Tulip was pissed to the highest level of pisstivity. Her fury was on nine and her foot was on the gas pedal pushing her SUV sixty-five mph. Fine, it was that fast but she wasn't on the freeway and didn't need the police pulling her over. A speeding ticket would only make it worse. She didn't need another random stranger thinking they knew better than she did.

Who did Mr. Irvine think he was?

No.

Stop.

She shook her head at the courtesy. She wasn't going to call or think about him as a mister. He wasn't pleasant nor did he deserve respect. He was going to be Irvine and just Irvine. He didn't know Sydney better than she knew her. Well, maybe he did since he was the executor of Sydney's trust but he wasn't the one that Amelia picked to raise her. If Amelia wanted him to call the shots to Sydney's rearing then she would've given him guardianship. But she didn't so he could suck a rotten egg on a muggy day. Tulip didn't know what the words meant but they made a smile curve on her face.

She turned up the volume to her music, nodded her head to the beat, and mentally cursed him out worse than she did to his face. By the time she smoothly slid her SUV in the parking lot of Diamond Glitter, her anger had tapered. She pushed down her feelings as she entered the establishment. The easy, chill flow inside the shop helped knock another degree of her annoyance down. Rap streamed from the speaker on Neisha's desk which let her know a client wasn't there.

"Esha invited us camping." Sydney outburst as soon as she stepped through the door.

The jovialness of the girl caused Tulip's eyes to widen and her footfalls to cease. She was speaking English without a French phrase or two laced in just to drive her crazy.

"What did you do?" Tulip shot the question to Niesha. "Show me your ways, guru."

Neisha laughed from behind the laptop. "I have two little sisters from my dad's second marriage." She shielded her mouth so Sydney, sitting near her at the table usually used client consultations and swag bag construction, couldn't read her lips. "I know kid."

She sealed it with a wink then turned to the girl, "Syd and I are BFFs."

"Syd?" Tulip slapped her purse on the table with a look of confusion. "I thought your name was Sydney King?"

"Oui." Sydney snickered as she neatly colored one of the leftover coloring sheets they had from a New Year's Eve party that was family-oriented.

"Okay." Tulip nodded knowingly with a grin. "I see how it is. But she's my BFF and if you're her BFF then you're mine, too."

Sydney's head slowly rose and her narrowed eyes linked with Tulip's as she thought. "That's not how that works." She turned to Neisha. "Is that how that works."

"I'm sorry, Syd." Neisha held up her hands as if she was surrendering. "That's the rules to best friend-hood."

Tulip nodded as the girl tapped the blue color pencil, her head tilted to the side as she pondered.

Sydney let out a sigh and begrudgingly said, "I guess you can call me it too."

"I mean if it wipes your smile away I'll just stick to Sydney."

Sydney gave her a cardboard smile then went back to coloring.

"Okay. Sydney it stays." Tulip joined Neisha at her side of the table knowing where the girl got her nice-nasty attitude from. It was inherited from her. "Is everything set for the quinceanera this weekend."

Neisha angled the laptop towards her, "Just putting the final touches on the slideshow. Marisol gave us a list of the music she wants but her daughter emailed this to us." She hit play on a song on her phone and Megan Thee Stallion came lowly through the small speakers.

"I mean..." Tulip nodded along with the beat. "It is her day and it's the clean version. We can put it at the end and play only fifteen seconds."

"It is her day and her debut to womanhood." Neisha turned the laptop back to her. "How did the meeting go?"

"It was trash." Tulip plopped down on one of the stools. "He's an as—a pretentious bastard." Whoops, she couldn't censor that word, that one needed to be there. "Thankfully, he's going back to NYC and far away from here."

She glanced over at Sydney decorating the stream of Christmas light an array of colors. See, she was doing a great job. Sydney was doing art which so happened to be a class students' in school went to. She gave herself a mental pat on the shoulder then refocus on Neisha.

"So..." Tulip held out the word digging out her iPad from her purse. "What's this about camping? I thought you and nature were nemesis."

"Just because I like video games doesn't mean I hate nature."

Tulip squinted at her. "Sure."

"It is sure. I'm sure. Trees and grass are cool by me."

Tulip tapped her password onto the screen, "What about roaches and raccoons."

"Raccoons aren't....wait." Neisha's fingertips froze on the keyboard. "What about roaches?"

"They're in the woods." Tulip chuckled. "And they're the ones that fly."

"With wings?"

Tulip nodded as the icons on her device materialized. "And they eat Raid like it's Dr. Pepper."

"Stop." Neisha squirmed in the chair as if something was crawling on her. "You know I hate bugs."

"Neisha, if you hate bugs then how are you camping?"

"Lachlan showed me this picture of the sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico he took and he said I should see it in person and thus..." She fanned out her hands. "I'm going camping."

"Oh, near the beach." Tulip flicked her wrist. "You should be good. Beaches don't have roaches."

"They don't." Neisha and Sydney both said in unison.

Tulip couldn't fight the smirk that their matching eager faces. "I'm no roach-ologist but I think they stick to trees and not sand."

Neisha's shoulders relaxed while Sydney leaned closer to the table and asked, "So, can we go? It's on the list."

"I don't know..." Tulip started but was cut off by the opening of the door. She rose to her feet. "What are you doing here.

"I wanted to see you. Talk to you. In-person."

"Austin." Tulip rushed towards him. "I'm at work."

"I know." He flashed a bright smile and waved to Neisha and then Sydney. "Hi, little bit."

Sydney turned up her lip. "Je ne suis pas petit," she scoffed under her breath as she started back coloring.

"Don't call her that." Tulip snapped. She didn't know what Sydney said but the twist of her face let her know she didn't like what Austin said. And frankly, Tulip wasn't happy with Austin either.

"Outside." She grabbed his hand and led him out of the door he just entered.

And just like that, she was back to positivity.

Should Tulip and Sydney go camping with Neisha?

Why do you think Sydney doesn't really want Tulip calling her 'Syd'?

Why do you think Austin dropped by the shop? How do you think their conversation is going to go?

What bug will make you run away?