Sinner and Saint

Chapter Fourteen

A little over two years later...

Cobalt Bay, California

"I think that's everything," Sidney announced as he plunked down the last box in my front hall. "Please tell me pizza is going to be here any minute now."

"On its way," I yelled from the kitchen where Jamie was helping me hook up the new fridge. "I've got some soda in the cooler if you want to help yourself. I put it down by the coat closet, I think."

"You want one?" Sidney called out.

"I'm good," I answered just as Jamie somehow maneuvered his giant frame out from behind the fridge where he'd been connecting the water.

"You, honey pie?" Sidney asked again and I glanced at Jamie, fighting a grin unsuccessfully.

"Honey pie, huh?" I asked with a chuckle. "Last week, it was pumpkin. What? Sid's trying out all the known endearments in the world with you?"

Jamie just rolled his eyes as he wiped his hands on the front of his jeans. Then he pushed the fridge fully into the spot.

Sidney came around the corner, holding two cans of Coke.

"Kady, stop ogling my man, for God's sakes," he said before popping the drinks open and setting them down on the kitchen island. "He knows there is much to be appreciated but he only likes my eyes on the goods."

I raised a brow at him and turned back to Jamie. "Do you really want someone this obnoxiously possessive of you?"

Jamie picked up his Coke and just shrugged even as Sidney sidled up to him and put an an arm around his waist. The only hint that Jamie more than tolerated this was the long look he gave Sidney before downing his drink in one gulp.

Sidney's eyes went all dreamy and he just fucking beamed like the sun.

"You guys are disgustingly happy," I said with a roll of my eyes before walking back out to the main living area where I had a couple of baskets of food and some pantry items. "And I hate it!"

I grinned to myself though because I didn't really hate them for it. I envied them a little but no one could be any happier for them. Four months ago, I walked in on them kissing in the backyard of my old house, which we'd been packing away and cleaning out, after they came over with a couple of the guys from our building crew for game night. We'd just taken a short break and I was calling around for them to get back.

Sidney's been openly gay for as long as we've known each other but Jamie was another story. I never saw him date any woman in the the entire time I've known him but he also never clued me in on where his interest might lie. And when I just looked at them back and forth, a little slack-jawed and unsure what to say because I didn't want to risk losing either of them in case they thought this was some epic mistake, Jamie just smiled and pressed another kiss on Sidney's mouth before walking back inside the house.

Sidney's face then broke into a grin as he announced almost to himself, "It's official, I guess. Yeah, I think it's officially on."

And by it he meant him and Jamie officially and properly dating.

Something had been going on between two of the three main people who'd been helping me get my life back together and I didn't even notice. Not surprising because for a while there after Cece's death, I was too out of it to be there for anyone. But I still felt a pang of guilt each time I'm reminded of how terrible a friend I'd been to both of them.

The last two years had been a rollercoaster—getting clean and sober at a treatment center for three months and keeping up with the post-program support, selling Cece's house then mine, using most of the money from them to fund a housing project, properly setting up a business partnership between Jamie and I, and getting Carmela a new condo in Cobalt Bay after she took an admin job at a senior's care facility. I just moved into my own unit today—only a couple blocks away from hers—and it was close enough for her to check in on me but not too close to smother me, as she'd teased.