sydney is aware of already. I promise.”
“So… how wasyourweekend?” Hallie asked, before quickly adding, “I mean, outside of the crazy family stuff.”
Reese found herself smiling in spite of all that had transpired and at odds with the confusion warring inside of her. Even though her brain had curated a list of all the reasons giving in with Sydney would be a bad idea, all she could see now when she thought about the weekend were those piercing green eyes and a contagious smile that she’d been missing this week.
“A lot better with Sydney there,” she answered honestly.
“Sounds about right,” Hallie agreed.
“My family is… dysfunctional,” Reese settled on, watching as Hallie absorbed every single word. “It’s really nice to have someone there to balance out the crazy, someone I know is in my corner.”
“Sydney’s one of the most loyal people I know. And, if you haven’t noticed, she may be a bit too trusting.”
As she had said before, she felt that Grant had abused Sydney’s trust; their breakup was squarely on his shoulders. Reese understood all too well what it felt like to have your faith in someone broken.
And, for the last six months, that feeling had made it especially easy to keep everyone at arm’s length.
Sydney King, in under two weeks, had broken through every safeguard she’d put in place.
More than that, she liked that even though she knew Sydney struggled with what it all meant—Grant’s betrayal, the confusion about whatever they were doing—it hadn’t changed who she seemed to be, which was someone who wanted to show up for people and do the right thing.
Really, though, she did owe Sydney more of an explanation, or even more of just a conversation, if Sydney wanted to have one.
It was clear that, after the weekend, she’d left the ball in Reese’s court.
They’d driven back home to Stoneport early on Sunday morning, and Sydney had been gracious enough not to mention that they’d woken up the way they’d fallen asleep, with their legs intertwined and Reese pressed into Sydney’s chest.
The whole night had been cathartic, to put it mildly. She’d slept like a baby, and though she’d been trying not to think about it, she was pretty sure when her alarm had gone off, she’d let out a frustrated groan and burrowed in deeper against Sydney’s impossibly soft T-shirt.
Reese realized, as Hallie’s watchful gaze still scanned her face, that the question wasn’t rhetorical.
“I hope I haven’t given Sydney any reason to feel like her trust in me is misplaced. I’ve moved back to Stoneport, and I’m going to be here.” She ran her hands along the wooden check-in desk, anchoring herself to its solidity. “We both have our reasons for agreeing to our fake dating, but I think that out of the two of us…”
Reese’s words trailed off, and Hallie leaned closer. “‘Out of the two of you’ what?”
Reese’s lips pursed. She hadn’t let herself think about it over the last few weeks, how Sydney’s time in Stoneport was very likely a stopover onto her next adventure. She was a world-renownedathlete and a relatively well-known name even outside of the tennis world.
Sydney had come back home to lick her wounds and recalibrate her life. The loss of a long-term relationship and her career in the last year couldn’t have been easy to manage.
Reese knew that firsthand.
Once Sydney decided what she wanted to do next—and Reese had no doubt that it would be a choice among many different things—she’d very likely leave Stoneport.
“I don’t think we’ll keep her,” Reese admitted. “I know she’s going to have opportunities coming her way soon, if they haven’t already started. She mentioned that she’s going back to Florida next week to meet with her agent.”
“And to see her parents,” Hallie countered.
It was something that Sydney had shared with her on the ride home from Bingham. She’d framed it casually, checking in about any upcoming events to make sure she wasn’t going to miss them.
To Hallie’s point, Sydney was incredibly dependable.
But there was another thought that kept niggling in the back of her brain. Reese had broken down, had unexpectedly leaned on Sydney, and less than twelve hours later, Sydney was reminding her that she wasn’t always going to be here. That her life wasn’t really in Stoneport.
Maybe it was a coincidence, but Reese was still on high alert, attuned to every possible worst-case scenario.
“Sydney’s plan was always to move back to Stoneport eventually,” Hallie answered, but it didn’t even sound like she believed herself, given the way she wouldn’t make eye contact with Reese.
