Chapter 17
Michael
Gia slams her hands on Lottie’s dining room table. “No, no! You’re telling it wrong!”
Her identical twin sister, Ginny, rolls her eyes. “Fine. You tell it then.”
Gia flips her blonde hair over her shoulder.
It’s about as long as Ginny’s now, hence the ridiculous story she’s telling.
“So, we’re lying out by their pool, right?
And the guy comes through the back gate with his arms full of pool cleaning stuff when he suddenly freezes, his eyes locked on the two of us.
Ginny’s got Nina stuck to her boob while I’m lying there cracking up as this guy tries to reconcile seeing double.
I swear, people never seem to remember we’re twins, and it kills me every time. ”
Indulgent smiles line my friends’ faces as Gia continues to drunkenly explain how Ginny and Carson’s pool boy made a fool of himself—the poor man.
“How’s Addie settling in?”
Lottie’s question makes me freeze. Does she know? How could she? We’ve been discreet. Right? I glance at her only to realize she’s looking at Ryan. Fuck, my pulse is pounding in my ears.
After one of our many late-night phone calls, we decided this thing between us should stay between us until we’re ready for our families to know. They mean well, but they’re a bunch of nosy meddlers. Addie and I both want time to build a solid base before they get a chance to intrude.
“Just fine, as far as I know. Dad says she’s busier than ever, though he thinks she’s dating someone.”
Apparently, we’re not so discreet. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it would be nice to tell certain people before everyone else finds out—Ryan being the main one.
What’s he going to say about this? What if he gets pissed and tells me he doesn’t want me to date his sister?
I’m not sure we could go back to the way things were before.
Lottie’s eyebrows fly up her forehead. “Already?”
Ryan just shrugs. “I try not to get in the middle of it. She’s more than capable of taking care of herself.”
“Just as we taught her,” Gia quips.
Lottie’s husband, Teddy, brings another round of beers to the people who wanted one. He presses a kiss to the top of Lottie’s head before he sits next to her.
The easy affection between them is hard to watch. Not because I don’t want to see it. I’m just not sure I’ll ever have that easy connection with a partner, although I’ve more than become addicted to the feeling of Addie’s hand in mine. Will that be enough for her?
“I wonder who it is,” Ginny muses.
My gaze stays glued to the table. I fidget with my empty beer bottle instead of engaging in my friends’ guesses. Not a single one of my friends knows about my feelings for her.
I glance around only to meet Carson’s green-eyed gaze. He raises an eyebrow at me, and it’s only decades of carefully crafted control that keeps me from crumbling under the weight of his stare.
It seems I underestimated my best friend’s observational skills.
Carson smirks but lets me off the hook. “What about that guy who came to visit her a couple weeks ago?”
“Oh, that was Zane,” Ryan answers. “Seems like a good guy, but Addie told me he’s gay, so I’m pretty positive it’s not him.”
“Though you never know with sexuality.” Gia tips her bottle at Ryan, who nods in agreement.
A tension I hadn’t known I’d been holding floats away with Ryan’s statement. I’d never tell Adalaide she couldn’t hang out with someone, but the jealousy would’ve eaten me alive if he felt like competition.
“Whoever she’s seeing, we all know he’ll be worthy of her,” Carson says, his eyes meeting mine. “She’d never allow anyone close to her if they weren’t.”
“Hear, hear.” Lottie holds up her beer.
Their words settle around me like a blanket of acceptance, one I’m not sure I deserve.
Since we were kids, these people have been by my side, propping me up every time I needed bolstering.
There’s never been a single moment since I came to Sonoma when my family made me feel like a burden.
I still felt like one, but I always knew it was my own insecurities talking and not something they did.
Carson’s belief in Addie, and me by extension, means more than I could ever express.
“Has anyone gone by Miss Alice’s recently?” Lottie asks.
Miss Alice runs the local historical society. When we found out she lives in the huge Victorian home by herself, we promised to visit her more often. None of her family lives in town, so our group has sort of adopted her as a pseudo-grandmother.
“I went over there a couple weeks ago,” Gia answers.
“We should take Nina to meet her,” Carson suggests to Ginny.
“I’ll come too,” I say. “She mentioned she’s got a light bulb out in her closet the other day when I saw her in town.”
“Bring an empty stomach. The woman force-fed me a huge brunch when I arrived,” Gia teases.
“I’m sure you hated every minute of it,” Carson throws back.
Gia grins. “It was the worst. I took home leftovers.”
The room fills with laughter, overflowing with the bonds of friendship not easily broken. I soak it in as I always do, grateful to be sitting here instead of facing the more typical outcome for kids like me who had to go through the foster care system.
After another hour at Teddy and Lottie’s house, Ryan and I decide to head home. A comfortable silence hangs over us as I drive. The town is quiet. Almost everyone has already gone home or is in bed by now.
“Do you think it’s serious?” Ryan’s soft voice fills the cab of my truck.
“What?”
“Addie’s relationship.”
I swallow hard. “Um. I don’t know. She hasn’t brought it up to you?”
“Not yet.”
“Then maybe she’s still deciding if it is.”
“Maybe. She never discusses her dating life with us, so Dad knowing something is going on is a big deal.”
“True.”
“I hope she knows she can talk to me.” The worry in Ryan’s words makes my stomach roll.
I park in our driveway, pausing before I get out of the truck. “She does, Ry. You guys have always shared your secrets. This isn’t any different. She probably just needs time to decide how much she wants to tell you, especially if it started physically.”
Ryan cringes. “I don’t want to know anything about that kind of stuff. No, thank you.”
I snort. “I can’t imagine she’ll keep it a secret for too much longer if it is serious.”
I am scum. I am the dirt on the bottom of a trash can that’s been left outside in the middle of summer. How can I keep this a secret from my best friend? Why am I such a coward?
“I hope not. I just want to support her, you know?”
“I know. And so does she.”
How much longer can we feasibly keep this a secret without our worlds imploding?