She could now see, with startling clarity, how that must have looked from the outside.
All so that a year later, when she popped up with Reese Devereux as her girlfriend, inserting herself into Grant’s life, she looked… “I’m not crazy, I promise. I didn’t know that Grant was going to be around so much when I came back into town.”
“Reese didn’t tell you her brother was getting married?”
“Ehh…” Sydney felt the heat flame her cheeks, caught in her mother’s curious stare. “Our relationship is a little newer than we’d let people believe. We connected when I came back this summer, given that she was at the inn so much.”
“Got it,” her mom said, absorbing the information with a neutral look.
“I promise you, it doesn’t change how I feel about her. I’ve felt more like myself this past month than I have in years. I understand now that I shut you out and that this all seems like it’s out of left field, but I think you’d really like her. She’s smart and driven and incredibly sweet to me. I’d like to think that she’s exactly the type of person that you’d want your daughter to end up with.”
And even if that was a loaded statement that exploded in Sydney’s brain and made her feel a little lightheaded, she tamped down the idea. Whether this was going somewhere long-term, Reese was good for her right now, and she wanted to see where things would go. That was what she was focusing on. Not her overzealous desire to always have a multistep plan that stretched years into the future.
She’d much rather take a chance on happiness than settle, like she’d done before, on something she’d thought was a sure thing.
“You do really seem happy, Sydney. I was just trying to reconcile the situation, when confronted with Reese, as I tried to fill in the gaps from the last year. I wish I’d handled it differently.”
Sydney smiled, warmth threading through her veins. “I really am happy. And I’d love for you to get to know Reese. I think you’ll see where some of my happiness is coming from.”
“I’d like that,” her mom said, leaning forward and giving her a kiss on the forehead.
Shifting her focus, Sydney removed her hand and leaned back in her chair, her arm draped across the table. “Now what about you? What’s going on with Florida?”
“What do you?—”
“Mom, I was honest with you. I’d like the same thing in return.”
Her mom gave her a surmising stare before something settled across her face. “Wow, your time in Stoneport really has done wonders.”
“As I told you,” Sydney said with a decisive nod, coupled with a smile. “Now, what’s going on?”
“I don’t think I’m a Florida person,” her mom admitted. “It made sense when you were there.”
“But I’m not right now.”
“But you’re not,” her mom agreed, “and I think after two years, I’d feel more settled.”
“You haven’t gotten invested in the local flora of Florida?” Sydney joked.
That earned a smile from her mom. “This last year, with you so withdrawn…”
Guilt prickled across Sydney’s skin, itchy and uncomfortable.
Her mom shook her head when she saw the anguish on Sydney’s face. “I don’t say that to make you feel badly. All I mean is that, with you so focused on tennis this last year and less willing to be open with me, I really did try to create a network. To integrate into the neighborhood and make it feel more like a home for myself.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I couldn’t see that you were struggling through my own pain.” Sydney had been single-minded since she’d broken up with Grant. On moving forward. On pushing past. On not letting Grant take one more thing from her.
And what had it gotten her? A whole lot of relationships she was just now beginning to mend, including the one with herself.
“It’s okay, baby. And if we’re being honest, I wanted to come to Stoneport to check on you, but I also wanted to be here. With my sisters. My family. This is my home, and it always will be, no matter where I live.”
“I understand that feeling completely,” Sydney said. As she bitback the emotion in her voice, tears started to pool behind her eyes.
Her mom wiped at her own eyes. “Well, I really didn’t expect us to be having this conversation, but I’m really glad that we are.”
“Me too, Mom. And if you and Dad want to move back to Stoneport, I want that for you. Truly.”
“You bought that beautiful house because we loved it. You took so much thought and care to make sure that we felt at home there,” her mom argued.
