little fling and…you know…get him out of your system.”
Me and my big mouth…
“Look, now’s just not the right time to get involved with anyone. No flinging. Especially with Kyle,” she explained. “I really didn’t even want him doing the work on the house. You guys know how I felt about him. It was so damn awkward, and then he went and used the nickname and…”
“If you bring up the whole Pixie thing, I swear I’m going to throw this plate of nachos at you,” Cheryl said. “You cannot still be hung up on that.”
“Yeah, I realize that now, but when I saw him and he said it, it was like a knee-jerk reaction. We talked about it, and I’m okay with it now.” She looked up at her friends and could tell they were all a little disappointed in her. “Oh, come on! It’s all okay now!”
“Are you saying that you’re not interested in anything more with him?” Kristin asked. “Because I’ve considered asking Steve to build an extension on the house so we can hire Coleman Construction and have Kyle come and do the work.”
Everyone laughed, and Sydney simply shook her head. “That’s ridiculous.”
“No, it’s not!” Tara cried. “Turn up the heat in the house next week and see if he takes off his shirt. Then decide if you’re interested or not.”
“And if you’re not,” Linda chimed in, “then you need to get your head examined because…damn. I’d seriously consider cheating on Don for a chance at a fling with Kyle.”
Groaning, she began to reconsider her earlier opinion that this was exactly the kind of thing she needed.
“I’m not turning up the heat, and Kyle is keeping his shirt on. Can we please just…change the subject?” Shaking her head, she added, “And shame on all of you! Kyle Jones completely broke my heart way back when. You all know how devastated I was. Why would you even encourage something like…like a fling with him?”
Thankfully, everyone took the hint and they spent the next several hours enjoying dinner and dessert and catching up. By the time Sydney was in her car and heading home, she went back to her original mindset of it being a great night. She had a lot of friends up in Boston, but it wasn’t the same. The girls she hung out with tonight were more like family. They’d grown up together—experienced just about every major milestone in their lives together—and for the first time since moving back to Magnolia Sound, she was happy to be there.
When she parked her car in her driveway, she took a minute to stare up at the house. The outside bore little resemblance to the way it looked when she first came back, and soon she’d be stepping into a completely renovated home. Tears stung her eyes as she realized this was what Tracy was working toward and how she’d never see it.
Muttering a curse before she broke down in tears again, Sydney forced herself to climb from the car and walk up the front steps. It was late—almost midnight—and she felt a little guilty about it. She had texted Haley several times to make sure she was okay, and after the third text, her niece told her to stop bothering her, so…she did. Now she was here alone and it was way more intimidating than she thought it would be.
Opening the front door, she stepped inside with a sigh. The only light on was the small lamp next to the sofa in the living room, and the silence was almost deafening. It took her less than a minute to realize she wasn’t ready to sleep here alone. It was one thing to be by herself while Haley was at the Y or at a friend’s house, but this suddenly felt very different, and her anxiety had her feeling like she couldn’t breathe.
There were a couple of hotels right in Magnolia where she could book a room, but she knew if she wasn’t going to sleep here, there was only one place she really wanted to go. And before she could talk herself out of it, she pulled out her phone and quickly typed out a text.
* * *
Sydney: You awake?
* * *
Then she held her breath and waited.
The response was instantaneous.
* * *
Kyle: Yeah. Everything okay?
Sydney: No.
* * *
And before he could respond or she could even help herself, she added:
* * *
Sydney: Can I come over?
* * *
Kyle quickly tapped out his address and she was out the