Page 71 of Love Me Sweet

CHAPTERTWENTY

Sylvie had offered to take Lexi out to lunch on Monday as a thank you for filling in for her on Saturday night. Though she didn’t know the woman well, Lexi had a busy family life and it couldn’t have been much fun for her getting up in the middle of the night to bake.

As she wasn’t feeling particularly sociable, Sylvie found herself hoping that Lexi would be too busy to meet. Instead, Lexi had enthusiastically agreed. They’d set a time and place. Noon at Perfect Pizza.

Sylvie arrived a few minutes early and found Lexi already waiting. A pretty woman with dark hair cut in a stylish bob, her wrap pencil skirt in grey and a thin black sweater made Sylvie feel underdressed in her blue cardi and printed skirt.

It had been hard to care about her appearance the past couple of days. It had been hard to care about anything at all.

“Sylvie.” Lexi’s voice rang with welcome. “I’m so glad you suggested we meet for lunch. I’ve been wanting to get better acquainted.”

When Lexi took her hands and pulled her close for a brief hug, Sylvie had to blink back unexpected tears.

“I owe you so much for helping me out Saturday night.” Sylvie returned the hug. “It would have been so hard to get up that day. I don’t think any of my customers would have gotten my best work.”

“Are you ready to order?” The person behind the wooden counter asked, putting an end to the conversation.

They decided to split a small ham and pineapple with cream cheese pizza and were given two large amber colored plastic glasses for iced tea.

The fact that this was the same type of pizza she and Andrew had shared brought a heaviness to her chest. It took all the strength Sylvie had to fill her glass and grab some silverware from the beverage station.

She followed Lexi to a booth by the window, slid into the booth made out of knotty pine opposite her luncheon companion and forced what she hoped was a cheery smile.

The last thing Sylvie wanted to do was talk about herself, so she kept the conversation focused on Lexi. She learned that, like Poppy, Lexi was a social worker.

“After our last baby was born, I decided to be a stay-at-home mom and do some catering every now and then.”

“Do you miss the social work?”

“Sometimes, but not enough to try to make it gel with the crazy schedules of my husband and kids.” Lexi took a sip of iced tea and her gaze grew thoughtful. “In a relationship, there has to be compromise.”

“You also have to be true to who you are.”

If Lexi was startled by the vehemence in Sylvie’s tone it didn’t show. “Absolutely. We all have to decide how much we’re willing to compromise, how far we can go and still be true to ourselves. I faced that when Nick and I first met.”

Sylvie knew Lexi’s husband was a popular family law attorney in Jackson Hole. That’s about all she knew. She gave Lexi an encouraging smile.

“I met Nick when he was injured in a skiing accident. He’d lost his memory.”

“Are you kidding?”

Lexi smiled and lifted her fingers in some sort of scouting salute. “Bizarre, but true.”

“He didn’t know who he was? Not at all?”

“Not for quite a while.”

Sylvie pushed her plate aside and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, glad she’d decided on this lunch. There was nothing like a case of amnesia to take your mind off your own troubles. “What happened?”

“I helped get him settled, while we searched for his identity. In the process, we fell in love and began to plan a life together.”

“That’s very romantic.”

“When his memory began to return, we discovered that he lived in Dallas, that he and his father had a law practice there.”

“He gave it up to stay here with you.” Sylvie sighed. It was the kind of happy ending she wished she and Andrew had been able to achieve.

“It wasn’t that simple.” Lexi’s eyes grew distant with the memory. “It was a large, thriving law practice and his father depended on Nick. He asked me to move there with him.”

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