6. Sydney
6
SYDNEY
The day was bitterly cold, and Sydney immediately regretted her footwear choice. Her favorite blue flats were comfortable enough to walk in all day, but her ankle peaking out from the bottoms of her skinny stretch jeans would freeze if they did much walking outside.
She’d made the mistake of packing for a San Diego winter. She forgot how much colder New Orleans was, despite being farther south.
Her heart raced as she knocked and waited.
When the door opened, she found Katie inside. Her dark brown hair brushed the tops of her shoulders, and her thick dark bangs framed her forehead.
“Let me just grab my coat and purse and we can head out.”
Katie’s motions were hurried as she walked to a small round dinette across from the living room. She fumbled with slipping her black leather jacket over a long-sleeved black T-shirt and looked uncharacteristically sheepish.
Not that Sydney knew what was characteristic of this woman. She only knew what she’d seen so far. Confidence. Ease.
Even through the situation Sydney had roped her into.
It was past time she fixed that situation. Or at least cleared the air.
“Actually,” Sydney said. “Can I come in for a second? To explain things before we do anything else?”
Katie froze with one arm in her jacket, surprise settling on her face with the suggestion. But she nodded inside.
“Yeah. An explanation would be great.”
Sydney entered the modest second-floor apartment and closed the door behind her. The place was small, but cozy. She walked to the old but comfy-looking faded blue couch that Katie gestured at. Instead of sharing the couch, Katie sat in what looked like a dining table chair parked across the tiny room.
“Thanks,” Sydney said. I just need to… I mean, it’s not what you think.”
“I think you haven’t told Stephen you’re into women.”
“Okay, it’s sort of what you think. But that’s not really all of it.” She rubbed her hands together and felt wobbly, even though she was sitting down. The words she was about to free herself from weighed heavily on her shoulders.
“So what is it really, then? Because you have to know Stephen of all people won’t care that you’re not straight.”
“Yeah. No, I know.” Sydney took a deep breath, trying to find the right words even though she’d rehearsed this all night and on the drive over that morning. “He told you I was married, right?”
Katie nodded.
“I don’t want him to think this was the cause of that or that the divorce is affecting my decisions,” Sydney said. “I’m making a lot of big changes, and I just want him and the rest of my family to understand that my coming out is its own thing. Not influenced by anything else.”
She hoped that made sense.
Katie seemed to consider it for a moment. She tilted her head, assessing Sydney and her explanation.
“Okay,” Katie finally said. “I get that. I think. But you have to tell them, eventually.”
“Yeah, of course. And I want to,” Sydney said, fiddling with the ends of her coat. “I was planning to tell him this week. I just hadn’t gotten to it yet. But I didn’t want him to find out that way. And it has nothing to do with you in particular. I swear.”
Katie’s expression softened. “I get it. You wanted it to come from you, not from me or the situation.”
“Right.” Sydney bit her lip as she realized she was at the hard part now. “So, the thing is… I lied to him about when I would be here. I told him I couldn’t fly in in until Christmas Eve, but I crashed at an old friend’s place for a couple days before that.”
Katie’s eyes widened. “So he didn’t know you were in town that night of the party?”
“Right. That was the lie.”
She held her breath while Katie considered that as well. The woman across the room looked more confused than before.
“I still don’t understand why you would lie about that.” She shook her head. “It’s really none of my business, I guess.”
Sydney wanted to tell her why, but she didn’t know Katie well enough to trust her. She was a pretty good judge of people and didn’t think Katie would intentionally run to tell Stephen that she had lied to him, but she didn’t know if Katie might slip that information. It would be one thing if Sydney misled them about when she arrived. It would be an entirely bigger mess if Stephen knew why.
He’d never let that go.
Sydney needed more time.
“I really don’t want to put you in the middle of our family stuff. I’m sorry you’re already in it as much as you are.”
“You didn’t know who I was,” Katie said. “It’s not like you did it on purpose. But yeah, I don’t want to be in the middle of it.”
“Fair. Thank you. And thank you for playing along so—” Something caught Sydney’s eye exiting what must have been a bedroom. She realized it was a creature of some sort.
Katie looked over her shoulder. Then she held out her hand and called over what appeared now to be a cat.
“You should consider yourself lucky,” Katie said, picking up the huge, fluffy orange cat who was missing both a front leg and an eye on his left side. “Benjamin never makes an appearance around strangers. He usually doesn’t even come out for Stephen. He must like your voice. Or vibe. Or something.”
“May I?” When Katie nodded, Sydney stretched her hand out and waited for the cat to walk toward the couch. The moment her hand landed on him and stroked the length of his back, the cat instantly purred louder than she’d ever heard a cat purr. “What happened to him?”
“Some asshole didn’t like him wandering around near his property, so he used a BB gun on him. Someone found him and brought him to a local rescue group. The singer of my cousin’s band is dating a woman who works at the rescue, and she asked me to take care of him after his surgeries.”
Sydney smiled at the way Katie looked at that cat. “I see he’s still here.”
“I was a goner for him from day one. Couldn’t hand him over to anyone else after all he’s been through. Poor guy. Plus, I’ve got a thing for the hard cases. Here and at work.” Katie raised a brow. “Don’t tell my cousin Rachel I said that. She’ll have five more on my door before sundown.”
Katie’s expression was stern, but Sydney was blown away by the obvious love she had for that cat. Stephen had told her she worked with the otters at the aquarium, but she didn’t know what Katie meant by the “hard cases.” She couldn’t guess what that meant in otter terms.
“I’m glad he landed with you. Looks like he’s got everything he needs now.”
Sydney stopped petting Benjamin, and he walked back to Katie, where she picked him up and kissed his head. When she placed him back on the floor, she stood and walked to the table again, grabbing her coat and purse. “Are you ready? Or do you have more reveals before we go?”
“Nope,” Sydney said. “That’s it. But I want to take you to my favorite place first, and I know it’s still there because Stephen and I passed by it yesterday. My treat. As a thanks for today and for covering for me and… well, for everything.”
Katie’s cheeks reddened slightly at that, and she smiled. “It’s no big deal. And Stephen was right. I don’t have anything better to do today.”
“Still, I want to thank you.”
Sydney couldn’t help feeling like she was wasting Katie’s time, despite what she’d said about not having anything better to do. If nothing else, she was taking Katie away from that adorable cat.
After slipping on her coat and grabbing a set of keys from her purse, Katie said, “Ready?”
Sydney couldn’t think of a single thing she was ready for. Spending the day with this woman who still took her breath away. Telling her family she’d lied to them. Telling them she was bisexual. None of it.
And another possibility as well.
There were too many reveals and far too little time to space them out.
But today… today was the thing she was most ready for. Even if there was no future for her and Katie.
Sydney didn’t plan on starting a relationship with the first woman she’d made out with. No matter how that woman made her feel.
She gave Katie a tight smile and nodded. “Ready.”