Sidney Berry had her life planned out: after high school go to culinary school, become a world-renowned chef and marry her childhood sweetheart, Aiden. But after a tragic incident that shakes her world at the end of her senior year, her plans derail...
"Last order, Sid." A waiter came up and put in the final order. Sid nodded and turned toward the kitchen. The team was moving and flowing, with her at the helm. It felt damn good. Relief rolled over her. A coin had flipped somewhere in the universe and for once it landed in her favor.
"One last Tangerine Beef." She called the order over to the kitchen. Twenty minutes later the burners were turned off and the lights in the dining room were dimmed. She pulled on her coat and waved to the crew as she left them to tidy up. Staying back with the crew to clean up had quickly become her signature thing. They loved that she didn't just bail and leave them to do it all.
But tonight, she had a real headache from the recent breakneck pace of her life and really just wanted to get home. The thought of picking up her baby boy and sleeping the night away was heaven. She went back to the empty office she shared with Nissan to gather her comfy crossbody bag and hang her chef's coat up. Her toes ached from being on her feet for the last twelve hours. The office was dark as usual. And quiet. Like a little sanctuary. She took a deep breath and allowed herself to settle into the chair behind her desk for just a moment before she started her trek home.
Her eyelids had just settled against one another when there was a knock at the door. She jolted upright, her pupils trying to adjust to the darkness but she didn't take long for her to recognize the figure in the doorway. She could make out that silhouette anywhere.
"Aiden, what are you doing here?"
"Was just checking in with management and wanted to welcome you to the team."
"Isn't that nice." Sid tried to rub the tired out of her eyes and gather her stuff so she could leave.
"How's it been so far?"
"The team is really strong. We work well together."
"Really well. I could tell you were in there tonight. The food was fire."
"You ate here tonight?"
"Yeah, me and some of the managers grabbed dinner. They were all raving." Sid tossed her purse around her body and fished through it for her car keys. The awkwardness that always hung between them dropped down like a storm cloud. She wanted to dash before any emotions rained down but it seemed that Aiden had other plans. As Sid left, he trailed behind.
"I was hoping you had a few minutes so that we could talk."
"Did I mix up the schedule again?" Sid did not slow her stride as exited the hotel. They made a left down the block to where her car was parked on the corner.
"No, the schedule is fine." Sid pressed the key fob to unlock her doors as they reached the car. The boop boop echoed in the almost empty street seeming to startled Aiden. He analyzed her and then the hood of her car.
"You bought a car?"
"Yeah."
Aiden rubbed his face and shoved his hands down his front pockets. "This is kind of what I wanted to talk about. Well not this specifically," His hands jutted toward the car, his analysis turning to disdain, "How is that I didn't know you bought your first car?"
Sid thought he was possibly in the midst of a mental episode, so she spoke slowly. "Because. I. Didn't. Tell. You."
His brow furrowed and an exhausted rush of air sputtered out through his lips. "There was a time when I would've been the first person you told. Now I feel like I hear everything last or not at all. I don't expect us to be best friends...but can you at least act like at some point we were?" Aiden's words poured out like water from a faucet. Like he knew his time was limited and it wouldn't be long before Sid cut him off and shut him out.
"Aiden...I don't even know what to say around you."
"Just talk to me."
"About what? AJ? You have him half the time, you know how he's doing."
"No, about you."
"You don't care about me. Let's not pretend for the sake of your conscience. It's obvious that you wanted different things. Not me..." Sid felt the hot tears pricking her eyes. No, huh huh, she thought. No way they would fall. She did not want to cry. She did not want to spill any more tears this week, especially not over old wounds between her and Aiden.
"Sidney, I was a kid. I was trying to figure a lot out and you were going through your stuff."
"Oh, you mean like my Dad being killed?"
Aiden recoiled. She thought he was going to walk away but he whirled back around and pointed a finger at her. "You do that all the time and it's so damn unfair."
Sid didn't back down from his loaded finger. She straightened up and continued. "I'm sorry if me going through something devastating was unfair to you. But you still didn't have to...do that."
Aiden stepped forward, grabbed her hands, and pulled her toward him. Her knees shook and something deep in her, something familiar churned. He broke the touch barrier that existed between them for years. But even with all that time, and how desperately her mind tried to forget, her body still remembered him.
A little fear sparked in her. The look in his eyes was so intense. A part of her that knew that perhaps she had taken things too far. A silent treatment that went on for years. Completely cutting him out of her life, except for where AJ was concerned. It had to hurt like hell. But it was the only thing she knew to do to protect her heart. The one he sent through the wringer so grievously, it emerged in scraps she barely managed to piece back together.
She shook her head and pulled her hands from his. That's right. He caused her pain first so whatever he was feeling now was inconsequential.
"I don't know how many ways to say I'm sorry. I was still figuring things out—"
"I really don't need your apologies. Look I have to go. It's late and I have to pick up AJ."
Aiden saw the walls he thought he was breaking down repair in record time. He stepped back from her. His eyes tried to find the girl that he grew up with. His best friend. But Sid averted her eyes and fumbled with her keys. She didn't want his gaze to penetrate her like it always did. He didn't get to peel back the layers of her or try to figure it out. She was no longer his problem. The way he wanted it.
"Can you call me sometime? Any time? When you're ready." He waited for an answer but Sid's only response was to slide into the driver's seat and start the engine. He didn't bother to watch her drive away. The skin on her knuckles drew tight as she clutched the wheel. He was through the doors of the hotel before she even peeled out of the spot. She drove for one block before those tears she tried to hold in blurred her eyes. She pulled into a spot and let those hot trials of hurt that she was keeping at bay slide down her cheeks.
Her fist pounded the wheel. Over and over again. It wasn't right that he was still able to make her feel this way. The ache of anger. The confusion. But worst of all -- boiling rapidly above the rest-- inadequate.
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What actually happened between Aiden and Sidney? Any guesses?
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