Page 34 of The House on Firefly Beach
“I’ve missed you,” Malory said. She put her arm around Sydney and offered a slow smile under her drooping eyelids. “I’m getting sappy from all the wine.” She took another drink from her glass.
“I’ve had so much wine,” Sydney said, “that I caught myself considering whether Tommy Simpson from down the road might have actually been attractive and we just hadn’t noticed it…”
Malory fell over laughing in fits of loud inhalations and cackling. Tommy Simpson had had a crush on them when they were younger. He was just a regular guy, nothing flashy, kind of quiet, bad haircut…
“But seriously,” Sydney said, sobering, “I’ve missed you too.” She sat up. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you. It was the best birthday ever with you here.”
“Let’s get a coffee tomorrow. I think we’ll both need one…”
They both laughed again, but their merriment was interrupted when Nate came into the room. “Did I hear you say you need to go home?” he asked Sydney in a whisper that she could only assume was to avoid waking his girlfriend. “I’ll walk you.”
Sydney looked past him down the hall. “You should really stay with Juliana,” she said, the wine giving an edge to her usual sadness. She cut her eyes at him.
Nate followed the track of her earlier gaze to his bedroom. “Juliana is sleeping across the hall,” he said. “The one you were in earlier ismyroom.”
“But you both had your things in there…” She was struggling to make sense of what was going on, given the buzz in her head from the drinks and a long day.
“Her room is too small for her bags, so she keeps them in my room.” With a playfully annoyed look, he walked over to her and grabbed her hands, pulling her up from the sofa. “Stop being stubborn. I’m walking you home. You’ve had too much wine to go alone.”
Sydney stood, the alcohol giving her courage. She wasn’t drunk. She was just relaxed enough to give him a piece of her mind. She got onto her tiptoes and looked him in the eye. “I’m a big girl. I’ve done it alone for many, many years now, thank you very much,” she said, glaring at him.
The corner of his mouth twitched upward and he gently pushed a strand of hair out of her face with his forefinger. With that one touch, her knees felt like soft butter and she wobbled. Nate caught her.
“I’ve got the key. Lock up after we leave,” he said to Malory, his arm still around Sydney.
The street was dark and quiet, as the two of them walked toward Starlight Cottage. Neither of them said a word. The only sound between them was the soft caress of the gulf against the shore. She’d walked beside him so many times, but this time was different. She was aware of every breath he took, every stride he made, the way his shoulders tensed just a little when he slipped his hands into his pockets. A tiny subconscious part of her wanted the moment to stretch into the night, and with every mailbox they passed, she found herself willing him to keep walking with her past her house so he wouldn’t have to say goodnight.
When the long drive to Starlight Cottage came into view, Nate took her arm to stop her. He looked around at the black of night and then leaned in to her ear.
“I don’t know if we’re being photographed,” he said quietly, “so I’m going to whisper this to you.” He put his lips right by her ear, his breath on her skin sending a chill down her spine. “Juliana isn’t my girlfriend. But the press doesn’t know that. There’s a lot going on, and I hadn’t really prepared for it all.” He pulled back and looked her in the eye. “Can we talk tomorrow?”
Sydney wanted to be relieved by his admission, but the truth of the matter was that it didn’t change the way he’d made her feel about herself. And even if she could get over that, there was that tiny voice in the back of her mind that whispered, “What if he left again?” This time, it wasn’t just her he’d be abandoning; she had Robby too.
“Please meet me tomorrow,” he said, interrupting her inner battle.
“I have to work tomorrow,” she replied, knowing how feeble the excuse seemed. Sydney’s head was starting to pound. She needed to get inside where she could clear her mind.
Nate reached out and caressed her arm. Just when she was about to take a step, a white-hot flash, like a lightning strike, burned her eyes. She blinked to try to clear it, but all she could see was a gray haze, her vision affected by the intensity of the light. Unexpectedly, Nate’s hand was at her back, moving her forward, startling her and burning through the alcohol in her system. She stumbled alongside him blindly as the images in front of her slowly came back into focus.
“If I try to run from them, it will give them more ammo to make up stories about you and me,” he said in her ear as another flash went off. “We have to look like we have nothing to hide.” Then, he spoke urgently, “And I still don’t know if they’ve realized Juliana is here in Firefly Beach. She doesn’t sleep well, and she gets up in the night. I’m not even sure if the press is aware that I’mstayingat Malory’s; they could just think I was at the party there tonight. If I go back there, they might camp out until the morning to get a good shot. Once they know where I’m living, they’ll be back every day. I’m coming inside.”
“They got my picture?” Sydney didn’t know how to feel about the possibility of being in Nathan Carr’s circus of a world.
“It’s dark. The photo’s probably too grainy to use,” he said as they neared the cottage. “I’m just being proactive.”
There was something very unsettling about learning she’d been watched. Had the photographer been with them the entire walk home? She and Nate climbed the few stairs leading to the front porch together, and she noticed how calm he was in all this. His movements were deliberate and well practiced. This was his reality all the time. When she used to fantasize as a girl about being famous, this idea of it had never entered her mind. She suddenly felt glad that she hadn’t become the famous one. This was not something she wanted to deal with every day.
“So you mean they might camp out at Starlight Cottage now?” she asked, slipping her key into the front door lock as she sent darting glances over her shoulder.
Nate ushered her inside and shut the door quickly behind them.
“It’s possible,” he said, regret filling his face. “I’m so sorry. I really didn’t think that letting Sally Ann post a photo would cause this. They hound me at public events, but at home, they usually leave me alone.” He stopped cold. “Unless…” He pulled out his phone and fired off a text. After staring at the screen for long pause, he dialed a number and put the phone to his ear.
“Malory, I’m at Sydney’s. Is Juliana awake, by chance? … Go check.” He began to pace in front of the doorway. Sydney stepped aside, trying to make sense of the call. “Hey,” he said his whole body straightening up. “Juliana, don’t go outside until I’m back. The photographer followed me here. But I started thinking… What if he isn’t with the press? You have three months left in your modeling deal, right?” Nate walked over and shut the window blinds. “Are you in breach of contract being here right now?” He went over to one of the two matching dark blue bergère-style chairs that Aunt Clara had delighted in when she’d redesigned the living room and sat down. “What if it isn’t a reporter? What if the camera man is an investigator?”
Investigator?Sydney took a seat on the floor next to Nate’s chair.
