Forever Mine(106)

When they reached Syd’s place Sarah turned to him, “You sure you’re okay with this?”



Not really but he may as well get it over it. As far as he was concerned, Sarah was a part of his life for good now, so if Sydney was part of hers he had to get used to this. “Yep, I’m good.”



She leaned over and kissed him before getting out of the car. Angel walked around and met her at the sidewalk. Sydney was already standing on his porch with a blonde girl.



He met them at the bottom of the porch steps, greeted Angel first and introduced him to his girlfriend Carina. Then he turned and greeted Sarah.



“I missed you, Lynni.”





Sarah let go of Angel’s hand to hug him. “I missed you too.”





Angel watched as Sydney embraced her long and hard. “God, you look good.”





He focused on not grinding his teeth too hard and tried not to frown. Sydney looked up and met Angel’s eyes even as he still held Sarah. “I guess happiness’ll do that to you huh?”



Sydney’s mom made them lunch and they ate in the backyard under the patio. Sarah and Sydney talked about the track team she’d left behind in Arizona and she filled him in on the details of her mother’s early release. Angel glanced at Carina who, like him, hadn’t said very much, and wondered if she was as unsettled about their relationship as he was.



They didn’t stay too long, and Angel guessed it was because Sarah sensed his discomfort even though he did his best to try not to cringe every time Sydney called Sarah, Lynni.



Sydney hugged her just as hard when he said goodbye. This time Angel turned away casually, not wanting to see the way Syd’s hands caressed her back. He was thankful neither professed their love for one another or he may have snapped.



Sarah squeezed his hand as they drove away, “Thank you for that. I know that couldn’t have been easy.” She brought his hand to her mouth and kissed it.



“Why does he call you Lynni?” Angel didn’t want her to think he was angry but he couldn’t help asking.



She shrugged. “From the moment I met him and I introduced myself as Sarah Lynn, his first remark was, you look more like a Lynn than a Sarah. After a while it turned into Lynni.” She kissed his hand again. “Does that bother you?”



Angel decided to just be honest. “I hate it.”





Sarah laughed. “Why?”





He turned to look at her brilliant green eyes staring at him. “Sound’s too damn sweet.”





Sarah told him about her mom not liking it either, but after years of trying to correct him she’d given up. Sarah was Lynni to Sydney and always would be. Great.



When they got to the women’s detention center they were still early. Sarah’s mom wasn’t done being prepped and handling paper work. They sat on a cold hard bench in the lobby. Sarah leaned against Angel and he put his arm around her. He could tell she was anxious and he kissed the top of her head.



“Almost, sweetheart.”



She nodded. A good hour later her mom finally walked out and they stood up. Angel was surprised at the lack of resemblance. Her mom’s hair was light brown and she had very dark eyes. The one thing that she did have was Sarah’s smile.



Sarah rushed to her and hugged her. After holding each other for a few minutes Sarah turned to introduce her to Angel.



Angel reached out to shake her hand but her mother hugged him hard instead. When she pulled away she examined him thoroughly. “She was right kid, you are a doll.”



“Never been called that before,” Angel smiled.



He took the bags her mother carried and Sarah’s mom locked her arm in his, then locked the other in Sarah’s arm. All three began the walk down the corridor. “So, what do you say, kids? Let’s forget the past and go start our new lives in California.”



Angel and Sarah glanced at each other and smiled. Yeah, Angel liked the sound of that.





Epilogue



The musicians made their way through the restaurant taking requests. Sarah sat with her mom, aunt, uncle and Valerie in one of the bigger booths. Angel’s parents had thrown a graduation party so the restaurant was open to guests only.



Sarah’s mom squeezed her hand and Sarah smiled. Her mom looked nothing like what she’d looked like when Sarah first visited her in jail. She’d gained weight and looked healthy and vibrant.



Her mom had been right there for her during the coaches’ trial. After Sarah pressed charges several other girls stepped forward to accuse him of the same thing. All in all he was tried on several different counts ranging from sexual molestation to attempted rape. But many others testified that he’d acted inappropriate with them as well. It took the jury only two hours to deliberate.