Our Hearts Entwined (13 page)

“No?” she whispered, nervous flutters swirling inside her as she swallowed hard. Her body at war with her mind as Cayd closed the distance between them. He was only a couple of inches taller than her five foot ten frame, but when he was that close, she had to tilt her head up to meet his gaze.

“No, and I’m not sorry about before either. Kissing you is probably the best thing I have ever done,” he told her, hooking his finger under her chin and pulling her mouth to his, gently tasting her until her lips parted on a sigh and she fell into him as if she couldn’t stand to be apart from him any longer.

Mia’s head swam as their mouths moved together and their arms wrapped tightly around each other, pulling their bodies so close together that they were having trouble breathing.

“Wait, stop, stop!” Mia said suddenly, gasping for breath as she pushed herself away from him. “This is all wrong, we can’t do this – I’m supposed to be with Eric!” she exclaimed, although the moment she said it, she knew that there was no more ‘Mia and Eric’. They were over. “Oh god, this has changed everything hasn’t it? I mean, how could he not know?” she asked out loud as she sat herself on the couch, she wasn’t really expecting an answer, but she needed to get the question out.

Raking his hand through his hair, Cayd suddenly felt very guilty, he was letting his own emotions get the better of him when he was supposed to be the objective one.

“How about you tell me what your relationship was like before Natalie started to interfere?” he asked her as he sat down beside her on the couch, wishing he could take her hand in his, but knowing that he shouldn’t.

Shrugging, Mia’s face creased into a frown as she thought. “It was…normal, I guess. I was happy, we were happy. We’ve been dating since we were eighteen and still at school, besides kissing - we were each other’s first everything…”

“So you were together at eighteen and you’ve been dating for what? Five years now?”

“Yes, we’re both twenty three,” she replied.

“Did you have a future planned together?”

“Well, yes. I mean, we talked about someday getting married, but nothing had actually been planned yet.”

“Ok, and you live here alone and he lives with his friend, is that correct.”

“Yes.”

“Can I ask why you don’t live together?”

Mia simply shrugged and shook her head, she didn’t really know the answer to that. “I guess we both like our own space. When my parents died, I was mourning and I wanted to be on my own. When Josh was ready to move out of home, he asked Eric to share with him, I thought it was a good idea because I was still at uni – I wasn’t ready to play house yet. We’ve always spent the weekend together though, well, most weekends anyway. The rest of the time we just talked on the phone.”

Now he did reach out and take her hand in his, an immediate warmth passing through her from the simple connection. “Does this happen when you touch?” he asked in a whisper.

Mia stared down at their hands, moving her fingers to entwine with his as she felt the ripples of pleasure travel up her arm and through her body.

“I feel like I’m cheating,” she whispered.

“Then we’ll wait,” he assured her their breathing thick and heavy as they continued the movement of their hands in a sensual dance of tangled fingers.

When she looked into his eyes, she saw an intensity in his emotions that made her feel more wanted than she ever had before.

A loud banging on her front door stole their attention, causing them to release each other guiltily. “That’s them,” she said, jumping up from the couch and rushing towards the front door.

The moment she opened it, the first thing Josh and Louise could say was, “She’s not you!”

“That’s everything we know so far,” Cayd said, after telling Josh and Louise all of the information the PI had gathered.

So far, all they knew was that Mia and Natalie were adopted separately, with Natalie being sent to a wealthy family in Sydney and Mia to her own middle-class family in Melbourne.

“So why do you think she’s here?”
Louise asked, her voice filled with worry and confusion.

“I would say she originally came here to meet Mia,” Cayd offered. “It stands to reason, that perhaps she was watching Mia, waiting for the right time to introduce herself and then for whatever reason, she decided to insinuate herself into Mia’s relationship.”

“So do you think she’s dangerous? Like ‘Single White Female’ stuff?” Josh asked wide-eyed, his face the picture of seriousness.

“I don’t think she’s quite that bad,” started Cayd. “You see, she’s only focused on Eric. She hasn’t tried to take over Mia’s friendships or career. I’d think that she’s somehow convinced herself that Eric belongs with her and not Mia.” As he proposed his theory he couldn’t help but notice the way Mia’s cheeks flushed and her eyes dropped whenever his gaze met hers.

“
So what are we going to do then? Do we confront her? Do we call the police? What do we do?”
Louise asked.

“I actually have a great idea about that,”
Mia told everybody.
“First of all, Josh is going to have to talk to Eric - tell him that he needs to come over to my flat with you. Where everyone will be waiting…”

Mia continued to tell everyone her idea as they listened in rapt attention, nodding their heads in agreement and putting their own ideas forward when warranted. Eventually they all came up with a plan that would mean that this could all be dealt with the next night.

“Would you like me to stay?” Cayd asked as everyone was getting ready to call it a night. Each person now understood what their role would be when they confronted Natalie and Eric the next night. “On the couch of course.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said quietly.

Dropping his eyes to the floor, Cayd simply nodded his head, before raising them again to meet hers. “We will need to talk about what’s happening between us Mia. I know now is not the time. But when all of this is sorted – we need to talk.”

Mia’s head nodded without her knowledge. She didn’t know how to handle these new feelings that were swirling around in her body. It wasn’t that long ago that her life had seemed so simple, boring even, but she was content in it and knew what to expect – now, everything was up in the air and she didn’t quite know what to think about it all.

I’ll stay with you,
signed Louise, the absence of her speaking a good indicator that she had picked up on what had just passed between Cayd and Mia.

Mia nodded, accepting her friend’s offer, and together they farewelled Josh and Cayd.

“Don’t mess up. I’ll text you tomorrow,”
Louise said to Josh as she kissed him goodbye. Mia couldn’t help but release a little sigh. It was so wonderful to see her best friend so comfortable and happy.

“Take care of yourself ok?” Josh said to Mia, hugging her tightly before stepping out of the flat along with Cayd, who nodded once as his eyes met Mia’s while she closed the door.

What was that about?
Louise signed the moment the door was closed, her hands flailing wildly as she conveyed her surprise.
Are you into your shrink?!

No! He’s not my shrink!
Mia replied.

Then what is he?

Shrugging, Mia shook her head to indicate that she didn’t know.

It’s ok to be attracted to someone else you know,
Louise told her, still not speaking out loud but mouthing the words.

Raising her hand to her head, Mia signed,
I know.

Do you really? I’ve noticed that things haven’t been great between you and Eric for a long time. Maybe this whole mess is really a blessing in disguise. Maybe you’re supposed to be with Cayd.
Louise suggested, finger spelling Cayd’s name.

I’m supposed to be in love with Eric, we’ve been together for five years! Do we just throw that all away now?

If it’s not working then, yeah. How do you feel about the fact that he’s been with this Natalie girl – your sister, doesn’t that bother you?

So much. I feel cheated on.

Ok, so let’s say that we confront your twin tomorrow and she just goes away – never to return. If you have the option of returning everything to normal – would you?

Maybe, I was happy then, now I just don’t know, so many things are happening now.

Taking Mia’s hands in hers, Louise looked deep into her eyes, a serious expression on her face. “No you weren’t,” she said out loud. “I have
never
seen you look at Eric the way you just looked at Cayd. Never.”

“I hardly know him,” Mia pointed out.

Dropping Mia’s hands Louise returned to signing,
Your heart seems to know him and your body seems to want to know him.

I’m so confused. Can we drop this please?

Fine. Let’s get some sleep. This will all be over tomorrow and we can deal with this later.

Nodding, Mia hugged her friend and went to the linen press to take out the spare bedding before the two women moved to unfold the couch that converted into a spare bed.

I told you that you weren’t crazy,
Louise signed before Mia turned to leave.

I know. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,
Mia replied, a wry smile pulling at her lips.

It’s ok, it did sound a bit ridiculous without the proof,
Louise admitted.

Hugging again, the two women settled in for the night, neither really managing to sleep much at all. They were about to prove to Eric that the girl he’s been sleeping with, wasn’t his girlfriend. Tomorrow was going to be a day that they would always remember. It would be a day of heartache as truths are told and relationships broken.

“Good morning
Mia
, Eric,” Josh said, nodding at Eric and Natalie as they emerged from Eric’s bedroom the next morning. He was sitting at the breakfast bar in the combined kitchen dining area whilst eating his morning bowl of Nutri-grain.

“Josh,” Eric nodded back cautiously, still a little more than annoyed with Josh over bursting into his room last night. “Did you satisfy your McDonalds craving?”

“Yeah, um, thanks for the cash – I’ll pay you back,” he said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Josh then apologised to both of them for ‘mishearing’ their moans as in invitation to come in.

Natalie rolled her eyes in response, wondering if this Josh guy was actually a bit of a pervert. All the while, thinking that she couldn’t wait until she and Eric moved away. Based on what they had spoken about that morning, they could manage to leave everything behind as early as next week.

For Natalie, that wasn’t really soon enough. If she had her way, they’d be hopping on a plane that day and never looking back. She had this terrible feeling that something was about to go terribly wrong, and the mere thought of losing Eric was enough to cause her to feel as though her heart was breaking. She needed to keep a close eye on Mia until they left. She didn’t want to risk anything going wrong when she was so close to getting everything she wanted.

“What is my bag doing out here?” she asked with narrowed eyes, spotting it sitting on the floor next to the couch in the lounge room. Immediately, she moved towards it, grabbing it and checking that everything was still there. She felt sure that she had taken it into the room with her last night. She wasn’t stupid enough to leave the one thing that could prove who she really was lying about in a communal living area.

“Mia, relax. No one’s going to go through your stuff – it’s perfectly safe out here,” Eric started, silently worried that the overworked stressed Mia, that forgets their interactions and accuses him of lying, was about to make an appearance. He’d really hoped that she’d stay the happy, loving person that she had become lately. He loved Mia now more than he ever felt possible, and was scared of things returning to the way they were before - when they were together, but apart, living two separate lives, only to ‘see’ each other casually on the weekend. He loved having her around most nights, he loved spending more and more time with her. So much so, that he was seriously willing to give up everything to finally move forward with their relationship and if that meant moving up to Queensland, then he was all for it.

“Hey Eric - I just want to head home to get a change of clothes and a shower and I’ve probably got like, teacher stuff to do too, so I’ll be back tonight? We can start planning?”

Eric pulled her close against his body as he dipped his head to kiss her lightly, an excited grin quirking the edges of his mouth.

“Don’t stay away too long,” he murmured, tapping her playfully on the butt as she turned around.

“Bye Josh,” she called over her shoulder as she exited the townhouse.

Josh did his best not to roll his eyes at the entire exchange. Now that he knew that it was Natalie – it was so obvious that she wasn’t Mia. The only way he could think to explain why he hadn’t figured it out earlier was that none of them even knew Mia was adopted. They all thought she was an only child. So while they all noticed her change in behaviour, it was a bit of a leap for them to think that a twin was even a remote possibility.