Our Hearts Entwined (10 page)

“What!?” she exclaimed, scrambling for her bag to remove her mobile phone. Immediately, she pressed the home button to activate the screen and read the correct time. “Ten twenty-seven! Oh my god I’m so late!”

Throwing open the bedroom door she raced out into the living area where she found Cayd sitting on his sofa, reading a newspaper and drinking coffee.

“You’re awake!” he exclaimed, immediately setting the paper aside and rising from his seated position. “Can I get you anything? Coffee, juice, water?”

“I can’t. I’m so late and I have to call work. Thanky–.”

“I already took the liberty of calling your work for you.”

“You what?”

“Well Cherry did actually. She let them know that you were unwell and wouldn’t be in today.”

“Why would you do that?” she asked, not sure how to take this new intrusion into her life.

He took a step towards her, and suddenly his proximity caused her breath to catch in her throat as her heart beat wildly. Her emotions were so raw at this point, and she didn’t know if she should be afraid or incredibly attracted to him.

Noticing her change in demeanour, Cayd halted his movement and spoke softly to her. “I did it because you have just spent a month being drugged by something, and your body was obscenely tired. I think you need a day or two to recover from your ordeal. It may be wise to go and consult a doctor about your health as well.”

“I’m fine. I just have a head ache,” she stated.

“Then let me offer you something for it. Do you prefer Panadol or Nurofen?”

“Nurofen please,” she answered as she followed him into the kitchen.

When he reached up to retrieve the tablets for her headache, she found her eyes admiring his form as his shirt rode up and exposed a strip of skin. Her fingers itched by her side, longing to reach out and touch him, but she instead stepped back to give him more space as he moved again to select a glass.

Gratefully, Mia accepted the tablets and water to take them with. Her heart leaping in her chest as his fingers grazed her upturned palm. Sliding the pills in her mouth, she lifted the glass to her lips, carefully watching the man in front of her over the rim as she swallowed them down.

“I need to go and see Eric,” Mia said when she finished. “Can I use your phone to call him?”

“Of course,” he said producing his phone from his back pocket and handing it over to her without question.

“Thanks. It’s just that I think she has somehow managed to block my number from calling him,” Mia explained as she dialled her boyfriend’s number and took a couple of steps away from Cayd so she could talk more privately.

“Eric Dundas,” came the answer as the call connected.

“Eric, it’s me.”

“Mia? Why are you calling from a private number?”

“My phone won’t connect with yours, I’ve told you that,” she replied.

“You called last night Mia,” Eric said, feeling slightly confused.

“No Eric, you’re not listening to me. My phone is blocked from calling yours,” she insisted.

Mia could hear Eric sigh over the phone and realised that to him, she must sound crazy. Tears pricked her eyes as she was suddenly overcome with the longing she felt for what her life was a month ago. “Don’t worry about it Eric. It’s not important right now. Listen, can I see you today? I need to talk to you about what’s been going on lately,” she started.

“Can’t we talk now?” Eric asked.

“It’s important that I talk to you in person Eric.”

“Alright,” he conceded. “I’ll knock off work early if that helps. Where do you want to meet?”

“At the café near the library. Does that suit you?”

“Sure, I’ll see you around three then.” With that he hung up, and Mia found herself staring at the phone, feeling glad that she could finally clear the air with Eric. She felt sure that he would help her confront Natalie and that soon everything would return to normal.

“What do you plan to do?” Cayd asked as she handed it back to him.

“I’m going home. I’m going to have a shower and get some clean clothes on, and then I’m going meet Eric and tell him what’s been going on.”

“I’m coming with you,” Cayd stated flatly.

“No, I don’t think you should – what if he notices?”

“Notices what?”

Shifting on her feet, Mia’s eyes started to water from the confusion and frustration she felt over her life right now. Averting her eyes so she didn’t have to look at Cayd dead on, she spoke in a small voice. “This,” she said, moving her hand between the two of them.

Clearing his throat, Cayd now shifted on his feet. “I’m not going to try to ruin your relationship Mia. I simply don’t think you should return to your apartment on your own now that we know about Natalie. We don’t know what she’s capable of.”

A small flutter of fear leapt about in Mia’s chest as she considered her situation. “Alright, come with me. But I’m going to meet Eric alone.”

“Anything you want,” Cayd said as he pulled some cereal from the cupboard. “Here, you need to eat first. Then we’ll go.”

“Hey babe,” Natalie said immediately as she answered Eric’s call, her stomach doing excited flip flops the moment she spotted his name on the screen.

“Hey, listen. We got an emergency call out, so I won’t be able to meet you for coffee at three like we planned.”

“Ok,” Natalie replied carefully, knowing full well that she did not ask him out to coffee.

Quietly, she seethed about the fact that Mia had managed to contact him. Eric was hers. She knew he was happier with her than he ever was with Mia. She didn’t need Mia ruining things before she’d managed to find a way to tell him who she was without him being angry at her for deceiving him.

“Do you want to grab dinner instead? I should be finished before then.”

“Yeah that would be great. Call me when you’re finished, and I’ll meet you wherever you want.”

“It’ll probably be close to six, and we’ll just go to that pub near your place so we don’t have to worry about reservations. Is that cool with you?”

“Sounds great, see you then,” Natalie said, disconnecting the call and breathing out a sigh of relief before turning her attention back to watching Mia’s apartment. She was starting to feel very nervous about her sister’s whereabouts. Why hadn’t she come home yet?

***

After spending a day and a half in the same clothes, Mia desperately wanted to get back home, take a shower and change. Cayd had assured her that all of the monitoring equipment had been removed and that no one would be watching her anymore.

With the thought of a possibly evil twin out there who was trying to take over her life, Mia wasn’t sure if that was a comfort or a worry. Perhaps she needed to be monitored right now?

As she pulled into her parking spot she waited, watching in her rear view mirror as Cayd’s silver Mercedes pulled in behind her. When she saw his car door open, she followed suit, standing next to her car until he reached her and then walking up to her flat together.

“Cayd, if I forget to say it later – thank you for all of this, I don’t know how I’m going to repay you.”

“I don’t need to be repaid, Mia,” Cayd said, holding the entry gate open for Mia to enter her complex’s court yard. “I’m doing this because I want to,” he stated simply.

“Well, thank you anyway,” Mia repeated as she walked up the couple of steps leading to the main entry door.

“You don’t have to be buzzed up?” Cayd asked as Mia pushed through the glass door without the use of a key.

“No. These are old flats and it’s a good area. We don’t have many problems,” she said with a shrug. “Well, not until now anyway.”

Cayd followed her up the stairs and waited patiently for her to unlock the door.

“This is it,” Mia said as she opened the door, letting them both into her home.

Cayd looked around the modest sized flat, with its open plan living area. He smiled when he saw the book shelves lining the main wall. “You like to read?” he asked.

“Very much,” she said, locking the door behind them – something she had never felt the need to do before. “I’ve always been a bit of a bookworm,” she told him, with a crinkle of her nose that he found adorable.

“Me too,” he admitted, before continuing his perusal of the room. “You have some very beautiful artwork,” he commented, noting all the framed prints from the renaissance era adorning her white walls.

“Thank you, my mother took me to the ‘Rembrandt to Renoir’ exhibition at the National Gallery when I was young, and I fell in love with the paintings. This is my favourite,” she said indicating the largest print in the room. It was a picture-perfect painting of a young peasant girl, her face devoid of feeling as she clasped her hands on her lap where she was perched on a wall. A cracked green jug lay on the ground by her bare feet. “It’s Bouguereau’s ‘The Broken Pitcher’. I remember seeing this in the gallery. It is the most magnificent painting I’ve ever seen. I was only fifteen at the time, and I couldn’t stop looking at it. My mother was so good to me. She let me stand and stare for maybe an hour. When it was time to leave, she bought me the book that accompanied the exhibit, so I could see the paintings every day. I still look at it you know,” she smiled, her eyes glittering as she gently touched the frame. “My parents gave this to me for my eighteenth birthday. It's the same size as the real thing,” she informed him still smiling at the memory as she gazed upon the glass covered print.

Cayd held his arms firmly by his sides, watching her talk about something she loved made him want to do things to her that he wasn’t able to do. He had to remind himself that he was there as a friend, he was there to keep her safe, not to take advantage of her. “Beautiful,” he whispered.

When Mia turned to face him, her cheeks flushed with heat when she realised that he was watching her intently while she gushed over her love of art. For a moment they froze in each other’s gaze, unable to move, let alone breathe.

“You mentioned your parents passed away. You must miss them,” Cayd stated softly.

“I do, very much. You don’t really realise how wonderful people are until they’re gone though, do you? I was nineteen when they died, and while I’d like to think I was a good daughter…” Mia lifted her shoulders, dropping them with a sigh. “I miss them, I miss talking to my mum. I miss calling my dad because something is happening with my car. I wish now that I had stayed living in our old house. At the time, I couldn’t stand it. I felt like I was living with ghosts, so I sold everything and moved here.”

“You sold everything?”

“Pretty much, yeah. I kept the basics - a few pieces of furniture and some keepsakes, but everything else - I either sold it, gave it away or threw it out. I regret doing it now though,” she sighed, her eyes connecting with Cayd’s again as the tension in the air between them thickened.

“You were grieving,” he stated, his eyes showing her that he understood. Mia’s head spun as her breathing quickened – somehow, they had moved closer together.

Clearing her throat, Mia dropped her head to break the connection. “Can I offer you something to drink?” she asked, increasing the space between them by walking backwards towards her kitchen, her thumb pointing over her shoulder.

“No. Thank you. I’m fine to sit here and wait. Do you mind if I take a look at your books?” he asked.

“No, not at all. Help yourself,” she told him, heading toward her bedroom to gather her things so she could shower and freshen up, before it was time to meet Eric and attempt to put this whole horrible situation behind her.

While she stood under the shower spray wishing she could wash her problems away as easily as she could wash away the daily grime, her mind mulled over her current situation.

As much as she was attracted Cayd, she knew she had to work things out with Eric. They'd been together for five years. They'd made plans for their future. Surely what she felt for Cayd was only her hormones buzzing with attraction. Just because she’d never felt this before, didn’t mean it wasn’t a perfectly normal reaction to such an attractive man – and Cayd was, by far, the most attractive man she’d ever spent time with.

She reasoned that the intensity of this whole situation was amplifying her emotions. As soon as she and Eric sorted everything out, her life would return to normal and these feelings would go away.

“This isn’t real,” she whispered to her reflection in the mirror when she was dressed and ready to exit the bathroom.

Keeping her head down, she walked quickly to her bedroom to finish getting ready. She tried but failed to ignore the way Cayd sat so elegantly yet relaxed on her couch. His long lean legs crossed as his head was bowed reading one of her books. It was just her hormones, she told herself, nothing more.

***

Outside Mia’s flat, the Ford Focus that was becoming a regular curb side fixture, provided a comfortable shelter for Natalie to observe her twin.

“Wow Mia, I never took you for a cheater,” she said to no one as she watched Mia and Cayd interact from the app on her phone. She had planted a small security camera in one of Mia’s book cases that she could access with her phone when she was in range. It didn’t record, but it let her know when it was safe to enter Mia’s flat and it was a better alternative than waiting on the balcony like she did the first time she drugged her.