Chapter 10 #2
“You come bearing treats, so I’m more than happy to have you,” I say as Charlie starts unloading everything they bought.
Licorice, sour candies, chocolate, chips, and a six-pack of Syd’s favorite soda are laid out on the counter.
“Mia is bringing wine. Barrett is at my house with Jude and Knox, ‘working’ on Linc’s old bike. That’s code for standing around and plotting world domination or something.” She shakes her head. “I honestly have no idea what they do, but that bike is still in pieces,” she says with a laugh.
“I’m sure they talk about ways they can better our lives and be the knights in shining armor we deserve.
” Lucy walks into the kitchen. “Speaking of, Barrett was quite the hero today with Sydney. Mia said everyone knew he’d shown up for his kid when he revved his loud-as-hell bike before peeling out of the lot. ”
“Peeling?” I ask. I knew Syd was on his bike today, but she didn’t say anything about him peeling away.
“There was no peeling,” Syd says as she walks up to the counter and eyes the candy, grabbing a handful of sour gummies.
“Maybe I’m being a tad dramatic,” Lucy admits.
“A tad?” Charlie asks, quirking her brow in Lucy’s direction.
“I just keep picturing him smoking out the school and waving his middle finger to the little brats who made our girl here feel bad.” Lucy puts an arm around Syd. “How are you doing, sweetie?”
Syd smiles at the slightly deranged pregnant woman. “Better. I think it just got to me for a minute. But I’m good now. And he did rev his engine sooo loud. It was pretty awesome.”
“Like father, like daughter,” Lucy says with a laugh. She squeezes Syd’s arm before turning to me. “Mia said everyone was talking about it, and the kids said those girls were practically pissing themselves at the end of the day. No one messes with one of us and gets away with it.”
“These are kids we’re talking about, Lucy,” Charlie says. “But I think they learned a damn good lesson about watching what you say and who you say it to. I’d love to see one of their parents try to talk to Barrett about those little shits.”
“Do you think they will?” I ask Charlie.
“Doubtful. They can talk shit all they want, but no one is going to have the balls to confront him for scaring those girls. Not that he really had to do anything. Honestly, most of the people around here like the club. There are a small few who have issues, but Linc said it was the same when he was in high school. Now they know not to fuck with Syd, and that’s the important part.
Otherwise, I definitely think Barrett will be the one having a discussion with their parents.
” Charlie tosses a chocolate in her mouth and claps her hands together.
“Okay, let the couch rotting commence. I say we lie around and watch ‘90s high school movies where the bitchy girls always get what’s coming to them.”
Syd smiles and turns toward the hallway. “I’ll grab blankets and pillows.”
When Syd walks out of the kitchen, I look at the women I met only a month ago and give them a grateful smile.
“Thank you. It really means a lot to me that you showed up for Syd. It’s been rough with her mom’s death, moving to a new town, and starting a new school.
I appreciate you coming over to make her day better. ”
“Of course,” Lucy says. “That’s what family does. And we didn’t just show up for Syd. We came to hang out with you, too. Barrett told Jude you barged into the club all pissed off. Which I get. If I have a daughter, I would probably be hell on wheels until I knew she was safe.”
For the first time in my life, I’m finally seeing what a real family looks like.
They didn’t have to welcome me into their fold, but they did.
They didn’t have to show up here to make sure we’re both okay.
I’ve never had that before. It was always just me, and sometimes Samantha, who gave a damn about Syd.
No one was checking to see how I was handling things.
Right here and now, I vow to myself to give this situation with Barrett a real shot and stop trying to find fault in everything the man does.
He may handle things differently than I would, but he made Syd feel protected, and the girls make her feel cared for.
That’s all I’ve ever wanted, and it feels like we’ve finally found it.
Mia showed up after the first movie. It was about a woman who went back to high school as an undercover reporter to write an exposé for her boss.
She ended up reliving the high school experience she wished she had.
I’ve seen this movie a million times, but it was Syd’s first. She liked it, even if she groaned and covered her face with a pillow when the main characters had their first kiss.
We all watched one more, then Syd said she had to get some work done and retreated to her room.
“She is seriously an amazing kid,” Mia says, sitting on my couch. Lucy took the giant, overstuffed chair in the corner and sipped on some watermelon concoction her sister turned her on to, while Mia, Charlie, and I worked on the second bottle of wine she brought.
“She is. I’ve been so worried about her being in a new school.
She’s younger than the rest of the freshmen, and I knew things would be different for her in a new town.
I was worried she’d be treated as an outcast or something,” I say.
That was one of the reasons I freaked the hell out when I saw the text from Lucy.
Thankfully, the closing bartender came in early to finish my shift when I texted her and explained what was going on.
“Honestly, Camryn, she’s been doing great. She’s found a group of friends already, and one of the girls’ uncles works at the shop. It’s just been this last week that those little bitches decided to pick on her.”
“Mia, I’m scandalized that you would talk that way about your students,” Lucy says, then laughs. “God, I can’t even keep a straight face to sell that one.”
“It’s true. Everyone knows how they are, even the staff.
But their parents donate a shit ton of money, so most teachers don’t say anything.
Same as it’s always been. Knox has told me stories about how it was for him in high school.
I’m glad Syd’s made some friends, and other than today, she seems to be handling things well.
Honestly, if I hadn’t seen her, I think she would have forced herself to finish the day and not told anyone about it. ”
“That’s what worries me, though. She should have told me when it started. But she was afraid I’d blame Barrett for her problems at school,” I reply, then take a healthy sip of wine.
“Was she wrong?” Charlie asks from the other overstuffed chair.
I bite down on my lip, embarrassed to admit it.
“Maybe. I don’t know. Things have been a lot better between us since that first day.
For the most part, we kind of orbit each other, but one of us is always here when Syd’s home.
I think she’s worried I’m looking for something to be so wrong with Barrett that I can’t take it anymore and bail on all of it or something. ”
“I mean, it’s not as though she hasn’t had that happen to her. From what I understand, her mom bailed all the time, and she ran to you,” Charlie says.
“Yeah. To me. I’m the one who always took care of her,” I reply.
“But it’s different now. You’re the only person she has left.
And Barrett too, but that’s new, and she’s still figuring him out.
Though his showing up today went a long way for her, I’d bet.
I think Syd is still trying to figure out if she can trust this new dynamic between the three of you.
This is the first time she’s had a stable home. A real home.” Charlie smiles at me.
A real home. That’s what we have. And I want Syd to trust it. Hell, I want to trust it.
“So what was Barrett like when he was a kid?” Lucy asks. “I can’t picture him as anything other than a cocky asshole, quick with a joke and quick to get a woman in bed.”
“About the same,” I reply with a chuckle. “Not quite as filled out, but I would recognize his damn smirk anywhere.” Of course I would. It played through my mind often enough. And I hated myself for it every time.
Lucy’s eyes narrow as she stares at me, examining me. “You had a crush on him back then, didn’t you? No one comments on a man’s smile unless there was something there.”
I nearly choke on my wine. “He was my sister’s…” I can’t really say boyfriend since he was clear they were nothing more than the occasional hookup. “We never got along. From the second we met, we were oil and water.”
Lucy runs a hand over her protruding belly. “Yeah, I’m familiar with hating someone so much you want to punch them in the face until…you don’t.”
I do not like the knowing smile on her face.
“Lucy, not everyone falls in love with the person they fight with all the time,” Mia says.
“But it’s so much fun,” Lucy replies. “All that pent-up tension, then boom.” She makes an exploding gesture with her hands. “It all erupts into deliciously wild sex. Then you fall in love and live happily ever after.” She rubs her belly with a grin stretched across her face.
I can’t contain my scoff and eye roll. “Yeah, I have a feeling there’s a little more to it than that.”
“You have to start somewhere,” Lucy says, shooting me a wink.
“No thanks. I’ve been down that road before,” I tell her.
“Spill, sister,” Lucy says, leaning forward as though she is ready and waiting to hear my sad dating past.
“Ugh. There was a guy right after I stopped working at a bar in New York. He’d been after me for months, but I always said I wouldn’t mix my work and private life.
When I finished school and started teaching, I went to the bar and he was there.
I don’t know. I was stupid and took it as a sign to give him a chance. ”
“Uh-oh,” Mia says, sipping her wine.
I nod. “Yup. It was fun for a while. He was all about me, spoiling me every chance he got with flowers, dinners, weekend trips, shit like that. I knew he was a player in his past, but when I had all of his attention, none of that mattered. I was in his orbit. But then my sister started to become more unstable, and Syd started staying with me more. It wasn’t long before one of my old coworkers texted me a picture of him getting cozy at the bar I used to work at with another woman. ”
“Asshole,” Lucy says, shaking her head.
“How cozy are we talking?” Charlie asks.
“His hand was under her skirt, not all the way or anything, but far enough to know where it was heading. I forwarded the picture to him, and he went on a whole rant about how I never had time for him anymore, blah, blah, blah. And that was that.”
“No one since?”
“No one special. I don’t know. I just haven’t felt a spark with anyone else, and I don’t need anyone wasting my time.”
The fact that I’ve been salivating over Barrett the mornings we run into each other in the kitchen is something I won’t be divulging to her.
There are plenty of ways I can think of where he would likely excel at wasting my time, but the last thing the crazy pregnant lady needs is any more ideas about things that won’t be happening.
“Oh, I love this song,” Mia says and she gets up and throws her hands in the air to dance to the fun pop song that somehow made it onto my playlist. I also won’t be disclosing that I love the singer and maybe slightly stalk her on social media. Just a little.
“Please don’t bang yourself on the table and need to be bandaged up,” Lucy says.
Mia giggles and rolls her eyes. “Gotta start somewhere. That’s what you said.”
The three women share a laugh at some joke I’m not privy to.
“Come on,” she says, holding her hands out to me. “Dance party!”
Okay, the wine is hitting this girl a little hard. But her excitement is infectious, and I comply, letting her pull me from the couch to dance like a lunatic around my living room. Charlie and Lucy stand and we’re all laughing as we shimmy around the living room.
Syd, standing in the hallway, catches my eye. “You are all crazy,” she says.
The four of us laugh, and I dance my way over to her and grab her arms, pulling her into the melee.
“Come on, Syd.” I shake her arms, but she doesn’t move the rest of her body.
No, she’s trying her best to give me the unaffected teenager act as she watches us act like…
well, teenagers. The small smile that appears on her face moments later gives her away, though.
Pretty soon, she starts swinging from side to side along with the rest of us, laughing and letting herself have some silly fun.
This is a side of her I don’t get to see often, especially in the last couple months, and it lights me up from the inside.
I’m watching my niece feel a part of something she hasn’t in a long time.
Being part of a family and letting her guard down enough to have fun and be a silly kid without the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Then a door slams, and I turn around to come face to face with four very amused bikers. One in particular, whose fucking smirk has my stomach doing somersaults.