She patted her hair, glad that she’d put it up in a clever twist and trimmed and shaped her bangs that morning.

Then she straightened her shoulders and walked in.

She was giddy when she met Claire and Bay at the van. She grinned as she helped them load the bags of groceries. She kept meeting Claire’s eyes until Claire finally said, “Okay, what’s with the grin?”

“Guess what?”

Claire smiled, obviously amused by Sydney’s mood. “What?”

“I got a job! I told you I was staying. Getting a job is pretty clear, isn’t it?”

Claire stopped what she was doing, leaning halfway in the van. She looked genuinely perplexed. “But you already have a job.”

“Claire, you do the work of three people. And you only need help occasionally. I’ll still work when you need me.” Sydney laughed. Nothing was going to ruin this mood. “Maybe not at Emma’s house again…but, you know.”

Claire straightened. “Where did you get the job?”

“At the White Door.” It was going to take all her money, including the money from the shirt she’d just returned, to rent the booth and get supplies, but she had a wonderful feeling. She still had some of her equipment, and straightening out the state-to-state reciprocity licensing wouldn’t take too long. She knew there’d been a reason she kept renewing her license. This was the reason. She would soon make the money to put back into the emergency fund, and people in Bascom would see that she was actually skilled at something. They would come to her like they came to Claire, because of what she could do.

“You’re a hairstylist?” Claire asked.

“Yep.”

“I didn’t know that.”

Claire was getting too close to asking again about where she and Bay had been, and Sydney still wasn’t ready to tell her. “Listen, Bay will be starting kindergarten in the fall, but it will be a while before I can afford day care. Will you look after her? I’ll ask Evanelle too.”

She could tell that Claire knew what Sydney was doing, avoiding the obvious questions, but Claire didn’t press her. Maybe one day she’d tell her sister about the past ten years, one day when there was enough trust between them to warrant such a revelation, when she knew the entire town wouldn’t find out, but Sydney secretly hoped it all would just disappear as if it never happened, like a photograph fading to nothing.

“Of course I will,” Claire finally said.

They started loading the bags again. Sydney looked in a bag and asked, “What is all this stuff?”

“I’m going to make pizza rolls,” Claire said.

“You can buy them frozen, you know.”

“I knew that,” Claire said. Then she whispered to Bay, “Is that true?”

Bay laughed.

“What about this stuff?” Sydney asked, nosing around some more in the bags. “Blueberries? Water chestnuts?”

Claire shooed her away and closed the back of the van. “I’m going to make a few dishes for Tyler,” Claire said.