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“What’s up, man?”
“I wanted to say goodbye in case I don’t see you tomorrow,” he says as we bump fists. “I know you’ve flown a long way.”
“I’m good at napping anywhere so that helped,” I say, chuckling. “But you guys and all those dancing moves got me. I surrender.”
Gabe laughs. “Don’t worry. Claudia will show you those moves eventually so you better be ready.”
“Oh, I will.”
“I also want to thank you,” he says.
“What for?”
“For making her happy.” Gabe pauses. “Well, she was a nervous wreck waiting for you to arrive, but you know what I mean. I’ve never seen her as happy as she’s been since she met you and I mean, she’s practically glowing.”
“She used to date your best friend,” I say as Gabe’s expression clouds. I wouldn’t have known that little fact if one of her aunts hadn’t said something today. Not to me, but it’s one of the perks when people think you don’t speak their language. What was said wasn’t disparaging in any way about her, but from what I picked up, the cause of their breakup was pretty public, and this particular aunt hoped Claudia wouldn’t do it again, whatever it was.
“It’s a long story, but yeah.” Gabe slips his hands inside his pockets and shrugs. “But we’ve all done stupid things in our lives especially when we’re young and don’t know any better.”
“I don’t care what happened, but I love Claudia more than anything in the world and I want her to be happy,” I say. “I’d do anything for her.”
“Just don’t put out a hit on me or something,” Gabe mutters and we laugh.
“Nah, I wouldn’t worry about that, man,” I say before putting on my mock-serious face. “Not unless you’ve got something to hide.”
“Who’s got something to hide?” Claudia wraps her arms around me from behind and I raise my arm so she can slide beside me. “Because you better have nothing to hide, mister. Well, unless you’re like Gabe who dates three women at the same time. They don’t call him Mr. Lova Lova for nothing.”
Gabe rolls his eyes. “That was a long time ago.”
I laugh. “Holy shit. Three at the same time? That’s asking for trouble, man.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I learned my lesson, alright. At least, the part where I’m a one-woman man.” He glances at his young cousins who are screaming at something one of them plays on their phone. “Alright, I’m going to take the youngsters up to the suite now before the hotel kicks us out for being too loud. Good night, you two.” He turns to Claudia. “I’ll see you back home in four days?”
Her arms tighten around my waist. “Yep. Time to review for my board exams.”
“That means no distractions then,” I say as she looks up at me, arching an eyebrow.
“For you, I’ll make an exception.” She bats her eyelashes. “Besides, all work and no play makes Claudia a dull girl.”
“Cranky, too, so you better watch out, man,” Gabe adds before Claudia fake-punches him in the arm and he walks away, laughing.
After her mother and the rest of her cousins come over to say good night, we take separate elevators to our rooms. As we step out of the elevator, my exhaustion is replaced by something I can’t quite place. It’s a mixture of happiness and peace that I used to find elsewhere, but only because I needed to mask what was missing in my life then, that feeling of being whole… really whole.
And with Claudia, I want more of it.
No, I want all of it.
More laughter, more joy. More dancing, more silliness. More walks along the beach and art districts and talking about the foods we can’t get enough of. More love. So much love. More of everything we can give each other even if it means we can’t be together all the time.
That fact I’ve come to accept.
“I love you, Claudia. More than anything,” I say as soon as we step into my room.
“And I love you, too, Trevor,” she whispers as I bring her hand to my face, feeling her fingers curl along my jaw. “You have no idea how happy I am. Or how happy it makes me to see my family fall in love with you. All of them.”
I grin. “Even your nosy aunts?”
She laughs. “Especially them. I guess they couldn’t find anything negative to say about you.”
