Page 20 of That One Moment

I’m just out of the shower, Cooper having left an hour ago to meet up with his brother, when my phone pings with an incoming message. Opening it, I smile when I see the message is from Sage, though my lips drop as soon as I read her message.

Sage:Have you spoken to Caiden today? Something’s up with him.

The photos from last night come to mind and I hit call on her number.

“Hey,” she says. “Are you still with Cooper?”

My eyes look around my room, seeing signs of him in my space - a pair of socks on the floor, his boxers on the bed, half a glass of water next to the bed.

“No, he left a while ago. Why did you say that about Caiden?”

Glasses clink in the background and a cupboard closes, and I can just make out the bubbling of a kettle.

“I went to that Alison girl’s birthday party, you know the one I invited you to?” Sage asks. I nod though she can’t see me. “Caiden was there. Drunk off his face, slurring and stumbling about the place.”

“Was he with someone?”

“I got there really late because I had to work so if he had been with someone earlier I don’t know. But he was very much alone when I found him. He looked wrecked. His eyes couldn’t focus and his top was shredded, like someone had forcibly grabbed it.”

Sage is quiet for a moment before she continues. “He also had some bruising on his neck. I asked him about it but he just mumbled it was none of my business and tried to walk away.” I think back to the photo I saw of Caiden, the description matching up with what Sage is telling me.

“Why didn’t you call me? I would have come and got him.” I’m pacing my room now, for no other reason than that the thought of what’s going on with Caiden is making me antsy.

“And ruin your date with Cooper? No, I had it under control.Iwasn’t alone so I had my um….my friend help me get him back to mine. It wasn’t easy, he argued, but when I reminded him he had a big day today with Cooper, he softened. But Jamie?”

There’s hesitation in her voice when she says my name.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think he’s okay. I left him staring at the ceiling but when I popped back into my room five minutes later to grab a warmer coat, he was crying. Covered in my duvet but full on sobbing. I know the guy’s a dick but it broke my heart to hear.”

“Thanks for doing that, Sage, and thanks for letting me know. I’ll try and talk to him later. You still coming for dinner?”

“For sure. And anytime. He’s important to Cooper, so that means he’s important to me too.” A man’s voice in the background catches my attention but Sage shushes him before speaking to me again. “Anyway, got to run.”

“Don’t think I won’t be prying you for information about this ‘friend’, Miss Sage.”

“Static…..bssshhh…can’t hear you.” Sage makes a terrible attempt at mimicking the line breaking up before she hangs up on me.

Turning on some music, I sit on my bed and listen, singing along as I close my eyes, ignoring the stone that sits heavy in my stomach when I think about Caiden.

“That you, Jamie?” My mum shouts as I walk through the door of their home. A song I don't recognise is playing, older than the eighties and nineties music that fills my playlist, but it's upbeat and the lyrics are fun.

With the birthday cake in one hand, I kick off my shoes and awkwardly shuffle out of my coat. Mum comes into view, taking the box from me then kissing me on the cheek. “It’s so lovely to see you, thanks for picking this up.”

Mum turns and walks back into the kitchen and I follow. “No problem.” My feet stop abruptly when I enter the room, my eyes widening comically. “Holy shit, Mum!” Every surface in the kitchen is covered with trays of food, and three pots are bubbling on the stove. The scent of chili overpowers everything, but I cansee salads, baklava, macaroni cheese, tarka dal and an array of spiced vegetables. “How many people are coming tonight?”

She bats my hand away as I go to take a piece of syrupy dessert. “Just you, the twins, me and Duncan and Sage. I invited Leo but he had plans, and Cooper didn’t want to invite any of his friends.” My guess is that Cooper didn’t want to make his brother feel uncomfortable by having a group of his friends over.

My eyes dart around the room again before coming to land on mum’s smiling face. Her eyes are bright today, and she’s wearing a pink dungaree set covered by the cow print apron that I gave her for her birthday when I was twelve. I had saved up for that apron for months and it’s now worn and tatty but she refuses to replace it. “I made all the twins’ favourites. There’s a passionfruit cheesecake in the fridge for Caiden and homemade mint ice cream in the freezer for Cooper.” Have I mentioned that my mum is the best person I know?

“You could feed an entire football team, but I think they’ll love it.” Adjusting the backwards ball cap on my head, I wait for mum's back to be turned before sneaking a little of the baklava. The syrupy goodness bursts on my tongue and I stifle a moan then lick the evidence from my fingers quickly before she turns around.

Duncan comes in then, he's wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, and when he grins at me I see so much of Cooper in him. They have the same warm eyes, and they both smile with such ease.

“Your mum wouldn’t listen to me when I told her one dish was enough. But who am I to tell the woman I love that she can’t cook up a storm when she looks so happy doing it?” Duncan rounds the kitchen counter and kisses my mum on the head as she stirs the chili. I know she will have made it meat-free. Since finding out that Caiden is vegetarian, she no longer cooks meat when we’re all eating together. She wants so badly for him to feel a part of our new blended family.

“Jamie, love, can you blow up the balloons and hang them above the dining table? Maybe throw some of the streamers around too.” This is the twins’ first birthday with us and they’re about to find out just how much birthdays mean to mum.

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