“And I stood there thinking about how this man could watch his children struggle and not care. How he wanted to be willfully ignorant. I can take his indifference. Not that it’s okay,” she added, “but watching him with you this summer, and now with Grant, I cannot in good conscience stand by that man, regardless of the years we’ve had together.”
“Mom.” Reese’s voice cracked with the weight of emotion, of how deeply, in that moment, she knew the love for both of her children ran.
“I was hoping I could stay at the inn for tonight, if that’s okay.” Her mom’s voice was so hopeful that it made Reese want to move mountains to help her.
Reese’s parents had been married for thirty-two years. Over half of her mom’s life. They shared children. Shared a home.
Even if her mom’s voice was surprisingly clear, Reese saw turmoil brewing behind her eyes. “I just didn’t want to stay in that house alone tonight. Your father decided to go back to Boston, unsurprisingly. Actually, he told me that when I wouldn’t drop the conversation about Grant.”
Of course he’d left. She was pretty sure he lived in Boston these days, only spending occasional weekends at the Stoneport house to keep up appearances or host parties there. Nothing she’d seen this summer dissuaded her from that impression.
On top of the uncertainty and anger and sadness that were likely to ebb and flow in the coming days, Reese knew that her mom must be desperately lonely. And, in her time of need, she’d come to Reese for help.
So yeah. Reese was going to find a room for her to stay in tonight, even if none were available.
Seventeen
“Thank you,”Reese said for about the dozenth time as she fluffed her pillow against the headboard. “This is only for tonight. I’ll figure out a better plan tomorrow.”
Sydney stood, hands on her hips, facing Reese from across the bed. “In what universe are you thanking me for sleeping in my bed? I feel like I should be the one thanking you.”
Reese calling her thirty minutes ago and asking if she could sleep in Sydney’s room tonight was, she had to guess, similar to how she’d feel if she won a Grand Slam tournament. Like the luckiest person in the world, to put it mildly.
While Reese was getting her own room ready for her mom, whose reasons for being at the inn were still unclear, Sydney had busied herself cleaning up errant dirty laundry and making her bed.
She hadn’t even unpacked from her trip to Florida yet, and after taking a quick shower, she realized that she was dead on her feet. A hellish night of travel. A day with Reese’s family. The rest of the day withherfamily. Committing to trying out the commentator position. The scene in the pool that was like something out of her fantasies.
And the truth that couldn’t be dampened by her exhaustionwas that, in spite of her overwhelming desire to crawl into bed, she was so grateful for how the night was playing out. All she’d wanted to do after making Reese come undone around her fingers was for them to find somewhere soft and warm and horizontal to simply exist together, enjoying the post-sex languor brought on after a month of buildup and a day of interruptions.
“I am going to crawl into this bed now, and I can’t promise I’ll be awake for longer than a few minutes,” Sydney said, already easing under the covers. The sheets were cool against her bare legs, and she sank immediately into the softness of the mattress.
Reese followed suit and slid in on her side. “I really appreciate this, Sydney.”
“We’re consenting adults who have been interrupted all day like we’re teenagers trying to find a spot to hook up. We deserve this,” Sydney said in a sleep-soaked voice, inching herself closer to the middle of the mattress.
“I know, but even your parents weren’t able to stay here.” Which was the truth, given that, when her parents had shown up earlier today, every room had been booked. And really, she loved her parents. But maybe having them twenty minutes away and staying with one of her aunts wasn’t the worst thing in the world, given her mom’s less-than-warm response to Reese earlier.
Which reminded her, even through her sleepy haze: “I’m sorry that my mom wasn’t nicer to you. She’s just really protective, and after the whole Grant thing, I don’t think she thought she’d ever have to deal with a Devereux again.”
Reese nodded and inched closer to Sydney, too, so that both of their heads were resting on their respective pillows, only a few inches of space separating their faces.
Sydney could feel the sleep pulling at her eyelids, keeping them closed for longer every time she shut them.
“I can see that she really loves you. And hopefully,” Reese said, tugging Sydney’s lower lip into her mouth before letting it go with apop, “she’ll come to see me the way you do.”
“And how’s that?” she asked, feeling like the conversation washappening in a dream when she felt Reese’s arm drape across her hips, pulling their bodies closer together.
“Like someone you can count on.”
Sydney didn’t know if those words were real or imagined, but they stayed burrowed in her mind as she drifted off to sleep.
Sydney groaned as she felt the covers start to move and warmth drifted away from her.
Yesterday was starting to come back to her in foggy memories that were slowly piecing themselves together. Way too many parents. Unbelievably good sex.
She was still tired, but what she clung to was the knowledge that Reese was in bed with
her and she didn’t want her to leave.
