She pouted, and it was the cutest damn thing I’d ever seen. I wanted to tell her I was falling in love with her—that I had already fallen in love with her—but the last thing I wanted to do was scare her away. Sydney regarded me for a few moments before she said, “Now you’re thinking about something you don’t want to say out loud.”
Leaning in, I kissed her lips softly before saying, “Soon.”
Mike
The next morning, I walked into my kitchen to find Sydney sitting at the table, a cup of coffee in front of her. She had texted earlier that she’d be heading over, so she must have run into Mom on the front porch, where she drank her first cup of coffee each morning. Sydney looked exhausted.
“Morning,” I said as I walked in. I kissed my mother on the cheek and leaned down to kiss Sydney on the mouth.
“How did you sleep last night?” I asked, giving her a quick wink.
She curled her lip up at me. I smiled, knowing if I could have read her mind, she’d have some choice words she wanted to say to me.
“I slept like a baby. My morning run was fantastic,” she purred.
I mouthed “Liar” before I turned and poured everything into the blender for my morning smoothie. I caught her rolling her eyes, though, right before I looked away.
“How did you sleep, sweetheart?” Mom asked.
I turned the blender on with a chuckle. I was positive my mother was doing her own eye roll right about now. Once the machine turned off, she went in for the kill.
“You know, they say thirty minutes of sex a day helps you sleep more soundly.”
Nearly choking on my own saliva, I turned to look at her. “Who is they?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I read it somewhere.” Then she took Sydney’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “You’ll sleep much better tomorrow night, sweetheart. Dex and I leave for Boston in the morning.”
Sydney cleared her throat. “Oh, um, well. So soon?”
“Not soon enough,” I mumbled as I sat down and gave Maggie some love.
“I heard that, Michael.”
Dad walked into the kitchen, a wide smile on his face. “Good morning, family!”
He was already dressed and ready to go with me to work.
“How long will you be covering for Bill?” Sydney asked. “I was thinking of taking your mom around to a few shops before bringing her over to the Red Hat Society tea.”
“Sydney, you don’t have to entertain me!” Mom said.
“Nonsense. I want to spend time with you. It’ll be fun to have a girls’ morning.”
My mother beamed with happiness. “I would love that, darling.”
“It should only be a few hours. I can call you when I’m done.”
“Perfect! I’ll probably be back at the house.” Sydney said, giving me a smile and look that said everything would be fine. She had so much to learn about my mother.