In the blink of an eye, he had his arms full of Haley. She was crying and holding on to him for dear life—just like she had the day before. He hugged her tight until she stopped crying. Then she plopped herself in his lap and smiled at him.
“So, um…I’m sure you probably erased it, but if you didn’t, maybe you can come over sometime and show me the video from the gymnastics meet? My doctor said I’m going to need to rest and not practice for a couple of weeks, and I thought I can study the tape and see where I need to work.”
He glanced at Sydney and saw she was studying her hands and figured she more than likely didn’t want him coming around, so…
“Tell you what, I’ll email you the link. This way, when you get home, and you’re resting, you can check it out.”
“Oh. Okay.” She let out a long breath. “How’s your head?”
“It hurts, but I’ll live.”
“Well, good. Because you’re a good guy, Kyle,” she stated right before she yawned.
“I think that’s our cue to get you home,” Sydney said as she stood. “You definitely could use some sleep, and honestly, so can I.”
Kyle stood and walked them to the door and hated how awkward it all felt and how devastating it was that Sydney would barely even look at him. He’d brood about it after they left, but for now, he’d do his best to put a smile on his face.
Haley hugged him again. “Thank you, Kyle. Not only for rescuing me, but for being majorly cool about everything. I really am sorry about…”
He held up a hand to stop her. “No more apologies, Hales. We’re good. And thanks for the bear.”
“You’re welcome,” she walked out to the car, effectively leaving Kyle and Sydney alone.
“Thank you for everything, Kyle,” Sydney said softly, but her eyes never quite met his. “I don’t know what I would have done if…”
“Don’t go there. It all worked out. She’s safe, and it sounds like she’s made some real progress with her grief. Maybe now she’ll be able to start to heal.”
“Maybe.” She paused and finally looked at him. “Kyle, listen, I…”
But he couldn’t listen to her tell him again how they were over. “We’re good, Syd. But my head is pounding and I’m sure Haley would like to get home and crawl into her own bed, so…”
“Yeah, um…I guess so.” She stepped onto the porch and turned to look at him. “I’ll never be able to repay you for this.” There was a tremble in her voice and he longed to reach out and hold her, but he kept a firm grip on the doorknob instead.
“Like I said, we’re good. Take care of yourself, Syd.” And taking a step back, he waved to Haley and slowly shut the door.
“Why didn’t you kiss him? I seriously thought you would…you know…kiss him!” With a huff of annoyance, Haley shook her head. “I just think you should have grabbed his face and kissed him.”
“Oh my God! Can you stop saying kiss him? Geez!” They were pulling up to their house and Haley had talked nonstop about how great Kyle was, how awesome he was, and then what a hero he was.
“Personally, I prefer a boy who’s a little more clean-cut, but the long hair really works on Kyle,” she went on. “He kind of has that whole bad-boy thing going on, and then you add the bandage on his head?” She sighed dreamily. “You really should have ki…” Pausing, she glanced over cautiously. “I mean, you should have gently placed your lips on his. There. Was that better?”
Rolling her eyes, Sydney climbed from the car and walked around to help Haley.
“I’m okay, Aunt Syd. You don’t have to help me. I’ll be fine climbing the stairs.”
“Humor me. You’re weak and tired, and it would make me feel better to just…guide you, okay?”
“Fine…”
They made it into the house and that’s when Sydney remembered how she had torn apart Haley’s room. “Um…listen. I was a little…crazy yesterday and I kind of made a bit of a mess around the house while looking for some sort of clue as to where you were.”
But when Sydney looked around, everything was as neat and clean as could be.
And when they got to Haley’s room, it looked as pristine as it had been before she tore it apart.
“Yeah, it looks like you went wild,” Haley teased. “Would it be okay if I took a shower and then had something to eat?”
“Absolutely. Just tell me what you’d like and I’ll make it.”
“Can you make your famous ultra-thin pepperoni pizzas?”
Smiling, she said, “Of course.” But before she could turn to leave, Haley was hugging her tight. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around her and realized just how lucky they were to be standing there like this.
“I love you,” Haley murmured.
And it was the first time she’d said that since she was a little girl.
“I love you too, Hales.” Kissing her head, she gave her one more squeeze before stepping back. “Okay, go and take a nice long shower. I’m going to go make some calls while I make our pizzas.”
“Tell Mia and Grandma I said hello!”
Five minutes later, when she was alone in the kitchen, she let out a long breath. Looking around the house that was now officially hers, Sydney felt like their lives were finally ready to move forward. They had talked so much last night and this morning and then listening to Haley talk to Kyle showed just how far she’d come.
Her niece was a fierce, brave—and slightly impetuous—young girl, but this experience had definitely taught her some serious lessons.
Too bad I’m not nearly as brave…
Deciding not to focus on that point just right this moment, Sydney began pulling out the ingredients for their pizzas when there was a knock on the door.
Figuring it was one of her friends coming to check on Haley, she quickly wiped her hands and went to the door.
“Mom! Dad! What are you doing here?” She was immediately embraced as her parents walked through the door with way too much luggage.
“We took the first flight out this morning,” her mother explained. “There was no way I was going to rest easy until I saw for myself that Haley was okay.” Then she turned and studied Sydney. “Oh, sweetie. You’re looking a little worse for the wear yourself. Good thing I’m here to help.”
“Mom, you really didn’t need to do this.”
“Nonsense!” her father chimed in. “And I brought us lunch! We stopped at the deli on our way in and then at Henderson’s for some brownies. We know how much you and Haley love them.”
“We do, but…I was just about to make some pizzas. Haley requested them and…”
“She can have them anytime,” her mother said as she walked around the kitchen putting all the ingredients Sydney had just taken out away. “And look at how gorgeous this all turned out! My goodness, I barely recognize the place! Kyle does amazing work!”
“Um, yeah…”
“You sent all the pictures to us, but they didn’t do the place justice! Too bad we can’t take Kyle home with us and let him work some of this magic on our place, right, Dan?”