AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She was pouting to the mirror, whining to the salon employee that the zipper was digging into her nonexistent back fat.
“How am I supposed to even drink water in this thing? I knew the cruise was a bad idea. I should’ve never hit the all-you-can-drink bar. Oh, hi, Nessy.”
She caught a glimpse of me through the floor-to-ceiling mirror in front of her. My mother and Gabriella turned their heads to look at me.
“Hi, honey.” My mother peeped, wiping the tears from her face. “Look how beautiful your sister is.”
Gabriella said nothing. I huddled across the parquet floor toward the sitting area and clapped my hands together.
“Trinity, you look divine.”
“I agree about the zipper. You could really use a bit more space. Or maybe just go on a crash diet. Atkins, anyone?” Gabriella murmured, her eyes hard on her phone as she scrolled through Instagram, liking people’s pictures with a grim expression on her face.
“She doesn’t have any extra weight to lose,” I pointed out, taking a seat next to my mother.
“There’s always weight to be lost,” Mom said longingly, patting her own midriff, which was genetically a little wider than she wanted it to be.
The shop employee excused herself to go bring her sewing kit and dashed out of the room. Trinity spun from the mirror, stepping down from the riser and approaching us.
“I was just telling Gabriella about the cruise. It was pretty lavish, don’t you think?”
“Yeah. Very posh.” I tried not to bring too much attention to myself, knowing Gabriella and I were not exactly best of friends.
“Yeah.” Gabriella flipped her dark hair onto one shoulder, sipping her champagne. “Cruz told me all about it.”
Did he now?
I didn’t think they’d have much reason to talk, considering they’d broken up.
Then again, I didn’t really think Cruz would be so happy to see Rob, either, and he’d had a back-slapping good time on my lawn.
“You guys are still talking?” Trinity chirped, her eyes lighting up. “That’s a good sign.”
I wanted to strangle my sister in that moment, but I reminded myself that she didn’t know Cruz and I had a thing.
Gabriella put her champagne on a nearby table, stretching her shapely legs. “Oh, yeah. We’re kind of finding our way back to each other. Slowly. I think we both freaked out a little, what with you and Wyatt getting married. It’s just a lot of pressure on both of us, you know? I have my new business—”
“Your new business?” The words flew out before I could stop them.
She preened. “My blog. It’s really taking off.”
Sounded insta-great.
Gabriella continued, “And I think he knows I’m the real deal, so he is…like, I don’t know, anxious?”
The word you are looking for is uninterested, honey.
“Makes perfect sense,” Trinity said. “I see the way he looks at you. He cares for you so much.”
I wanted to throw up so much.
“Did Cruz tell you Gabriella and he were on a break?” My mother turned to face me, oblivious to the bomb she’d just dropped in the room. “You two seem to be friends these days. I hadn’t even realized you were close until you boarded the right ship.”
Trinity’s and Gabriella’s gazes snapped toward me so fast I was surprised their eyes didn’t roll out of their sockets. I picked up a bridal brochure and flipped through it, feeling their stares scorching a path into my internal organs, willing myself not to blush.
“He might’ve mentioned that,” I murmured, but only because I wanted it to be known, in case word ever got out that Cruz and I had shared a fling, that he was single at the time.
Homewrecker was one thing I hadn’t been accused of.
