Page 14 of Made for Us

I push off from the patio and walk over to the right, where the patio is separated by a little empty space. He leans over and hands it to me. “There you go.” He smiles at me, and all I can do is nod at him.

“Thank you, I didn’t even realize I didn’t have it.” I chuckle nervously, then hear the patio door slide open in behind me.

“Holy crap,” Gabriella says, walking out onto the patio, “look at this view.” It takes her a minute to look over and see us. “Oh, well, hello, neighbor.” She holds up her hand.

“I was returning her bag,” Tristan explains to Gabriella, who smiles and nods at him.

“I’m ready,” Penelope announces, coming out of the house. “I need sunscreen.” She looks over and comes over to see us. “Dad said we can go to the beach.”

“That sounds like so much fun. Apparently,” I say, putting my hand over my eyes, “they said that if you walk around there.” I point at the stairs and to the left. “It takes you to the big beach.”

“Oh, good to know,” Tristan says. “Let me go get changed, and we can go to the beach. Come on, let’s get some sunscreen on you before anything.” He puts his hand on Penelope’s head as they turn and walk back into their villa.

I take a second before looking over at Gabriella, who just looks at me rolling her lips, trying not to laugh as she folds her hands over her chest. “We need to move,” I inform her, not giving her a chance to laugh in my face.

I walk past her, back inside our two-bedroom villa, which I think is exactly the same as Tristan’s. I close the door, walking over to the big welcome basket in the middle of the living room table. I grab the bottle of champagne as the door slides open again. “Oh dear,” Gabriella says while I peel off the foil and untwist the little wire that holds the cork down. I throw it on the table and then pop the cork, bringing the green bottle to my lips when it starts to pour out. “So we aren’t using glasses?” Gabriella just walks over to the single couch and sits down, crossing her legs as she looks at me.

I gulp as much as I can before the gas, and the bubbles feel like they’re going to come out of my nose. “I don’t know who we need to call, but we can’t stay here.” I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.

“What would you like us to tell Uncle Matthew?” Gabriella put one hand on the couch before she decides to get up and grab a glass of champagne for herself. She holds out the glass, waiting for me to pour her some. I pour her as much as I can before it bubbles over. “Hey, Uncle Matthew.” She takes a sip. “We are going to have to change places because Abigail is secretly in love with Tristan, and it’s going to be really hard for her not to stick her face to the wall and try to listen to him sleep.”

I can only glare at her. “One, I would never press my face against the wall.” I take a sip of the champagne. “And two, I’m not secretly in love with anyone.”

“So are you openly in love with him?” She finishes off her glass of champagne as I flip her the bird. “That’s what I thought.” She holds out the glass for another refill. “Or here is a stupid idea.” She just grabs the bottle from me. “How about you tell him how you feel?”

I gasp, “Are you insane? I am never ever going to tell him how I feel. Telling you was the biggest mistake of my life.” She just laughs at me.

“I knew how you felt even before you knew,” she teases, putting the bottle of champagne down. I’m about to answer her when there is a knock on the door.

“Don’t answer that,” I whisper, and she just looks at me.

“He knows we are here,” she states, walking over to the door, and I sit down on the couch. “Thank you so much.” I hear Gabriella say. “I can take that,” she says, and I hear the door close and then the sound of wheels over the tiled floor. “It was our luggage.” I breathe out a sigh of relief, getting up. “Are you sure you are going to be okay?” She is the only one who knows how I feel about Tristan. It’s not like I told her. She sort of guessed it one day. She didn’t guess right away, and that was only because we didn’t live together.

But the minute she came to town for Christmas and came with me to volunteer at the hospital, it was almost as if she knew right away. It’s a twin thing, just like I know there is a reason she moved to Dallas, and it’s not because she got bored with LA. I thought I held the secret really tight, but then when he was in the same room with us, it took her point one second to guess. She didn’t out me right in front of him. No, she waited until we were alone, where I couldn’t hide from her. The minute she guessed, it was almost as if the dam broke, and I finally admitted what I was hiding. She sat there and then put her arm around me when I sobbed, knowing there was no way I would ever do anything about my feelings.

That weekend I decided it was just a crush, and I pushed back my feelings. Every single time I would see him, I would tell myself I didn’t really like him that way. I would tell myself it was all in my head, and then two minutes in the same room as him, and I felt like a stalker. I would look over at him all the time. But then I somehow convinced myself it was because I was just drawn to Penelope and not her father. Besides, there is no way my feelings will go anywhere. He will never see me like that. I mean, surely, he didn’t see me like anything besides the girl who helped his daughter get better. Then I became the younger sister of his friend. Then I slowly got into the lane of a family friend, where apparently I’m still at.

“Yes,” I say, more confident than I actually feel. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure he’ll be hanging with the guys anyway.”

“Why don’t we get into our suits,” Gabriella says, “grab a couple of cocktails, and go lounge by the pool?”

I clap my hands, getting up, and know this is the exact distraction I need. “That sounds wonderful,” I agree, walking over to my suitcase. I wheel it into one of the bedrooms, and riffle through it until I can find the top and the bottom. I slip out of my shorts and into my white bikini. Grabbing a white linen button-down shirt as a cover-up, I walk into the living room, seeing Gabriella come out of her room with a black bikini. “Ready?”

We walk out of the villa and head back to the pool, finding it empty. “Where is everyone?” Gabriella asks, turning around and then looking down the pathway to the sand. “Ah, at the beach.”

“Might as well just go there,” I say to her as we walk around the pool toward the pathway to the beach. I can hear music and noise as soon as we take a couple more steps toward the beach.

“I forgot my camera,” Gabriella says, “I’ll meet you at the beach.” She turns around and heads back to the villa. Turning, I make my way toward the beach, my feet sinking into the hot sand as soon as I step onto it.

I take a look around, seeing there are about twenty daybeds all lined up in four rows facing the beach. A tiki bar is set up next to the water, with Franny and Erika waiting for drinks. The kids are running around the beds, heading toward the water and then running back.

Lounge chairs are scattered around the beach. As I make my way down to one of the beds, I see my mother. “Hey,” I greet her, sitting down on the side of it as she lies next to my father.

“Where is Gabriella?” My mother looks at me and then looks back at the villa.

“She forgot her camera,” I inform them. I’m about to get up to go get a drink when I hear my name being called.

Looking up, I can’t help but smile when I see Penelope coming toward me. “Abigail,” she huffs as she holds a plastic shovel in her hand. “Will you come and help me build a castle?” Her eyes light up even brighter, and there is nothing I wouldn’t do for this kid.

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