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CHAPTER34
Sylvie watchedLauren leaning out of the open treehouse window. Her long hair falling in waves down her back. Despite the sticky afternoon heat, she was glowing.
It figured that Lauren would be at her most beautiful right before their worlds imploded. She was always incredibly inconvenient in that way.
“Do you think watching them swarm us is going to help our predicament?” Sylvie moved toward Lauren, a shot of pain searing her hip where she’d scraped off a layer of skin.
“They’re not going to rumble in the street, right?” Lauren’s dark eyes shone with worry as she peered out the opening.
Sylvie pulled her away from the window and snuggled against her chest. “I wish we could’ve just called one side and not the other.”
Lauren held her in the most confident, steadfast embrace Sylvie had ever experienced. “And which side were we going to successfully leave in the dark about where we are? My mother sounded like she was on the verge of calling the police. As if I was a toddler snatched from the front yard.”
“My mother might have been about to call the National Guard,” she agreed with a dry laugh.
Even as grown women, neither of them could get away with disappearing from their parents. Sylvie didn’t go anywhere without her mother knowing . . . and worrying. She couldn’t even be vague about her whereabouts. If her parents were any better at technology, they’d figure out how to put a tracker on her phone.
“It’s going to be okay,” Lauren promised, kissing the top of her head.
“Perhaps you’ve forgotten the great Thanksgiving Day debacle of 2013.”
Lauren’s laugh rumbled in her chest, it’s joyful taint spreading into Sylvie’s stiff body. “That poor volunteer who assigned our families to distribute turkey dinners at the same shelter.”
Sylvie burrowed against Lauren’s neck as dread tried to claw its way out of her belly. “I had corn in my hair when I washed it that night.”
“Welp. . . Here’s hoping no one shows up with anything that can become a projectile.”
“I wish we could’ve held on to this a little longer,” Sylvie said as regret pushed her heart into her throat. “Have it be ours before we have to share it with anyone.”
“Nothing is going to change, Syl. Actually, maybe it will, but only for the better. We don’t have anything to hide. The sooner this is out in the open the better. It’s not like we could wait until the birth of our second baby to tell them.”
Despite the fear stiffening her bones, Sylvie laughed. “You’d be a good dad.”
Lauren chuckled. “Hell yeah.”
Outside, the sound of voices floated up to their borrowed cocoon. Lauren kissed her again before turning back to the window. With a resigned sigh, Sylvie joined her.
On the street, the Sharks and the Jets moved toward each other like they were reenacting West Side Story with an all-Cuban cast.
“Was your entire family over for lunch?” Lauren asked, her eyes wide as the reality of their situation slammed into her like a foul ball zooming into a spectator.
It was one thing to be positive when the clash was only theoretical, but now that it was shaping up in front of them, she seemed to understand Sylvie’s concern.
Sylvie glanced at the Machado side of the street. “Looks like your whole fam is here too.”
Lauren groaned. “My uncle must have just shown up and brought my grandma and cousins. I didn’t know they were coming.” She squinted. “Hey, at least your godmother is here. She likes me.”
Sylvie was relieved that Regina was there. She would be in their corner, but one person could only do so much.
“How long before a neighbor calls the cops?” Sylvie wondered after a long, still silence.
Lauren winced. “Hopefully before my grandma smashes a Heineken bottle against the curb and uses it as a shank.”
“This is going to be bad. This is going to be so bad.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Carla Machado, her dark hair framing her round face shouted first.
“I should have known you were somehow involved in this!” Sylvie’s mother roared, increasing her pace as she broke formation. “What have you done to my daughter?”
