“I’m a Waverley,” Claire said, walking back to the door. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“You’re human. It’s okay to date. It’s okay to feel something. Go out with Tyler. Make people say, ‘I can’t believe she did that.’”

“You sound like Mom.”

“Was that a compliment?”

Claire stopped at the door and gave a small laugh. “I’m not sure.”

Sydney sat up in bed and punched her pillow a few times. “Wake me and I’ll help you deliver the cinnamon buns in the morning,” she said as she flopped back down.

“No, I can—” Claire stopped. “Thank you.”

CHAPTER

6

Tuesday afternoon Claire announced she was going to the grocery store, and Sydney asked if she and Bay could ride along. Sydney wanted to get a newspaper to check out the want ads and, though it pained her to do so, she had to return the shirt Evanelle had given her. She’d put aside the money she made from working with Claire for emergencies, so she needed extra cash for toiletries, and Bay needed kid food. Claire was a great cook, but she’d looked at Bay blankly yesterday when Bay asked if she had any pizza rolls.

When they reached Fred’s, Claire and Bay went into the grocery store and Sydney walked up the sidewalk. The square hadn’t changed much, although now there was a university student’s sculpture that looked like an oak leaf by the fountain on the green.

She returned the shirt at Maxine’s and discovered that the shop had changed hands twice in the past ten years and was now run by a stylish woman in her fifties. She didn’t have an opening in the store, but she took Sydney’s number and said she would call if something came up. She recognized the Waverley name when Sydney wrote it down and asked Sydney if she was related to Claire. When Sydney said yes, the woman brightened and said Claire had made her daughter’s wedding cake last year, and it had been the talk of all her friends from Atlanta. Then she said she would definitely call if she ever had an opening.

On her way back to the grocery store from Maxine’s, Sydney passed the White Door Salon. Ten years ago it had been a trendy hair salon called Tangles, but now it was much more posh. A patron came out, and with her came the scent of chemicals cushioned by the fragrance of sweet shampoo. It was a smell that could almost lift Sydney up and make her float. Oh, how she missed that. It had been a long time since she’d been in a salon, and every time she passed one she felt like this, like she needed to go in and pick up her shears and get to work.

She started to get that prickly feeling she always got when she thought of being happy again. Like she shouldn’t even bother. But she’d gone to beauty school under her real name, a name David didn’t know. She had to remind herself that he wouldn’t find them here. He wouldn’t come just because she wanted to work again. The only reason David had found her in Boise was because she’d registered Bay under her real name. She didn’t think she had a choice when the day care asked for Bay’s birth certificate. She thought David would only be looking for Cindy Watkins, not Bay. She wasn’t making that mistake again. Bay was a Waverley here.