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“There’s only one way to find out.” Sydney glances at her phone. “I’ve really got to go. I’ll see you next weekend. Thanks for the bagel.”
Then she slides out of the booth and leaves me sitting here.
My phone vibrates with a text from Cassia.
CASSIA:How did it go?
I have no clue how to answer her.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CASSIA
“Wow. This is…wow.”
I hide a smile behind my water bottle as Jackie stares at the group of shirtless guys washing cars.
Pembrooke High’s basketball team turned out in full force. JV and Varsity are in complete attendance.
I’m not surprised Holden’s influence surpassed our graduation. Iamsurprised by how many of Pembrooke’s residents have shown up to support the fundraiser—including my own family.
My mom came by with the twins and Sally about an hour ago. Seeing my siblings excited and smiling was a highlight of the morning. It’s hard sometimes, having such a huge age gap with some of my siblings.
Sydney bemoaned being so close in age to Holden plenty of times, wishing for some more separation. And in some ways, it’s fun, getting to relive my childhood through the eyes of my younger brothers and sisters.
But right now it’s hard, knowing they’ll have a different childhood than I did.
My dad showed up for dinner last night as promised. I don’t think any of my siblings—except Regan—noticed the way myparents avoided each others’ gazes the entire meal. How my dad loaded the dishwasher and kicked a soccer ball around with the twins before heading into his home office and closing the door. It was still shut when I went to sleep, long after my mom had retired. My guess is my dad slept on the couch in his office.
Regan found out about the divorce by snooping through some papers on her desk, according to my mom. Which means therearepapers, something I didn’t know.
And Maggie knows about the divorce too. My mom told her before she left for college, same as me. I’m not surprised I haven’t heard from Maggie about it. We’ve never had the sort of relationship where she comes to me for advice or assurance. She’s more of a realist than I am in some ways, and much less of a hopeless romantic. Maybe she saw the signals I missed that our parent’s relationship had changed for the worse. If Holden Adams had ignored her in high school, Maggie would have dated the rest of the basketball team right in front of him. That’s just never been me.
Holden shows up at the animal shelter around two. I haven’t seen him since I dropped him off at the condo yesterday before heading to my dad’s law firm.
He headed into the city early this morning to see Sydney. To check in with her. And to tell her about their mom, I’m guessing, although he didn’t explicitly tell me what he’d decided to do about that. We’ve both avoided the subject since I offered to get tested.
And he never responded to my text asking how the visit went, which I’m assuming means not well. I haven’t heard anything from Sydney.
But there’s no stress on his face as he approaches me, smiling at the long line of cars still waiting to be washed.
“How’s it going?” he asks.
“Sogood. Ten dogs have already been adopted, and there’s two hours left. Plus—” I glance at Jackie, who’s now off standing with a few of her friends, including Harrison’s sister. “There’s been a lot of interest in volunteering somewhere that holds events like this.”
“Huh.” He smirks. “Wonder why.” Then glances at the wire pens that have been set up so people can meet and play with the dogs available for adoption. “Has Milo been adopted?”
I shake my head. “I’m sad…and relieved.”
His smile is bittersweet. “I know.”
“You never replied to my text. How did it go with Sydney?”
“Sorry, I was distracted. And then I got off at the wrong subway stop, almost missed my train.” Holden exhales. “Sydney wants to see her. Wants me to set up a meeting to talk to her next weekend.”
“Really?” Sydney avoids the subject of her mom as much as possible. I didn’t consider she would want to see her. Based on Holden’s expression, he didn’t either. As far as I know, he had no plans to ever reach out to his mom. To leave her to her fate, as sad as that sounds.
“Yeah.”
