She Left Me Breathless (22 page)

“Not at all,” Caitlyn said as she walked over to the front of the truck and looked at the engine.

I’m all ears,” Sydney said as she pulled off a spark plug wire and then slipped the socket onto the sparkplug.

“What’s going on with you and my mom?” Caitlyn asked.

Sydney stopped what she was doing and looked at Caitlyn. She decided to play dumb. “I don’t know what you mean.” 

Caitlyn’s right eyebrow shot upward. “You don’t, huh?”

Sydney made several more turns with the ratchet and then pulled out the old spark plug.

 “Let me try a different approach then,” Caitlyn said as she handed Sydney a new sparkplug. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

Sydney looked up at her in surprise. “Of course not. What kind of a question is that?”

“About as stupid of a question as you telling me that you don’t know what I mean.”

Sydney laughed. “Touché.”

“I may have been young but I remember you, Sydney.”

This time Sydney was unable to hide the shock on her face. She should have known that with Caitlyn’s intelligence and her near photographic memory, there was a better than good chance that she would remember things that most kids her age wouldn’t. “What exactly do you remember?” she asked as she laid the ratchet down on the engine.

“I remember that you were there and then you were suddenly gone and that Mom has never been the same since. She thinks I don’t know and that I don’t remember but it’s hard to forget when you see the light go out of your mom’s eyes.”

“Wow,” was all Sydney could say. She had no idea that Caitlyn was this perceptive and not giving it a second thought had been a major mistake on her part. She shook her head as she looked at Caitlyn. “Are you telling me that when you first met me, that when you joined Welsh, you remembered me then?”

“Of course,” Caitlyn said nonchalantly as if it she had just been asked if she liked flowers.

Sydney was still trying to wrap her mind around this information. To say she was shocked was an understatement. “Then why haven’t you said anything after all of this time?”

Caitlyn laughed. “Because I was patiently waiting and hoping you or Mom would say something but I have finally come to the conclusion that I will be eighty-years-old before that happens.”

Sydney grinned. “You may have been right about that.” She shook her head again as she looked at Caitlyn. All these years and Caitlyn had known all along who she was—incredible. “So what made you bring this up now?” she asked.

“Honestly? It was Mom’s reaction to you buying out EMCOR, although I did think that the two of you looked a little cozy in your kitchen the night of the Christmas Party.”

“I hadn’t seen her in thirteen years until that night,” Sydney said, her voice just above a whisper.

  “What happened? Please tell me what was going on with you and my mom.”

Sydney didn’t want to answer her. She wanted to tell her that it was none of her business but the look of genuine concern on Caitlyn’s face prevented her from doing just that.

“You loved her, didn’t you?” Caitlyn asked.

Sydney could only nod her head. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth at that instant, the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

“And she loved you, too.” Caitlyn said it as a statement and not a question.   

“Yeah, she did,” Sydney said with a nod of her head.

“Were you in love with her?”

Sydney smiled. “More than you could ever imagine.”

Caitlyn frowned. “Then, I don’t understand. If she loved you and you loved her, what happened between you?”

Sydney replaced the spark plug wire and pulled off the next one in line. “I don’t think it’s my place to tell you that. I think that maybe you should be asking your mom these questions.”

“I’m not a child, Sydney, and although you’re my boss, I like to think that you’re my friend as well.”

As Sydney thought about what to say in response, she removed the spark plug and tossed it in the trashcan. “I am your friend and I’m glad you think of me that way, too. I will tell you this much. Your mother and I were very much in love with each other but nothing ever happened between us.”

“You mean in the biblical sense?” Caitlyn asked, her eyebrow raising in surprise.

Sydney laughed. “Yes, that’s what I mean.”

Caitlyn leaned back up against the front of the truck. “Why not?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you ask an awful lot of questions?” Sydney asked.

“Yeah, you have. So why not?” Caitlyn wasn’t going to let up.

“Because your mom made a choice and that choice was her choosing the church and her beliefs over me and us and that’s all I’m going to say. If you wanna know more of your mom’s reasons behind it, then you’re going to have to ask her yourself.” 

 “It was Grandmother and Grandfather. They were behind it, weren’t they?” Caitlyn groaned.

“Ah, my two favorite people, Roberta and Lou or as I like to call them, Cruella and Deville. Lovely people,” Sydney said in a voice filled with sarcasm and then regretted it. “I’m sorry, Caitlyn. I shouldn’t have said that about your grandparents.”

“Oh no. I think you know them pretty well. Everyone knows how whacked they are with their activism. I don’t know if you saw the big protest up in D.C. two weeks ago. It was all over the news.”

“Was that the one where the Catholic Church was protesting contraceptives for women?” Sydney asked, thinking she did see something in the paper about it.

Caitlyn laughed. “Yep. That’s the one. Well, Roberta and Lou were both arrested for trespassing.”

“So, after all these years, Cruella is still at it, huh?” Sydney asked.

“I think she gets worse the older she gets, if that’s even possible. You want to know what I did to her for fun?” Caitlyn asked, a grin on her face.

“Do tell.” Sydney smiled. “This should be good.”

“Oh, it is. I told grandmother that I was a dyslexic insomniac agnostic and that I lay awake in bed at night wondering if there really is a Dog,” Caitlyn said with a straight face but then she busted out laughing.

“No, you didn’t,” Sydney managed to say between fits of laughter.

“Yes I did and if you could have seen the look on her face,” Caitlyn said as she wiped tears off her cheeks.

Sydney laughed. “I bet it was priceless. I would love to have seen it for myself.”

Caitlyn cleared her throat as she pulled herself together. “I do have something else I would like to talk to you about and it has nothing to do with you and mom,” she quickly clarified when she saw the worried look on Sydney’s face. “This is about me.”

“Oh thank Dog,” Sydney laughed as she pretended to wipe sweat off of her forehead.

“Thank Dog, huh?” Caitlyn asked as she fought to keep her laughter in check. “It was pretty funny. Okay we have to stop or I will never get this out,” she said as she held her sides from laughing so hard. “Seriously though. I’ve met someone.”

“Woo hoo,” Sydney yelled, much to Caitlyn’s surprise. 

Caitlyn frowned. “You act like I never date.”

“Um ... cause you don’t,” Sydney laughed.

Caitlyn looked at Sydney with a mischievous grin. “Then I guess it’s time I started.”

“So, who’s this lucky fellow? What’s his name and where did you meet him?” Sydney asked.

“The lucky fellow is Natalie and she works in the shipping department at EMCOR,” Caitlyn said and then waited for Sydney’s reaction.

Sydney shook her head as if she hadn’t heard right. “Um ... uh ...”

“Wow. I left you speechless for a change and yes, you did hear me say her name was Natalie,” Caitlyn said as if she could read Sydney’s thoughts.

Sydney laid the ratchet down. “Are you telling me that you’re a lesbian?”

Caitlyn laughed. “Yes, Sydney, I am a lesbian and I know I’ve been one all my life.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. I think I’m still in shock,” Sydney said, shaking her head.

“Your gaydar must really suck,” Caitlyn laughed as she handed Sydney a new sparkplug.

“It must suck badly,” Sydney grinned as she picked up the ratchet and proceeded to remove another sparkplug.

Caitlyn nodded at the engine. “You know, at this rate, it’s going to take you ten hours just to change the sparkplugs.”

“You’re telling me. For some reason, people keep interrupting my progress,”
Sydney laughed. “So, have you told your mom yet?”

“No, but I plan on it and soon. Like real soon.”

“So tell me about Natalie. Are you two dating?” Sydney asked as she tightened the new plug and then replaced the plug wire.

“Um ... we’ve never been on a date.”

Sydney’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Are you planning on going on a date?”

“I’m not sure. I mean I don’t know yet,” Caitlyn said, grimacing.

Sydney grinned. “You haven’t asked her out yet?”

Caitlyn shook her head. “I don’t even know if she likes me but I’m planning on asking her out tomorrow.”

“You’ll be fine. Just take a deep breath and jump in with both feet and be sure to let me know how it goes,” Sydney said as she moved over to the opposite side of the engine and jerked off the plug wire.

Caitlyn handed Sydney a new plug. “I think I’m going to talk to Mom tonight.”

“Yep, that’s pretty soon. I would love to be a fly on the wall just to see her face,” Sydney said as she inserted the new plug.

“Yeah, I hope she doesn’t react like two of my friend’s mom did.”  

Sydney looked up at Caitlyn. “And what would that be?” she asked.

Caitlyn threw both of her arms up in the air. “Oh God no, why me?” she yelled in a high-pitched voice as she ran around in a circle. “Oh dear God in heaven ... Where did I go wrong ... Oh why, Lord,” Caitlyn shrieked as she grabbed her hair with both hands.

Sydney was laughing so hard she thought she might break a rib. “They really did that?” she asked in disbelief.

Caitlyn nodded. “Oh yeah and to hear them tell it, you would have thought the world had come to an end.”

“I don’t think your mom will be that extreme.”

“I sure hope not because I won’t be able to keep a straight face, no pun intended,” Caitlyn laughed.

“How is your mom really doing?” Sydney asked the question she had been wondering about for a while now.

“Sometimes I think she’s okay and at other times, I know she’s not. She and Edward fight a lot. I don’t think she’s had a truly peaceful day in years and that makes me angry. Edward is a drunk. I think you’ve probably figured that out by now, too.

Sydney nodded. “I figured as much. Is that why you spend so much time at work?”

It was Caitlyn’s turn to nod. “I like to be home in the evenings when Alyssa and Mom are home because I know Edward won’t hit Mom in front of us.”

“Gotta love a man with manners,” Sydney said, sarcastically.

“He thinks I’m stupid, like I don’t know that he’s physically hurt my mom.” Caitlyn snorted. “I mean seriously, how many times can a person fall down the steps or run into things?”

Sydney felt the heat rise in her neck and face as she thought about Edward hitting Rachel. She wanted to kill him. She could tell by the look in Caitlyn’s eyes that she had similar thoughts. “Not to change the subject but are you any closer to finding out what Allen was looking for?” she asked as she finished putting in the last sparkplug.

“I wish,” Caitlyn said, shaking her head. “I’ve decided to go back through the computer printouts from where I did a mirror image of the system. I’m hoping that I’ll find something there that sticks out. I did run a report on the key logger and it showed that he had tried to gain access to my direct computer system because I saw where he was trying to crack my password.” Caitlyn grinned. “He may be smart but he would never crack my password in a million years.”

Sydney pulled off her latex gloves and tossed them into the trashcan. “Just be careful and if you do figure it out, I want to know ten seconds after you do.”

Caitlyn grinned. “You will know within five seconds.”

“Good. So are you looking forward to tomorrow? You have all your Christmas shopping done?”

“Yes, I have my shopping done,” Caitlyn said, her eyebrows furrowing into a frown as she looked at Sydney. “And uh no, I’m not looking forward to it. I mean seriously, can you imagine spending all morning with Edward only to leave and go spend the rest of the day with Roberta and Lou?”    

“I’m sorry,” Sydney said and she meant it. “You know you’re always welcome here anytime. If things get too much for you, just come on over.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that but you may live to regret giving me that open invitation,” Caitlyn chuckled.

“I doubt that and I’ll have Edna make a house key so that if I’m not here, you can still come over and hang out.”

“So do you have plans tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I will be heading over to my mother’s place or what I lovingly refer to as the
Death Zone
,” Sydney laughed as she made double quotes in the air with her fingers.

“That bad, huh?” Caitlyn asked, crinkling her nose.

“You have no idea. For some reason, my mother hates me but loves my little sister.”

Caitlyn frowned. “Why?”

“Because my sister looks like her but I look just like my dad. When she looks at me, she sees him.” It was hard for Sydney to keep the anger out of her voice. Since her mother had learned of her husband’s infidelity, she had been taking it out on Sydney ever since and it didn’t matter that her dad had now been dead for five years. 

  Sydney glanced at her watch. “I guess I should go see how your mom’s doing. Wanna come say hi?”

“Thanks. Maybe some other time. I really want to get back to the office,” Caitlyn answered.

“Okay, I will walk you to your car then.”

Chapter 8