Page 55 of Jump Start

I had to wonder—how often did Thomas come to visit his parents? Why was he holding back so much?

“Have we got any carrots or apples for her?” Thomas asked his brother.

“Yeah, Mum and Dad have some in the fridge back at the house.”

Removing his hand from mine, he kissed me quickly on the cheek.

“Just going to get some.”

He ran off, leaving me with Xavier in the stable.

“So…” he said, darting his eyes around the stable and patting Roo.

“So,” I echoed.

“I guess this is where I say, ‘Don’t hurt my brother.’” He used quotation marks with his fingers.

I smiled, only now realising how similar he was to Thomas. Xavier was a shorter, dark-haired version of Thomas, but still equally as handsome.

“That’s fair. I would never hurt him, but I get it,” I answered calmly.

“Yeah, he’s a special one. You can probably tell he’s being a little stand-offish here with our parents today.”

Xavier leant against Roo’s stable door, and she sniffed his ear.

“Yeah, I have. He hasn’t told me much about why that is,” Iconfessed, my voice going higher the more I spoke.

“I guess he’s just always felt like an outsider. My parents had only planned for one kid and then Thomas came along. Mum and Dad have always been super busy with the horse racing stuff, so they weren’t around a lot when we were growing up. Always getting dressed up to go on the TV or going out to racing events. I think Thomas resented that a lot. It didn’t really bother me because I had him. He’s always been my best friend.”

Hearing Xavier talk so warmly about Thomas was pulling at my heartstrings. I wanted to ask him everything I could think of about Thomas, but he would be back soon, and I wasn’t sure he would appreciate me trying to dig up information on him.

“My only advice is to stick with him. He will open up to you, I promise.”

I smiled and nodded. “I appreciate that, thank you. I will.”

He pulled me into his side briefly and laughed.

“He’s finally picked a good one,” he said, making eye contact with Thomas as he walked back in with a bag of carrots and a smirk on his face.

“Cocktail hour,” he announced to the stable, to no one in particular, and handed his brother and me a few carrots each.

I decided I would stick with Roo as she was calm and seemed to be enjoying my company.

Xavier and Thomas walked on either side of the stables giving carrots to the other horses, who were very excited, neighing and blowing their noses.

I understood now why Thomas built a home where he had. It was rural enough, green, and had horses nearby. It reminded him of home. A home he wanted me to be a part of.

“Lunch is ready!” we heard faintly through the stable doors.

“Shit, better get back before Mum loses it,” Xavier said, feeding his last carrot to a horse.

Thomas and I patted Roo goodbye and headed towards the house.

***

Lunch was extravagant, and way too much for me, but I ate until I was full anyway. Leonard asked everyone to raise their glasses after we had finished.

“To Thomas and Xavier, both home at the same time. We love you both and a big welcome to Harper, as well.”

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