Page 3 of That One Moment

Sage:I’m not nosey, I’m inquisitive, like a cat. You like cats.

I laugh and my mum knocks her shoulder against mine. “Sage?”

“Isn’t it always?” I joke and Mum shakes her head with fondness.

Before I can type out a reply, tires crunching over our poorly paved driveway announce our guests arrival and both Mum and I stand from the sofa. I pocket my phone just as mum grabs my hand and pulls me eagerly to the front door.

Duncan walks in first, giving Mum a hug as she nuzzles against his neck, whispering something that makes him blush. Behind him, trail two boys - or more specifically two men.

Lightning hits me right in the solar plexus, my heart skips a beat, colours become brighter and sounds sharper as my eyesland on one of the men standing in the entrance hall. He’s all I can see, everyone else completely inconsequential in this moment as my heart whispers one word -soulmate.

I am in so much fucking trouble.

“It’s so lovely to see you again.” My mum’s voice snaps me out of my daze. “This is my son, Jamie.” She waves a hand towards me and I swallow thickly, tipping my head at the twins.

The first twin - the one that has my temperature spiking - is dressed in low slung, tight blue jeans and a purple crop top which shows off his smooth, defined stomach and narrow waist. He’s smiling and bouncing on his heels as he reaches out a hand towards me.

“Hi! I’m Cooper.” His hand in mine fits like a puzzle piece slotting into place and I have to clear my throat before I can get any words out.

“Jamie. It’s nice to meet you.”

I turn my gaze to the man next to him. Twin number two has the same build as his brother. He’s dressed head to toe in black, wearing tight fitting jeans and a sleeveless vest. Both his arms are tattooed though not covered completely. A variety of different leaves and plants make up the artwork dotted around his upper arms and down to his wrists. His ears are pierced and he wears a stern look that makes it clear he is less than impressed to be here. Despite it being early spring and reasonably warm, he wears a black beanie covering most of his black hair, save for a few wisps escaping around his ears.

“This is my brother, Caiden,” Cooper says, turning to face his twin. He mouths something that I can’t make out and Caiden lifts his hand in an awkward, hesitant wave.

They are a contradiction. One light, the other dark. Identical twins. Only not.

Cooper takes my mum’s hand and gently places a kiss on the back of it like he’s meeting royalty. “Thank you for inviting usover, Maria.” He looks around the modest entrance hall of our three bedroom bungalow. “You have a beautiful home.”

Looking around the space, I wonder how it looks from his perspective. It’s clean and neat but the decor is what I’d call mismatched - a true reflection of my mum. Colours explode across the walls, art she’s picked up at markets and in galleries across the country. Flowers in an array of pot plants sit on most of the surfaces, including a large fern in a terracotta pot that’s shoved next to the wall leading to the rest of the house. One wall is dotted with photos of the two of us together and a hand drawn sketch of me sits front and center. We had that drawn on a holiday to Florida one year. I hated sitting still for the artist to do it, but I think it’s her favourite piece of art.

Caiden huffs and his father gives him an annoyed look, his jaw clenching while the rest of us stand in awkward silence. “Caiden, don’t you have anything to say to Maria?”

Caiden’s eyes widen as he glares daggers at his father.

“No.”

What is this dickhead’s problem?My own jaw ticks but other than that, I don't react. I promised my mum this day would go well and I will make sure it does. Cooper reaches out a hand and places it on Caiden’s arm, tension releasing from his shoulders and his facial features softening beneath his twin’s touch.

“I baked us brownies, do you mind if I pop them in your fridge?” Cooper asks, breaking the tension in the room and gesturing to a paper bag he must have put down while I was gawking at him.

“You bake?”Idiot, he just said he did.“I mean, cool, it’s cool that you bake.”When will the ground swallow me up?

Mum eyes me with one perfectly plucked raised brow. She’s probably wondering what the fuck happened to her son. “Of course,” she says, turning back to our guests. “Jamie can get usdrinks and lunch will be ready shortly.” Spinning on my heels, I rush off to the kitchen before I can embarrass myself further.

I’m digging through the kitchen drawer - where we keep the things that don't have a proper home - finally finding the corkscrew when the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I spin around to find Cooper, the brown paper bag in his hands, watching me. Our eyes meet and I swear the heat from the oven intensifies, my cheeks burning in response to the light in his sapphire blue eyes.

“Just wanted to pop these somewhere cool,” he says, his eyes casting down to the bag in his hands.

“Of course, yes, sorry, here.” I stumble over my words as I point to the refrigerator because obviously he can’t find the huge silver object on his own. Just standing in his presence is making my whole body fuzzy and I can’t seem to think straight, let alone talk.

Cooper moves around me, placing the brownies in the fridge, then stands right next to me, so close I can smell his sweet vanilla scent. “Can I help with the drinks?” His hand grazes mine as he reaches for the bottle of red wine I was about to pour for Mum and Duncan. A buzz, like an electrical current, races through me at the contact and I suck in air, holding it in my lungs while he pours wine into the glasses. When I don’t say anything, Cooper lifts a brow at me, smiles and then walks off with a glass in each hand.

Get it together, Jamie. You cannot feel any sort of way about this guy.

Once I’ve released the breath I was holding and have talked myself down and out of the hazy instalust I feel towards Cooper, I pull out my phone and scroll to the text chain with Sage.

Sage:Baby showers are boring as fuck. Wish I was there instead.

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