Read Online First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen - Free Book Online

out, with wine and laughter, and yet Claire’s mind kept going back to the business she needed to take care of at home, the extraneous things that had nothing to do with making the hard candy itself: email to check, labels to print, boxes to unfold, orders to track.
    â€œI’m looking forward to spending some time alone with Henry,” Sydney said with a wink.
    Claire looked over her shoulder at their husbands following them. She wondered if Henry knew what Sydney had in store for him. Probably not. Sydney had been secretive lately.
    â€œMaybe tonight we’ll finally…” Sydney let the words trail off. Claire knew what she was going to say. It came and went in cycles, but never fully went away, Sydney’s desire to have more children. It had taken a while, probably five years of living back in Bascom, married to Henry, life going well, for Sydney finally to trust it, to realize she was back for good. And with that realization came the desire to make it more, more stable, more settled, more to keep her here, as if she were really afraid she might leave again and never come back this time, just like their mother had done.
    â€œMaybe tonight,” Claire agreed. “Love your red hair, by the way.”
    â€œThank you. I can’t seem to help myself. I just look at it lately and it gets more red.”
    â€œYou’re going to have to tell Henry what you’re doing,” Claire said in a low voice. “He’s going to figure out what the red hair and all these nights you’re spending alone together mean. And he’s going to be hurt that you didn’t come to him.” Secrets were in the nature of the Waverleys. The men they chose never expected to be totally enlightened. Claire’s husband Tyler’s way of dealing with this was to be unfailingly patient, in addition to his good-natured disbelief of anything odd. Henry was different, though. He’d been born in Bascom. And he was a Hopkins. All Hopkins men were born with old souls. It was his nature to be depended on.
    â€œI know. I will,” Sydney whispered back. Once they reached the parking lot, she changed the subject and said, “You’re not going to let Bay work for you tomorrow, are you? Saturdays should be spent doing something fun at her age.”
    â€œDon’t worry. I’ll shoo her out of the kitchen,” Claire assured her, though she’d never understood why Sydney never wanted Bay to spend too much time at the Waverley house. But she didn’t question her. Motherhood is hard enough without judgment from others who don’t know the whole story. And the way the sisters mothered was as different as they were. Their own mother had abandoned them here, the names of their fathers long forgotten, to be taken care of by their agoraphobic grandmother, Mary. Claire and Sydney were, the both of them, forging new ground with their own children, having no firsthand knowledge of how to do it right. Just the fact that Sydney wanted to do it again made her seem so brave to Claire.
    â€œAnd the backyard,” Sydney added.
    â€œAnd the backyard.”
    Sydney shook her head. “I’ll bet you a million dollars she’s out there right now, with that tree.”
    â€œYou’d win that bet.”
    â€œShe’s doing okay, isn’t she?” Sydney asked.
    â€œI think she’s doing fine. Bay knows herself. She likes herself. She doesn’t care what other people think.”
    â€œBut I want her to have a good time in high school.”
    â€œYou want her to be popular,” Claire said. “She doesn’t want to be popular. She just wants to be herself.”
    â€œShe doesn’t date, or go out with friends, or anything. Has she talked to you about anyone she likes?”
    Claire hesitated. She didn’t want to keep this from her sister, but it was Bay’s secret to tell, not hers. “She’s mentioned a boy once or twice. You’ll