Page 125 of Spurred On

“Okay, okay.” Cody slashed at the air with his hand. “She said wow. What now?”

“Hey, that rhymed,” Charlie said, but Cody ignored him. He was probably drunk.

It occurred to him that these guys weren’t going to help him at all. What he really needed was to find Sidney and make her listen.

He tossed back his second drink and stood. “I need to talk to her,” he said as he left the room. He wouldn’t be able to sleep until he did.

“Hey,” Ford called as he headed into the hall. “Thanks for the champagne.”

Cody ignored him. He was a man on a mission.

What a pity he didn’t find her that night.

And he didn’t find her the next morning either, though it was clear from what Lisa and Claire said she was still here and neck deep in duties. All that aside, no matter where he looked, he didn’t see hide nor hair of her.

It was pretty clear she was avoiding him.

And damn it, that sucked.

***

It wasn’t hard evading Cody, because Sidney had apparently developed some kind of radar for his presence. She’d get that humming buzz in her head and she’d know he was close, and she’d jet away to some other spot.

Not that she was hiding, but she was. She couldn’t face him just yet. Her heart was too bruised.

She’d thought about leaving last night—oh, she’d thought about it long and hard—but she’d made a commitment to Lisa and Claire and couldn’t leave them in the lurch. But by God, she owed Cody nothing.

When the party ended and the guests had left, Lisa talked Brandon into making a steak dinner for everyone because she’d heard how talented he was as a chef. It was totally selfish on Lisa’s part, because she was looking for a chef to help with the event catering. And also, Lisa really liked steak.

Because Hanna and Logan were still at the ranch, Sidney decided to stay too, but it was tough sitting at the table with Cody’s hot gaze on her. It took all her myriad acting skills to pretend not to have a care in the world. After the meal, Porsche pulled her aside and asked if they could have a private chat; Sidney cringed at the thought.

Just as she suspected, Porsche wanted to come clean about her relationship with Brandon, which was hardly a surprise because Sidney had long since figured that out.

To make things worse, she wanted to give Sidney a green light to pursue a relationship with Cody.

And yeah, that only made Sidney feel worse, because she’d already gone poaching on what Porsche had considered her personal property.

Of course, she didn’t mention that.

Needless to say, after that conversation and the emotionally draining crap of the day before, Sidney was more than ready to go home. She was fantasizing about putting her feet up, pouring a large flagon of wine and doing as little as possible for the rest of the day. But as she loaded up her car, Claire found her.

“Hey,” she said, strolling over with her hands behind her back.

“Hey,” Sidney said.

“Good work this weekend.”

“Thanks.”

Honestly, the last thing she wanted right now was a pep talk. Especially because she planned on giving her notice tomorrow. On the phone. She didn’t want a face-to-face anything at the moment.

“Listen, Sidney.” Something in Claire’s tone caught her attention.

She stopped fiddling with her suitcase. “Mmm?”

“I just . . . wanted to apologize.”

Her head came up. She stared at Claire. “For what?”