Page 58 of Come Back for Me
Sydney leans back in her seat. “That’s so insane, and yet, so Connor.”
“What’s so Connor?” His deep voice causes me to jump.
“Hey. Hi. We were just talking about you.”
He and Hadley share a look and then start to climb the stairs. “I figured that much. Nice to see you, Syd. Anything I can do for you?”
She gets up, hand on her hip and head tilted. “You can start by telling me how much you’ve missed me.”
“I would, Goose, but it seems that my friend Hadley here is calling me Duckie. Any idea how that came about?”
Her smile is wide as she bursts out laughing. “God, that night was the best thing ever.” She turns back to me. “You see, the Arrowood brothers are inherently evil, at least to each other. There is nothing off-limits, and if they know your weakness, they use it. Connor here was afraid of this pond on my farm. It could’ve been because Declan, Jacob, and Sean told him that if you put your toes in, they’d fall off, but only if your name started with a C.”
Connor moves up the steps. “Don’t let her fool you, she is far from innocent here. Syd was the sister I never wanted.”
“Please, I was always nice to you,” she defends.
“The hell you were!”
“Anyway,” Sydney starts in after giving him an eye roll. “We told Connor we wanted to play Duck, Duck, Goose, but the only way to play was to act like a duck.”
I see this going very badly. Connor glares at her with a sort of brotherly affection under all that gruff. “In the water.”
“Of the pond at my house,” Sydney tacks on. “Then his brothers tossed him in and forced him to be the duck. Oh, you should’ve seen him, terrified that his toes were going to fall off but making duck sounds at the same time. It was priceless.”
Sydney’s arms are wrapped around her stomach as she laughs. I can’t help but join in because his expression right now is priceless. It’s as though he still hasn’t gotten over it and he hates that she’s telling stories he clearly would rather I not know.
“Did he catch any of you?” I ask.
“Nope, he was quacking and running away.”
He moves closer to me. “Yeah, you should all be so proud of torturing a six-year-old. And you can laugh now, but when my mother showed up, none of you assholes were at that time.”
Sydney rolls her eyes again. “You got all of us grounded for a month.”
“Deservingly.”
“Please, it was two feet of water, you big baby.”
Connor turns to me. “Do you see why I left this town? It’s filled with horribly mean people who have no remorse.”
I shrug. “I think you survived okay.”
He shakes his head and then turns to Sydney. “What are you doing here anyway? No one invited you, that’s for sure.”
“Well . . .” Sydney moves to me, placing her hand on my shoulder. “Ellie and I are now best friends, Duckie. You’re going to have to accept this as a fact and realize that, if you’re hanging around her, it will include some time with me.”
He grins as though it doesn’t bother him in the least. “It’s all good, Syd. I know exactly how to handle you.”
Oh, Lord. That sounds ominous. However, this volley back and forth is the most fun I’ve had in years. These two clearly adore one another but have no problem giving the other shit. It’s what I always imagined having a sibling would be like.
“And how exactly is that?” she asks.
His grin spreads, and there’s a look of mischief in his eyes. “I’ll call Declan.”
And with that, I see that Sydney and I may both be captivated by an Arrowood.
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