Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82163 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82163 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“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.