Page 12 of Made for Us

I sit next to Abigail and buckle my seat belt, ignoring how my heart is pounding. Ignoring the way my eyes fly to her legs. Ignoring my head yelling at me not to look at her. But I fail at it all, and I turn to watch her. She looks at Penelope. “This is going to be a great week,” she says, and I have to slow down the nerves that have now worked their way from my stomach to my throat.

I’ve been on the ice with the biggest and baddest there are. I’ve even been in some fights in the middle of the ice, but it’s nothing compared to how nervous I am as soon as I see Abigail.

The whole night I tried to tell myself that going on this trip was a bad idea, but then the other side of my brain would tell me what a great fucking idea it was. It was a fucking nightmare, I barely slept.

Did I walk on the plane and immediately look for her? Yes. Did I immediately get disappointed she wasn’t here? Yes. Did I ask if she was coming? No. Did I sit down and watch the door like a hawk? Yes. Did I see her walking toward the plane with Maddox as they smiled at each other and think she’s gotten even more beautiful in the past two days? Yes. Did I wish I could tell her? So much yes.

“Anyone need a tissue?” Christopher asks from five rows over, laughing. He looks around the plane, and I see a couple of people snickering when he spots me. “Tristan, you good?” he asks, and my heart sinks, thinking he knows how I feel for his sister.

I lean over. “What’s happening?” I ask under my breath.

“Every time someone new joins the family, they cry when they meet my grandfather,” she fills me in. “Started with Wilson and then Xavier.”

“So as soon as you marry into the family, you start crying?” I ask her, joking, and she can’t help but throw her head back and laugh. I picture leaning in and kissing her lips, but the image quickly evaporates from my head when I hear Dylan.

“Regret coming yet?” he asks, and I just shake my head. I might regret it at the end of the week, I think to myself, but not yet. He slaps my shoulder before walking two rows back and then sitting down in the seat, waiting for Alex to join him. She stops to kiss her grandfather and grandmother before making her way to Dylan.

“It’s not always like this,” Abigail shares from beside me, and I turn to look at her. She sits with her head back on the rest, and the way the sun is coming in, it hits her eyes and makes them even lighter.

I laugh a little. “I’ve been around them for the past six years,” I remind her. “If I were going to run away, it would have been way before now.” I lean back in my chair, folding my arms over my chest. “Besides, your family has been nothing but supportive and by my side this whole time.”

“Oh my.” I hear from the aisle and turn to see Gabriella. Even though she and Abigail are identical twins, I can tell them apart. Abigail has a bigger smile than Gabriella, and her eyes are warmer than Gabriella. Abigail also has one eye with a fleck of green in it. “I didn’t know you were coming on the trip.” She looks at me and then looks at Abigail. “Fun.” She continues walking toward the back.

Matthew gets on the plane next, followed by Max, as they start doing a head count. I close my eyes for a second, and when I open them some forty minutes later, the plane door is shut, and I look over and see Penelope and Abigail are coloring together.

She smiles at Penelope, and my heart feels like it grows tenfold in my chest. She tucks her hair behind her ear, something she always does. Something she isn’t doing to be sexy, but it just is. I take one long look at her before I turn around and tell myself, yet again, this is a bad idea.

This family has helped me from day one, and what do I do? I am lusting over one of their family members. They invited me in, and all I can do is sit here thinking about Abigail in ways I should not be thinking about her.

“If you want to rest,” Abigail starts, looking up at me from her coloring page, “I can watch Penelope.” I don’t say anything because the words are all jumbled in my throat. All the words that want to come out are me telling her that she is beautiful or she smells amazing or I want to kiss her. “I know that the last couple of days have been hectic, and from what I’ve been hearing, not many people got much rest.”

“It wasn’t that bad.” I watch her color the paper and then show Penelope, who smiles at her and shows her the picture she’s doing.

“I didn’t even attend all the events you did, and I ended up getting sick,” she informs me, and I am worried for her.

“What happened?” I ask, my tone going softer than I want it to.

“Nothing major, I just think with the whole moving and then not sleeping when I should’ve been sleeping, and then partying, I was burning the candle at both ends, and I got sick,” she says as if it’s nothing. I want to ask her what kind of sick she was. I want to ask her if she is okay right now.

“Do you need anything?” I start to unfasten my seat belt, ready to get up and make sure I can get her something. “I think I have water,” I say, leaning forward and grabbing the black backpack I always bring when we travel.

She puts her hand on my arm, and I swear to God, my whole body zaps to life. I haven’t touched or been with anyone in the six years since I became a dad. My dating life was put on the back burner. Then every single time I tried to put myself out there, there was always something missing, or better yet, they weren’t Abigail. “I’m okay,” she assures me, and Penelope looks at the bag in my hand.

“Dad, can I have the iPad?” she asks, and as much as I don’t want to pull my arm away from her touch, I have no choice. “Do you want to watch Encanto with me?” She looks at Abigail.

“Why don’t we leave Abigail to rest,” I redirect, and Abigail just laughs.

“I love Encanto,” Abigail says. Her eyes light up as she sings, “We don’t talk about Bruno.”

I chuckle as I pass the iPad to Penelope and then hand her the small white square AirPod case, “You have one,” Penelope says, handing her an earbud and then putting it in her own ear. I lean back and close my eyes, just to rest them, and the next thing I know, the plane is touching down, and applause fills the air.

I blink open my eyes and look over and see Abigail with her hand over Penelope's shoulder as they look out the window. “Daddy,” Penelope says, her eyes bright, “we saw the crystal-blue water, and Abigail said it looked like our eyes.” She points at the same eyes we both have.

I smile at her and then look over at Abigail, who just smiles at me. “Did you sleep well?”

“I guess so.” I take off the baseball hat on my head, putting it on my knee before running my hands through my hair. As soon as I hear the ping for the seat belts, the whole plane basically springs to action.

I look over at Abigail, who holds the iPad as she hands it to me. “Thank you,” I say, grabbing the iPad and then the black bag to put it back in. I get up from my seat and stand, stretching before I feel Penelope next to me.

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