Standard FF disclaimers apply
Ford F150
Chapter 1
Pulling out of traffic, Sydney breathed a sigh of relief. She would definitely not be missing this part of living in the big city. Her last minute errands for the day were finally done and it was time to relax before the big move tomorrow. Leaving her car parked next to the rented moving van, she locked up and headed into her now empty apartment. Sydney walked slowly through the bare rooms. It seemed almost impossible that three years had passed so quickly. Glancing around, she thought about the first day she walked into this tiny apartment. She had been so anxious to get out of what she considered her 'small town' life. This place had seemed like paradise, and in many ways it had been. She had finished school while living here. Her dreams of starting her own business had been fulfilled while living here, and… she kept herself from finishing that last thought. She acknowledged that she would never forget the people she had met here in New York, and left it at that.
Her breath caught in her throat. Yes many great things had been accomplished from this small space. She was determined to remember the good, and try to forget the bad. But the bad things had happened too, and were just as responsible for this move as any of the good things. Sydney moved toward the bedroom. It was late and she would be starting out early the next morning. A few hours of rest would be nice, but she seriously doubted that her mind would calm down enough to allow her to actually sleep. She sighed. Tomorrow Sydney Schaeffer; entrepreneur, RE agent, designer, would be headed home. Home, where she had always been considered the rebellious restless daughter, the head strong younger sister.
Home, the place that she had so desperately wanted to leave not so long ago, although now it did seem like another lifetime. Her parents were gone, but Trenton was home, and she felt the need to get back, to find her balance again. For the past six months, Sydney had been working furiously to make this move possible. There had been so many details to work out, but she had certainly been motivated. Most everyone that she knew understood her reasons and they were more than supportive.
Of course, she would still work with her clients here in New York, but it would be from her home base, not some overpriced office space, that her clients had never even seen. As a Real Estate Agent, she had met her clients in every place imaginable, often picking them up from their homes or places of business. As an Interior Design Consultant, the same was true, she met her clients everywhere but her office. Her office had been obsolete from the day she moved into it. What a waste that had been. "We learn from our mistakes," she would tell herself and keep forging ahead. As her mother was fond of saying, "all things happen for a reason." It was figuring out what the reasons were that was the trick.
By 5:00am, Sydney had said goodbye to the Holland Tunnel and had made her way to the New Jersey Turnpike. It was still dark, and since she was moving away from the city, the traffic was not bad yet. Large familiar shapes zipped past, the world she had known for so long now faded behind her. Soon she would be on US-1 and it would be a straight shot to Trenton. Home.
Playing with the old radio, Sydney finally found a classic rock station that the antennae could pick up somewhat decently. Tapping her fingers on the oversized steering wheel of the moving van, she could feel the drums vibrating their rhythm down deep in her core. She had been raised on rock and roll, with a huge emphasis on the bands heavy on drum solos and guitar riffs. Her dad had shared his appreciation of a great drummer, and she now lost herself in AC/DC's Highway to Hell. Like her dad always said, Phil Rudd had it right.
In her mind she could see her dad, a successful attorney, playing the air guitar dressed in his three piece suit. What had once been a teenage obsession, had become his preferred method of stress relief. It would have made such an odd scene, to anyone who didn't know him. Sydney smiled at the memory, and then felt the pain twisting in her heart again.
Suddenly the buzzing of her phone broke into her thoughts. A quick glance showed Aubrey's picture. Since she was planning on meeting with her sister at the house this morning, Sydney was pretty sure that this call meant that she was going to be a little bit late.
"Hey, Brie." Putting her sister on speaker, she listened as the elaborate excuses started. As she had suspected, it would be several hours before Aubrey could make to Trenton. She was not surprised, nor was she upset. Her sister was married with 3 small children. It was not anyone's fault, really, but it had been years since they had been able to spend any real time together. In fact, the last time she had seen her sister was at the funeral. As she ended the call, her attention was immediately taken by the black truck coming up from behind, and then passing her. Sydney looked over the truck, noting the details that she knew so well, dark tinted windows, super crew with a full back seat, custom package included the brushed silver rims that she had fallen in love with. She could only imagine that it had the black leather seats and grey interior that she had chosen as well.
Funny that ever since she had bought her truck, she seemed to notice every black Ford F150 on the road. But none of them had come this close to the one she had special ordered for her new business. And none of them had had big, good looking guys in them like this one did. Granted she had only had a few seconds to see the driver and his passenger, but the impressions were there. Both of them had large muscles outlined in tight fitting black t-shirts. They had dark hair, and striking features. Looking so much alike they could be brothers. And both of them had serious looks on their faces, as if they were concentrating on something important. Sydney watched as the truck passed her and pulled several car lengths ahead. Changing lanes they ended up directly in front of her. She followed them all the way in to Trenton.
OoOoO
The house was big, it had always been too big for the number of people who had lived in it. There would be plenty of room, and it would be perfect to run her businesses out of it now. The cleaning service that she had hired, had done an admirable job preparing for her homecoming. After sitting closed up for so long, it had needed general cleaning and definitely needed to be aired out. Now it looked and smelled clean, and someone had placed fresh flowers in the foyer, as well as in the dining room, the sweet scent of gardenias and the deep, strong smell of day lilies permeated the air. That was a nice touch, she thought. And she realized that it was just the kind of thing that Aubrey would think of doing for her. Sydney swallowed hard as she realized that these were her mother's favorite flowers, these were the flowers that her dad brought home each week for her. It was the only romantic gesture that she had ever seen her dad make. He was too macho for a lot of mushy stuff, but her mother loved the flowers. She had never seen him miss one single week. Sitting down on the couch in the living room, she let her memories flood over her. The ache of missing her parents seized her still broken heart. She allowed herself a minute or two of overwhelming emotions, but no more tears. Between her parents and the 'Blake incident' she had already cried more than her fair share of those. Her mother would want her to be strong and move forward with her life, so that was what she intended to do. She had a lot of work ahead of her, and getting busy now would be the best thing she could do to keep moving forward.
The moving van was unloaded by the time Aubrey showed up, her three young children in tow. The kids ran enthusiastically to Sydney and they all fought for position as they grabbed her legs and hugged tight. She was their favorite aunt. Okay… she was their only aunt, but she assured herself that she would have been their favorite no matter what. Their rambunctious outpouring of love always made her feel like laughing, as she was doing now. Walking clumsily with the kids still clinging to her legs, Sydney made her way to the kitchen counter and pulled out the gifts she had brought for her two nieces and her little nephew. Delighted with their new toys, the kids kissed her and thanked her and then ran off to play.
"Syd, you're always spoiling the kids," Aubrey chided. But she had a large smile on her face. She pulled her into a big hug of her own. It was really great to see her sister. Now Aubrey held her at arm's length and looked into her face. "So, how are you? Really?" she asked. As Sydney took a deep breath, Aubrey added, "And don't tell me that you are 'fine', it's the only word you have used for months."
Letting the air slowly leak out of her lungs, Sydney gave herself a chance to think of another word. Her sister knew her too well. She had been about to say 'fine,' but now she said "I'm okay." Then she gave herself a mental eye roll, she knew it sounded just as lame, if not worse.
"Sydney, it's been a tough year, you've got to cut yourself some slack," Aubrey looked into her sister's eyes as she spoke. But now, Sydney lowered her head and averted her eyes.
"I really will be okay, this move will be good for all of us" she insisted. Her sister was watching her closely. As always, she was a bit over protective, so Sydney wanted to explain that she was on track.
"I have several appointments with new clients next week, and I've expanded my business to include staging. And after the home shows last year, I have had so many requests for personal design help, I will continue to do that too."
"Syd, just do me a favor," Aubrey looked at her seriously. "Don't get the idea that just because you are busy, that you are okay." "Take some time for yourself whenever you need it"
Sydney nodded and gave her another hug. "I will, I promise," she said. "Now, the kids are occupied, are you ready to get this done?"
The task of packing away their parent's things was taxing, both physically and emotionally. But the sisters gently placed box after box into the designated bedroom that would be used for storage. It was too overwhelming to try to sort it all out now. So they organized it and got it all ready to come back to, in small doses. It would be so much easier that way.
Aubrey was glad that Sydney would be living here now, with her being so much closer, she could keep an eye on her younger sister. She constantly worried about Sydney, she had always been so driven and competitive. Her ambitions had taken her to New York several years ago, where she had worked hard, and studied hard. Sydney had built an impressive career, and she was quite successful. That was all good, but what Aubrey wanted was for her to be able to play hard too. Even before the Blake fiasco, Aubrey could tell that her sister was not having a good time with her fiancé, he was too serious, she was too serious. By the time they talked about getting engaged, it felt more like a business merger than a marriage. She wanted to see Sydney experience fun the way she used to. And watching her play with the kids was a great start. Today she'd heard Sydney laugh for the first time in so long.
After the kids were safely bundled into their car seats, Aubrey gave Sydney one last hug. "Take care of you," she was saying, but she noticed that her sister's attention was somewhere else at that moment. Following her gaze she saw the black truck moving down the street. "Syd?"
"Did I tell you that I get to pick up my new business 'vehicle' tomorrow?" Sydney said. "It's a black truck, a Ford, the F-150 just like that one," she said as she watched the truck turn the corner and disappear from sight. Aubrey nodded, it was a good looking truck. Sydney had told her all about hers when she had it specially ordered. She shrugged, it was just a truck. But Sydney had noticed more than just the truck. Like the one she had seen before, this one had a couple of good looking, well-muscled men in it. One had dark coloring, one was blond, but both were wearing black and had serious looks on their faces. Before she could think too much about it, Aubrey drew her attention away when she started calling to her kids to behave themselves.
"Gotta get these kids home," she said. She kissed her sister on the cheek and quickly said her goodbyes. Sydney waved to them until they were out of sight, then she turned back to the house. Moving home had been planned for months now, and she thought she was prepared for it. Now, she sighed. No matter what she promised her sister, she knew that she would keep herself busy. It was the only way she knew to get through the complete upheaval in her life. Being busy was always instrumental in forgetting, at least for a little while. And she was still desperately trying to forget Blake.
In fact, she decided that she would get busy right now. The office needed to be set up so that she could get some research done. For the remainder of the evening she put her skills to work and created the workspace that she needed to run her multi-faceted business. When she was finally satisfied, she locked up and headed for bed. She hadn't slept well in such a long time, she hoped being home now would change all that.