feet. “You should have said something! I had no idea!” Grabbing Haley, she hugged her tight and noticed Kyle quietly get up and step behind the wheel. “I’m sorry. I never even thought about an allowance.”
After a minute, Haley pulled back and gave her a small smile. “It’s okay. Really. You can’t know everything, Aunt Syd.” She shrugged. “I just didn’t know how to bring it up. Besides, you’ve been busy with your new job and the house and Kyle, so I didn’t want to bother you.”
“Haley, you aren’t a bother. We’re a team, kiddo. We have to talk to each other. There are so many things that I am completely clueless about because I never had any kids of my own. Please just…you know…be patient with me.”
Haley studied her hard for a moment. “Do you want to have kids of your own?”
Sydney couldn’t help but glance at Kyle and was a little relieved that he wasn’t looking back at her. But yeah. She did want kids. With him.
“I do,” she said honestly. “I have no idea when it will happen, but…yeah. That was always something I wanted—to get married and have kids.”
“Oh.”
Pulling back, she gently cupped Haley’s face. “That is a long way off, okay? There’s nothing at all for you to worry about.”
Haley nodded but didn’t say anything else to her. Instead, she turned to Kyle. “Can I steer some more?”
“Yeah, sure.” He stood by until she got situated and then sat down next to Sydney again. “You okay?”
“Sometimes I feel like I’ve got it all under control and I’m doing a good job and then bam! Turns out I’m not.”
“Stop,” he said softly. “It’s not that bad. This is just the kind of thing you both have to get used to.”
“I know. This is just some of what I hope the counselor is going to help us with.”
“Really?”
Nodding, she explained, “It’s more than just grief that we’re dealing with. It’s things like the allowance and knowing how to raise a young person. I mean, I know every parent says how kids don’t come with a manual, but in most cases, the child is yours and you have some time to prep. I didn’t. It was like one minute I was living alone up in Boston and just Haley’s aunt. Now I’m…”
He placed a kiss on her forehead. “You’re amazing. And I know you’re not her mom, but…I think you’re the next best thing for her. And someday, when you have kids of your own, you’ll be the best mom for them.”
Her heart skipped a beat at his words. Slowly, her gaze met his. “I…I hope so.”
He nodded. “You will be. I know it.” This time he kissed her softly on the lips before saying, “Remember when we used to talk about having kids?”
Sydney felt her cheeks heat. “I do.”
“You wanted twin girls and then a boy. Is that still true?”
Her eyes went wide. “How…how do you even remember that?”
“We used to talk about it a lot.” He shrugged. “It was something we planned for a while.” He picked up her hand and gently caressed it. “You ever still think about it?”
Wordlessly, she nodded.
It wasn’t like it was something she thought about often, but every once in a while, it was there.
Lately it had been on her mind more than she was willing to admit.
“I’m not sure this is the right time to be talking about this,” she whispered.
“You guys know I can hear you, right?” Haley said, giving them both a bored look before shaking her head. “Maybe we should just turn the boat around and I’ll go sleep at Janie’s tonight or something so I’m out of your way.”
Sydney looked over at Kyle and she felt even more defeated than she had a few minutes ago. She went to stand up, but he stopped her.
Rising, Kyle walked over to her niece and stood beside her matching her stance and looking straight ahead. “Do you know why we’re out here on the boat tonight?”
Haley’s answer was a shrug.
“I was pretty stoked about being done with your house,” he explained. “I walked around, patting myself on the back about what a great job I did, and I wanted to celebrate.”
“Then why am I here?” she asked flatly.
This time, Kyle did turn to her. “It’s your house, Hales. I wanted to celebrate with you and your aunt and thought this would be fun!”
Another shrug.
“I mean, I considered pizza and ice cream at the house, but I didn’t think I’d