First Frost Read Online Free PDF Page B

after the first hit, that they would never let their child live in that kind of environment. But a woman’s ability to surprise herself is far stronger than her ability to surprise others. Sydney had stayed, not knowing where else to go. She’d left her hometown of Bascom when she was eighteen, burning bridges with the fire of her resentment, never intending to return. She’d hated her Waverley reputation, hated all of her teenage peers who had rejected her, hated that she was never who she really wanted to be here. But the person she’d been with David hadn’t been who she’d wanted to be, either. She’d fled Seattle and David when Bay was five. She’d finally realized, if she’d been so wrong about life outside of Bascom, maybe she’d been wrong about leaving Bascom in the first place.
    There were times when she would still wake up in the middle of the night and feel a remembered fear, aches like bruises along her sides and cheekbones, thinking that David was still alive, that he was going to find her and Bay here. But he was long gone, she would remind herself. Ten years now. The Year Everything Changed, Claire called it. He’d died suddenly in prison after Sydney had finally pressed charges.
    Yes, she’d made a lot of mistakes. And she so desperately wanted to get it right this time.
    Maybe then she would feel like she was finally forgiven.
    She was startled out of her thoughts when she heard Bay’s spoon clatter against the bowl. She saw Bay’s reflection stand up from the table.
    â€œThe last Halloween dance decorating committee meeting is this afternoon, isn’t it?” Sydney asked as Bay came up beside her and put her cereal bowl in the sink.
    â€œYes. But I’ll be done in time to baby-sit Mariah while you and Claire go on your double date.”
    That made Sydney laugh. “You make it sound so distasteful. Dating . Bleh. What a horrible thing to do. You should try it sometime. You’d like it.”
    â€œNo one has asked me,” Bay said, zipping up her hoodie. “Can I spend the night at the Waverley house tonight, since I’ll be there anyway, baby-sitting Mariah?”
    â€œIf Claire says it’s okay. You know, you could do the asking. I mean, you could ask a boy out.”
    Bay rolled her eyes. “Right.”
    â€œNo, really,” Sydney said, pulling Bay’s long hair out from under the hoodie and smoothing it down around her shoulders. “Ask Phin. I see you two talking at the bus stop all the time.”
    â€œWe’re fellow outcasts. That’s all.”
    â€œYou are not an outcast. The more you say it, the more it becomes true in people’s minds.” Sydney looked her daughter in the eye. “I wish I could make you see yourself the way I see you.”
    â€œFive years old with an apple tree for a best friend?” Bay asked, putting her copy of Romeo and Juliet in her back pocket.
    â€œNo.” Although it was true. Sydney would always see Bay as a black-haired, blue-eyed little girl, the summer they’d moved back and lived with Claire. Bay would lie under the tree in the Waverleys’ backyard for hours, daydreaming.
    â€œ Fifteen years old with an apple tree for a best friend?” Bay asked.
    â€œBay, stop it,” Sydney said, following her through the farmhouse to the living room. “That apple tree is not your friend. Phin is your friend. Riva Alexander is your friend. She asked you to be on the decorating committee, didn’t she?”
    â€œRiva is … decent, I guess. But she’s not my friend. She only put me on the committee because she saw how teachers kept asking me to rearrange the desks in their classrooms to where they made the most sense,” Bay said. “You know what some kids call me? Feng Shui Bay. Riva put me on the committee. She didn’t ask me.”
    â€œBecause you’re so good at that kind of thing. Interior design