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I hum an agreement, my mind still spinning too fast to form more of a response.
He lied to me about helping Catherine.
Why?
“Does Holden know you’re here?” I ask.
Sydney huffs, eyes focused on the mountains. “No. I haven’t talked to him since he left on Thursday.”
I swallow, trying to ignore the unease as I realize…he didn’t go back to Pembrookeat all.
I push the questions away for now. Sydney has plenty to deal with at the moment. She doesn’t need my drama.
“Want to spend the night?” I ask.
“Don’t classes start tomorrow? I don’t want to get in the way.”
“You’re not in the way.” I stand. “Just let me change. We can go get some lunch and buy cookie dough for later.”
Sydney gives me a watery smile. “You’re sure Nova won’t mind?”
“I’m sure. Soccer is in full swing for her already, so her schedule is super hectic. She’s only been back here to sleep.”
I head into my bedroom to grab a shirt.
The air conditioning is on, but it’s not doing much. I’m just wearing a sports bra and shorts. I was half-considering going to the gym later, but I need no convincing to abandon that plan.
“So I ran into Grace Harper yesterday,” Sydney says when I walk back into the common area.
“My condolences,” I say before tugging the t-shirt down over my head.
When the fabric clears my face, Sydney is smiling. Then she tilts her head. “She asked if you and Holden wereactuallyback together…which kinda implies you broke up?”
There’s no accusation in her expression but definitely some confusion. Wondering why Grace knows more about my relationship with her brother than she does.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” I say.
I walk toward the kitchen table—where I’m ninety-nine percent certain I left my car keys earlier—grateful I can hide my face.
I don’t want to lie to Sydney.
But I don’t want to get into this either—not when she’s got all this other stuff going on.
Not when Holden and I are back on stable ground. Ithoughtwe were back on stable ground, at least.
Not when I just found out he lied to me yesterday.
That feels like tremors.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asks.
“It was a rough patch. We got through it.”
“Holden did something?”
“Syd…”
“Okay, all right. Not my business. If you want to talk about it, I’m here.”
