Page 29 of That One Moment

“Good, things are good.” His answer is clipped but he smiles. Next to me, Cooper shuffles closer and rests his head on my shoulder while gently prying the cards from my hands. He gathers up the rest of the cards on the table and deals three piles.

“Have you heard from Mum lately?” Cooper asks.

Caiden’s shoulders straighten and the muscles in his neck tense but he shakes his head and settles his hands palm down on the table.

“She called me a few days after the dinner and apologised. Said she got caught up with work. Not that I know what exactly she’s doing these days. And she’s called a few times since.” Caiden picks up the stack of cards that Cooper placed down in front of him. He fans them out and frowns, his eyes narrowing at his twin.

“Now who’s rigging the game? This is a shit hand.”

Cooper laughs but holds up his hands. “You were both watching me deal, I did not cheat. You just got unlucky.” I pick up my cards and it’s a reasonably good hand as far as a hand of Uno goes.

“Are you still going to Spain with her?” Cooper asks, and is met with a half-hearted shrug.

“I’m trying really hard not to get my hopes up where Mum is concerned. My therapist and I have talked about how much pressure I put on myself when I believe she’s changed. I also know that -” he swallows thickly before speaking again. “I know that every time she lets me down, I let you down and that’s not fair. It’s not really fair to either of us.”

Cooper reaches a hand across the table and rests it on his brother's forearm. “You’ve never let me down, I just worry about you and want you to be happy and safe, is all.” Caiden rests a hand over his brother’s and offers Cooper a small, shy smile.

“I know, and I appreciate every time you’ve picked up my pieces and put me back together. But I want to stop relying on you to do that. I am feeling better these days. Therapy and medication are helping, though it's not some overnight cure, they’re definitely helping.”

Cooper starts the game by turning over the card on the top deck, a red seven. He places down a red three and the game moves to me.

“So Spain?” he asks again, placing down a card, after Caiden's turn has passed. He hits me with a plus two and I playfully lean over and bite his neck, loving the way his skin pebbles while he tries to hide his cards from my view. “Stop trying to peek at my cards,” he says, swatting me away.

“Spain is still happening. I have my flight booked. Mum says she is waiting for a bonus from work before she books hers. But she’s been emailing me itineraries and places she wants to see and I feel like she’s really getting involved.”

Cooper and I share a look as Caiden studies his cards, selecting a yellow two to put down. Disbelief flashes in my boyfriend's eyes before he plasters a smile on his face, just as Caiden looks up at him.

“I’m happy for you, I really am. Just, if for whatever reason it doesn’t, don’t let it set you back okay?”

Caiden rubs at the back of his neck but nods in response.

“Did you bring cupcakes?” Cooper asks, changing the subject after the mood in the room dimmed.

“Yep, sugar for my sugar.” Pulling the box which I’d left at the far end of the table towards us, I open it, take one out and press it to his lips. Cooper takes a huge bite and moans in much the same way he does when he orgasms. It’s highly indecent and I can’t help the chuckle that bubbles out of me.

“You two are quite disgusting, you know that right?” Caiden grumbles and I’m hit with the thought that it’s the first time he’ssaid anything remotely nice about our relationship. If you can call the playful disgust he’s aiming our way ‘nice’.

By the time Mum and Duncan get home from wherever it was they were, we’ve played enough games to have started a war between the twins. I had no idea either of them were so competitive but I am now certain that games night is a very bad idea.

Chapter Fourteen

Caiden

The last few weeks have been…fine. Good, I guess. I didn't hate spending the evening playing stupid games with Cooper, Jamie, Maria and my dad. After last week’s game night where I kicked Cooper’s butt multiple times in every game we played, he pouted and demanded a rematch which we did the very next day. Our time together, laughing and joking has left me feeling settled. Calm. Like the darkness and the rising water are at bay.

The flimsy postcard in my hand though, is a reminder that storms often follow the calm. Slowly, the creeping sense of being swallowed and pulled down by a force stronger than me starts in my chest, flooding my lungs until they ache.

“Greetings from Barcelona,” the postcard reads in bold white letters across an array of photos of the city.

Turning it over, I read the messy handwriting again.

Caidy, you will never guess what happened? I told Roger about Spain and he surprised me with a flight! I told him that you and I were going together but he said it would be so romantic for us to go together. He had a good point and how could I refuse a free holiday? Oh, it is so beautiful here. I know you bought your ticket but I don’t remember what days you said, but if we overlap we just MUST get together for sangria.

Love Mum.

Last time she stood me up should have been the last straw. I should have given up on her the same way Cooper has, but I am an idiot. A fucking idiot who still thinks that one day his miserable excuse of a mother will wake up remember she’s meant to care about me.

Fuck.

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