“I was home for New Year’s.”
“That was almost five months ago,” Lydia said. “I used to see you every day.”
Trihn wanted to say, Whose fault is that? But she held her tongue and just shrugged. “Yeah. We should go.”
“Oh, right, sure. Do you have more luggage? Did you check a bag?”
“Nope. Just this one. It’s a short trip.”
Lydia’s face fell, but she quickly recovered. “Oh. Well, we’ll make the most of it then!”
Trihn saw Lydia glance down at her ring and waited for it to happen. Any minute now, Lydia was going to thrust that thing in Trihn’s face and want her sister to be happy for her. But to her surprise, Lydia just took the suitcase out of Trihn’s hand and started walking out to the parking lot.
They didn’t say anything to one another as they crossed the street to a shiny black SUV. Lydia clicked the unlock button and popped the trunk. Trihn assessed the vehicle. She didn’t think Lydia had a car. In fact, Lydia was potentially even a worse driver than Trihn had been when she lived here. Las Vegas had caught her up pretty quickly. She had to drive everywhere there, but Lydia hadn’t had that advantage.
“Nice car. When did you get this?” Trihn asked.
Lydia looked up at Trihn after hoisting the bag into the trunk and shutting the hood. “It’s Preston’s.”
“Oh.” Trihn hurried around to the passenger side to hide her distaste.
Lydia got in the car, backed out of the parking spot, and drove them to the exit. Trihn was right. Lydia wasn’t any better of a driver than Trihn remembered. It was almost painful.
“Do you want me to drive?” Trihn asked.
“What? Why?”
“Because I do it all the time, and it looks like you haven’t driven in a long time.”
“It’s fine,” Lydia said. “I wanted to drive you into the city. I really wish that you were staying with me.”
Trihn froze. “I’m going to be super busy. I didn’t want to inconvenience you.” Or be anywhere near Preston.
Lydia read straight through her comment. “It wouldn’t have been an inconvenience at all. It’d have been great to have you around.”
“Well, I’m really just here for work. I have a full itinerary, and the university put me up in a hotel. So, I’m just going to stay there.”
“Right,” she said, deflating. “Dad mentioned that.”
“Yeah.” Trihn looked out the window to avoid the tension.
“I’m just really glad you’re here. I thought you might actually not come home.”
Trihn didn’t have it in her to tell Lydia that she hadn’t wanted to come home, and the thought of seeing her sister and Preston and having anyone bring up their wedding had nearly kept Trihn’s ass firmly in Nevada. She figured her silence was clue enough. And they remained in silence the rest of the way into the city.
It was sad honestly. Trihn had been so close to Lydia before this. She had looked up to her sister, practically idolized her. And now, their relationship had been reduced to rubbish, all because of some stupid guy. If only Lydia could see it that way.
Lydia pulled up in front of the hotel where Trihn was staying in Midtown. It wasn’t as pompous as some of the surrounding buildings, but she didn’t intend on spending a lot of time inside either. Even though she’d left New York for good, that didn’t mean she didn’t miss her home. And she wanted to make the most of the time she had while here.
Trihn hopped out of the car and grabbed her bag from the trunk. Lydia awkwardly stood there, shifting from one foot to another.
“Okay. Thanks for picking me up,” Trihn said.
“Of course. It was good to see you.”
“Yeah.”
“I hope we can spend some time together while you’re here. Pencil me into your busy schedule.”
“We’ll see.”
Lydia reached forward and pulled her into a quick hug before disappearing. Trihn was so surprised that she’d let her. With a shake of her head, Trihn went to check in at the hotel. She didn’t know what was up with Lydia. Is this an act to get back in my good graces? Or is she actually trying to be better?
She deposited her bag in her room and changed into black jeans, a white V-neck, and flats. Even though she had her own style, it had been ingrained in her since her modeling days to show up neutral, like a canvas waiting to be painted.