A Beautiful Mess

Chapter 23

Sydney sat on the edge of the party wondering what would happen if she left early, she could get in her car, now that she had one, and drive back to the site. She would rather be with the dogs than with her parents' fake friends.

She let her mind drift to the past week. It hadn't been very different from all of the previous ones. She hadn't seen Cole at all, and Theresa was still flapping around the site like it was hers. Cole must have told her about his aunt's hospitalization because she acted as if it was her best friend that had gotten hurt. Theresa had spent the week making sure that everyone knew that Cole had told her he needed her to take over the site while he dealt with family issues. She had also let everyone know that she knew Aunt Viola well and that she was heartbroken about the dear old lady.

Aunt Viola would have had a few choice words to say to Theresa if she could have heard her.

Sydney, on the other hand, had kept her mouth shut about the entire thing. She and Cole had arrived at the hospital, and they had stayed near his Aunt until the early morning hours when they said she was out of danger. They hadn't talked about anything serious because his parents had been there as well. He had then driven her back to the hotel, where they had arrived at four in the morning. There had been no one around to witness her arrival, and she had ridden the bicycle back to the site the next morning and picked up her car.

Cole had promised they would talk, but it hadn't happened.

Sydney felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Maddie smiling down at her. "You look as bored as I feel," she said softly as she sat on the seat next to Sydney.

"I was wondering, as the daughter, how long I have to stay before I can sneak away. It's what I think about most at parties like these." She looked over and smiled at Maddie. "What are you doing here?"

"Howard and I come every year."

Sydney was shocked, she didn't recall ever seeing them at one of her parent's parties before, and Maddie had never let on that she knew her parents. Something of her thoughts must have shown on her face because Maddie laughed gently.

"I know, we try to blend into the background as much as we can, and we leave as early as we can too."

They sat in companionable silence until Howard found them and handed Maddie a glass of what looked like water. Howard greeted her warmly and then offered to get her something, but Sydney declined.

'Where's Cole?" Maddie asked Sydney.

"I have no clue. I haven't seen him in over a week." Sydney frowned. "Was he supposed to be here?"

"I'm not sure, I know that he was having dinner with Sam, but that would have been hours ago." Maddie gave a polite smile to someone who waved to her across the room.

"How's Aunt Viola?" Sydney asked, changing the subject.

"Driving me, and the nurse staying with us, nuts. She tries to do too much." Maddie rolled her eyes. "But we're glad to have her home. The house was too quiet without her."

Sydney wondered if the nurse was pretty, and she had a quick image of Cole meeting and falling madly in love with her flash before her eyes. Why did she have to fall in love with a handsome man? If he had been average or plain like herself, she wouldn't be so jealous.

"Is the nurse nice, does she take good care of Aunt Viola?" Sydney asked, searching for answers.

"She's almost as old as Aunt Viola, and she smells like mothballs," Cole said softly into her ear on the opposite side of Sydney. "But I'm glad that you're jealous."

Sydney couldn't suppress the shivers that ran up her spine at his warm breath in her ear, and she had opened her mouth to object, but when she turned to look in his eyes, she forgot what she was going to say.

They were looking at each other so intently that they missed Maddie's motherly smile at them.

"Oh, look, Stanley, it's the Eastons." Sydney's step-mother broke the moment as she approached them with Sydney's father. "Joey, you remember Sydney, don't you?" She looked over her shoulder at Joey who appeared suddenly at her step-mother's side.

Sydney tensed, and she also felt Cole tense beside her as he looked over Joey.

"Cole, why don't you let me introduce you to a few people, Angel is around here somewhere, and she was hoping you would be here this evening," Stanley said motioning for Cole to join him.

"Yes, Joey will keep Sydney company." Her step-mother was looking around frantically for Angel, who seemed to have gone missing.

"No, thanks, I'm only here to keep Sydney company. She was going to show me around the estate."

"Sydney?" Joey snorted into his drink.

Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to finish his statement, but he just shrugged and faded back into the crowd.

Cole grabbed Sydney's arm and pulled her from her seat. "Mom, Dad, we'll see you later," Cole said as he headed towards the French doors on the far side of the room.

"So, that was the infamous Joey?" Cole asked as he dragged her across the large lawn that was dotted with tables and a dance floor. Sydney could hardly keep up in her heels.

"Wait!" She pulled on his arm stopping him. She reached down to take off her shoes, but Cole was too impatient to wait, so he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

"Where's your car?" he demanded.

Cole had knocked all of the air from her lungs, so she just pointed towards the back of the house. "You're making a scene!" she hissed when she could finally speak again.

"Your keys?"

"They're with the car. The chauffeur took them." She had also loaded all of her things into the car hoping to make a quick getaway. She guessed, in a roundabout way, that this was what was happening.

Cole found her car and dumped her in the passenger's side then moved around to the driver's side. "Cole, what are you doing? What about your truck?"

"It's at my place. It's not far from here. I thought I would ride back with you." He bent his large frame into the small car and slammed the door.

"Where are we going?" Sydney was watching his stern profile.

"To my place."

"Cole!" Sydney protested.

"What was it you said before, don't think so much," he said through clenched teeth.

"We've tried this before. It never ends well," Sydney reminded him.

"I agree, but this time it will." He started the car and pulled out of the driveway, barely missing some of the other cars in the process.

"Why are you so upset Cole!" Sydney demanded as she stomped on an invisible brake.   

"That asshole and your parents, we're going to have as little to do with them as possible." She watched his lips tighten as soon as he said the words.

"We're?"

"Yes, we're." He didn't deny that he had said it, and Sydney turned her head looking out of the window to hide her grin. He was lucky he was driving a car otherwise she would have taken control of the situation again.

"What are you thinking Sydney?"

"That you're lucky that you're driving a car, and that I'm going to let you make the first move."

Cole nodded in agreement. "I have to tell you...the reason I pulled away in the Babcock house was that I knew it was going to mean something, it was going to be an important moment for us, and I wanted it to be honest. But more than that, I wanted trust for both of us. Do you trust me Sydney? When I tell you that you're beautiful, and that I don't believe that I'm worthy of you after the way I treated you, do you trust me?

Sydney's smile hadn't faded but her eyes were filled with tears. "Yes," she whispered. "But do you really trust me? Do you trust that it's you I want, not your money or your connections?"

"You want a humble yet grumpy professor?" He quirked an eyebrow.

"Humble? I don't think I ever called you that." She laughed, wiping her eyes. "But I'll definitely agree with grumpy."