The Twins & Me: Summer Vacation

Promise

I'm serious about not letting Ollie go back inside the house—being in such a close proximity to Felix and Bastian are driving him to drink and act all-around more like a lunatic—so Arlo and I manage to wrangle him down onto one of the deck sofas. His movements are sloppy, weighted down by the alcohol, so when he pulls me onto his lap it's with heavy arms.

He holds me close, head snuggled on my chest, between my boobs. I run my fingers through his hair in an attempt to calm him into sleep. The booze is starting to catch up with him all at once, and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't remember anything in the morning.

Arlo drops down next to us, drained. "This is not the relaxing vacation I signed up for."

Ollie grunts, and it's as good as an I told you so.

"I'm having a blast," I murmur, too low and depressingly to make it seem legit.

At least it pulls a smile from Arlo.

Ollie squeezes me and nibbles one of my boobs.

"Stop it," I say, like I'm scolding a dog. "Go to sleep."

"You can't tell me what to do," he grumbles, but moments later he starts softly snoring from beneath me.

Arlo throws a look in my direction. "I can't believe we made him our boss."

I giggle. "At least we get paid vacations."

Grinning, he reaches out to engulf one of my hands in his. "I miss you."

I sigh. "I miss you, too, Arlo Levitt."

"Let's take a real vacation after we get home, okay? The three of us. Somewhere we've never been, where no one will know us."

I nod. "I'd like that."

He pulls my hand up to his lips and kisses my fingers.

The sliding door suddenly opens and we break contact.

In the dim, Remi's form slides out of the house. "Wren?" She asks, somewhat uncertainly. "Can we talk for a minute?"

A small stone in my chest forms at her words, but I don't have the brain power to think of an excuse to deny her, so I gingerly detangle myself from Ollie's arms. Arlo helps me lay him down on the couch before mouthing be careful.

Instead of returning to the house, Remi leads me down the deck steps, onto the beach. She doesn't seem like the type to try and drown a person, but as we draw closer to the water, I start to have my doubts. However, I have no time to prepare myself for what she says next.

"Bastian and I are over."

All I can think about is how, hours earlier, she was begging him to use her. Her face in his bedsheets, body arched the way he liked it. My mouth suddenly gets dry. "Oh. Wow, I'm so sorry."

She doesn't seem particularly hysterical by the way she hugs herself and tries to pull a smile for me. "I was hoping, if I stuck it out long enough, he'd wake up one day and just see me, you know?"

She's not looking at me, but rather the dark, choppy waves beyond.

"He wasn't always like this," she says. Her hair blows in the wind and a few strands reach out to me, tickle my shoulder. "When we were kids, I mean. Obviously, people don't get mean until they grow up, but Bastian's meanness came out very slowly. And one day he couldn't go back."

I wonder if it had to do with Felix and the accident, or the twins suddenly coming into his life. Maybe once you lose trust in a parent, they can never really gain it back.

"We were ten when I almost died." She points far off down the shore, to the jutting of rocks we had the bonfire at, where I slapped Bastian. "We were out on my parents' boat, the group of us. The adults were busy fawning over Bodie, his little brother, when I fell overboard. He immediately jumped in after me, even though he could barely swim himself. Of course, we both would've drowned if my dad didn't pull us out, but it was the thought that counted. I fell in love with Bastian that day."