Slowly, like she wasn’t sure she had control over all of her limbs, Reese scooted herself over to lie flat on her back. “If you keep doing that, you’re never going to get rid of me,” she said between uneven breaths, pushing stray auburn hairs from her forehead.
Sydney was enchanted. That was the only way to describe it, as she watched the rise and fall of Reese’s chest. How her hair was a little disheveled from her shower last night, when she’d gone to bed without drying it. The way she’d do anything for her mom, even though that one had really ended up a boon for everyone involved.
Which was why it was so easy for her to say, even if Reese needed to get up soon to work, “I don’t want to get rid of you at all.”
Sydney had fallen back asleep after Reese left. When she finally emerged from her bedroom hours later, she wasn’t expecting to see Hallie sitting on the sofa, staring absently at her phone.
“Surprised you’re not out living your best life with your morning off.” She picked up the coffee pot and pouredan overly full cup of the steaming liquid, taking a few extra seconds to infuse her senses.
A jolt of caffeine and a few orgasms had her feeling better than she had in months—at least until she looked at Hallie again and clocked her vacant stare for the second time.
“You okay?” she asked, sitting down next to Hallie on the sofa. She tapped her foot against Hallie’s leg when she didn’t get an answer. “I’m going to get progressively more annoying, so please just know that.”
Hallie shot her an annoyed look, which wasn’t like her. At all. “Can’t a woman lament in peace?”
“Not on my watch.” If Hallie was struggling, Sydney wasn’t going to leave her flapping in the wind.
“My parents closed on their house in Colorado.”
“And you’re having feelings about this?”
Hallie sighed and shifted her body so that she was sitting cross-legged. “It’s all real now, you know? I think before I was deluding myself into thinking they were just on vacation or something.”
“I’m sorry, Hal. I didn’t know you were struggling with this.” Sydney had dropped back into Stoneport and quickly picked up with her own dramas, leaving Hallie to completely fend for herself. The guilt hit her like a brick to the stomach, and she leaned back against the sofa with the weight of it.
“It’s just, like, how much more settled can a family be than owning an inn in a charming coastal town? I never really planned for the possibility that they’d sell it or that my entire family would pick up and move to Colorado.”
“Do you want to go to Colorado with them?”
“Not really. You know I’m not exactly an outdoor enthusiast,” Hallie said with a self-deprecating smile.
Sydney ran her fingers along the back of the sofa to soothe herself. She’d hate it if Hallie moved to Colorado, but her best friend had never given Sydney an ounce of guilt over followingher own dreams. “I’m sure there are other things to do there if you want to be close to your family.”
“I think the problem is that I don’t know what I want. I’m twenty-eight years old, and I feel like I have no idea where my life is going. My family moved away. I’ve never had a serious relationship. I’m staying on at this job, but what happens after that? You’re going to leave Stoneport at some point, which means my social circle that’s not confined to coworkers will be back to zero.”
Those were all fair points, and the guilt made her stomach clench again. But still… “I really have no idea what I’m doing or where Stoneport fits into it. Not that me saying that is really helpful right now.”
“I know, and it’s okay that you don’t know what you’re doing. The point is that you’re trying to figure it out. Trying new things. Putting yourself back out there. I feel like I don’t know how to do that. What I feel like…” Hallie stilled, working to find the right words. “I feel like I’m just a side character in other people’s lives. You know what I mean?”
Sydney nodded. “That’s how I felt in Grant’s life, when I found out about Brynn. But Hallie”—she grabbed her best friend’s hand—“you are so much more than that. Smart and funny and lovable and truly, the best friend in the world. If you want to put yourself out there, I want to help you do that. If you want to take a few weeks and go visit Colorado, I’ll be happy to pick up the slack with Reese.”
Hallie lifted her eyebrow.
Sydney laughed. “Yeah, I can’t say Reese would want to agree to that, given it would really be the blind leading the blind, but we’d manage. For you, I’d make it work. Because your happiness and life are just as important as anyone else’s.”
“She must think you’re phenomenal in bed if you think she’d consider something like that,” Hallie teased.
Sydney could feel a faint blush spread across her cheeks. “It’s not like that.”
“These walls are most definitely not as thick as they should be—you should really have Reese look into that—and judging by this morning, it most definitely sounded like that.” Hallie, in a very Hallie fashion, aggressively waggled her eyebrows.
“I really like her, Hal.” There was no point in lying about it to herself or her best friend.
“Well, if she adds another plus in the ‘spend more time in Stoneport’ column, then I am all for it!” Hallie said at the same time she slapped Sydney’s leg.
“Yeah? You don’t think it’s weird that she’s Grant’s sister?” Sydney had mostly gotten over that little inconvenience, but with every step forward they took, it cropped up in her mind.
“It seems like you’re the one who thinks it’s weird,” Hallie challenged.
