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“Not so secret anymore,” Skylar mumbled as she opened her phone and dialed her brother. The new year was starting off on a strange note, that was for sure.
“Hey, Sky,” Gus answered after several rings.
“You’re married?” She couldn’t help the loud, high-pitched tone of her voice.
“Paps didn’t waste any time, did they?”
If it weren’t for the paparazzi, would he have even informed the family that he was married? Skylar wasn’t so sure.
“How did this happen? I mean, when did you … who is this girl you married? How did you meet? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“That’s too many questions all at once.” He laughed.
She didn’t feel much like laughing. “Okay, start at the beginning.”
“Her name is Merritt. Adelia introduced us, and it was love at first sight.”
Skylar’s laugh was close to a cackle. Gus had never been one to fall in love. He hadn’t really dated in the past. Never long term anyway. And now suddenly he was in love and … married? She could barely wrap her head around this.
“When did you meet?” she asked.
“When I came back here in October.”
She was annoyed by his answer. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about her?”
“I wasn’t sure how serious she was about me, and I didn’t want to jinx it.”
Hearing about it after the fact added another wound to the ones Gus had given her recently. And it hurt that her brother had excluded the family from this important moment in his life.
“Sky? Say something.”
“I’m just in shock, I guess. I never thought you’d be the first one of us to get married.”
“Neither did I, but when you know, you know. That’s what people say, right?”
“People do say that.”
There was more silence on Skylar’s part because she honestly didn’t know what to say, and Gus didn’t speak either.
“Does she make you happy?” Skylar asked.
There was a pause before he finally answered. “Yeah, she does. She’s smart and beautiful, and for some reason, she loves me.”
It was not the answer she expected. “So, what will you do now? Will you stay there in California?”
“Yeah, we’ll stay at the house in Malibu for now. She runs her own business here in LA.”
“Really? What kind of business?”
“A cosmetics company.”
“Wait, Merritt? You don’t mean Merritt Cosmetics, do you?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. You’ve heard of it?”
“Oh my gosh!” Skylar was more than a little starstruck. “Adelia sent me some of her products, and they are amazing. She is going to be huge.”
“We hope so.” She couldn’t help but notice how sincere he sounded.