Page 41 of Waste Some Time
“Time. Space. A life without you,” she said. “Or at least the chance to make things work with you.”
“What if you change your mind?”
“I won’t. If this works out, it’s everything I want. I know we’ve only been together for a week. Well, less than a week, really, and not even officially. But I love you already, Katie. And I want to try to make this work.”
Tears formed under Katie’s eyes, and Sydney wanted nothing more than to reach out and wipe them away.
“I love you, too,” she choked out. “But I also don’t want to make things weird with your family. Like… if it doesn’t work out with us, I don’t want to lose my connection to Stephen or the rest of them. And I don’t want to make things uncomfortable for you, either, if we’d break up.”
“Why would you have to lose anything?”
A sob and a laugh came out of Katie at the same time. “You sound like Rachel.”
“Good. Because she’s right.” Sydney reached out and placed both hands on the sides of Katie’s face, the way she’d wanted to from the moment she stepped through that door. “My family adores you. You will always be welcome in that home. If this doesn’t work out, we’ll handle it. I’m not worried about that.”
“Maybe you should be.”
“I’m more worried about whether or not you really feel the same way about me.”
“Yeah, I do. But I’m afraid to hold you back. I don’t want to be a waste of your time when you could be exploring this new life of yours.”
Sydney held her gaze firmly as Katie reached a hand around Sydney’s waist. Tears spilled out of Katie’s eyes now, and Sydney wiped one away with her thumb.
“All I’m afraid of is you holding me back from being with you.”
Katie grinned. “We wouldn’t want that.”
“No, we wouldn’t,” Sydney said, returning the smile. “All I want is to sit in front of the river and watch fireworks with you tonight.”
Katie leaned closer, her lips just inches away. “I want that, too.”
Sydney slid her hands behind Katie’s head and pressed her mouth to hers. There was instant heat between them and a release of the longing that had been building all week, as if it had been a year since their last kiss at Katie’s apartment and double that since the party.
“Well, I guess I don’t have to ask if you’re coming over tomorrow.”
Katie and Sydney smiled against each other’s lips, then Katie turned to face Stephen behind her.
“I thought you were meeting me in the staff room.”
“And I thought something must have kept you after the last show,” he said with a sly grin. “Now I see what that something was.”
“Are you gonna be like this all the time?”
“About you two being together? Absolutely.” He put a hand on each of their shoulders. “But I’m really happy y’all are giving this a shot.”
Sydney pulled her gaze from her brother until it landed back on Katie. With a nod, she said, “Me, too.”
* * *
Sydney stareddown at Katie’s hand in hers, resting on her thigh as they sat huddled on the icy cement bleacher seat. The air was bitterly cold even under the layers beneath her coat, but she didn’t care. Her heart was warming her enough to bear any temperature.
Her gaze lifted from their entwined hands to find Katie’s dark brown eyes locked on her. “You okay?”
Okay?
She was more than okay.
Sydney couldn’t believe she almost missed out on this. On this moment. On this potential between them. And for what? The fear of missing out on something else?
