Our Hearts Entwined (18 page)

“But you said you knew!” she argued.

“
Deep down
I knew Natalie. A niggling feeling is very different to the reality of you drugging Mia. I can’t Natalie. I’m sorry,” he told her as he exited her apartment.

Natalie lay dumbfounded for a moment, not quite comprehending what just went on. Grabbing for her dress, she scrambled to her feet and tossed it over her head before collecting her keys so she wouldn’t be locked out when she chased after him.

“Eric, wait!” she called as she burst through the front door out onto the landing. She raced barefoot down the stairs, rushing after him, only to reach him as he pulled away from the curb. Leaving her behind.

“What just happened?” she asked herself, breathing heavily as her chest tightened yet again and that pain she felt without him filled her body, pushing tears from her eyes as she hung her head and returned to her apartment.

“How are you today?” Cayd asked when he called Mia later that evening. They had both tried to lead very normal days, going to work and interacting with the usual people but it had been hard to ignore the events of the weekend - especially that moment when Mia had walked out of the bathroom after dying her hair and they had collided. It was a mess of hormones and lust that kept lingering in both of their minds, forcing its way forward no matter how hard they tried to occupy themselves.

“I’m fine, I guess… well considering – it’s all a bit to take in.”

“Understandably so. Did the locksmith come?”

“He did, thank you. I’ll have to pay you back for that, and of course for the PI – we never did discuss that…” she said quietly, closing her eyes as the memory of his aftershave flitted through her mind, causing her to feel as though she could actually smell him.

“It’s not necessary, Mia. I don’t want your money.”

“I can’t let you pay for me Cayd. It’s not right.”

“Let’s not talk about that now. I’m more worried about you at the moment,” he said softly, his voice caressing her ears as it made its way down the line.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“About what?”

“About everything. I thought I had my life mapped out and now I have a sister, my boyfriend is now my ex-boyfriend and well, there’s you…”

Cayd couldn’t help but mentally cheer when she mentioned that Eric was her ex-boyfriend. He was grateful that they were speaking over the phone so she couldn’t see his reaction.

“Would you like me to come and see you?” he offered, hoping she’d say yes.

“I…” she started, her answer interrupted by a knocking on her door. “Can I call you back?” she asked as she checked the peep hole. “Louise is at my door.”

“Alright,” he said, hanging up his phone, disappointed that their conversation was cut short. “Geez Cayd, what the hell are you doing?” he said to himself, he was going crazy over a girl he hardly knew but he couldn’t deny the way his body reacted around her, he was inexplicably drawn to her, despite the mess her life was in at that point.

***

How was your first day as a free woman?
Louise asked in sign, the moment she walked through the door.

Eric told you?
Mia replied before heading over to the kitchen and pulling a bottle of wine from the fridge.

Louise’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. They didn’t usually drink on a weeknight, Mia was normally so sensible, but considering the recent events, Louise could do with a drink too.

They both settled themselves across from each other at the table and Louise looked at Mia with raised eyebrows, still waiting for Mia to tell her how she was feeling now after she’d confronted Natalie.

Well?
she gestured, urging Mia to start.

Mia sipped at the light coloured liquid.
I feel really strange, everything’s a mess,
she told her, sighing loudly.
I miss my life before, I miss my mum, I miss not knowing.

Ignorance is bliss.
Louise commented.

It is, it really is.

Are you and Eric going to continue to be friends?

I don’t know.

Seems a shame to waste all those years together.

Seems a shame that he couldn’t tell the difference between my pussy and my sister’s – we can’t be that identical.

Laughing, Louise took a sip of her wine.
What about Natalie? What do you want to do about her?

Mia’s shoulders bounced as she shook her head.
I have no idea. Could I ever really have a relationship with her after what she did?

You could, maybe Cayd could help you out?

As a patient? He’s a psychiatrist, I think reuniting family members isn’t something he’d deal with.

Sure it is, he’s still a therapist. He just gets to prescribe medicine if you need it.

I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. Besides, I’m not asking him to.

Why not?

Because I can’t,
Mia looked away as she took a long drink of her wine, surprising herself when she realised she had drained the glass. Sheepishly, she placed the glass back on the table, spinning it slowly by the base with her fingertips.

Oh wow, you kissed him, didn’t you?

No,
Mia protested.

Yes you did! It’s written all over your face. Wow, I could tell you were into him but Mia! Kissing him - were you even broken up with Eric yet?

It just kind of happened. Don’t go judging me!

Louise held her hands up, and shook her head to indicate that she wasn’t judging at all.
What are you going to do about it?

Nothing right now, I hardly know him.

Yes, but he’s been by your side since you found out. That kind of experience makes people close faster than normal.

Helping someone confront their evil twin is a known way of bringing people close is it?
Mia asked, a sarcastic look on her face to go with her hand movements.

You know what I mean, and she’s not evil – just misguided,
Louise said with an eye roll.

Are you defending her?
Mia asked, slapping her hands flat on the table when she finished, her eyes wide with surprise.

With a pleading look on her face, Louise signed,
No, I’m not defending her, but I did see her and Eric together.

Mia closed her eyes firmly against the images that threatened to flit across her mind.
What was it like?
she asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

Different, there was something special in the air between them. It’s hard to explain.

Mia’s eyes fell as a flash of disappointment and loss burst behind her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Louise said out loud to regain her attention, before returning to signing.
I’m not trying to hurt you, but you have to look at this whole situation from where I’m standing. I saw Eric and Natalie together and I saw you and Cayd together. As shitty as it is, maybe this whole thing happened to push you both toward your soul mates – stranger things have happened you know.

Rolling her eyes, Mia stood up and went back to the fridge, refusing to look at Louise as she tried to keep her emotions at bay. She kept her eyes downcast as she poured herself another wine.

“Mia, I’m just trying to say that maybe things are better this way. You and Eric weren’t meant to be – you have to admit that. You’d be engaged or at least living together by now if you were. You wouldn’t be in separate houses, living separate lives all week and only hanging out on the weekends. It wasn’t right, you deserve more than that.”

Reaching up, Mia tapped her head.
I know, it doesn’t mean that I don’t miss my old life though, however lacking it may have been.

Louise walked over to her friend and wrapped her arms around her in comfort, stroking her hand down Mia’s long soft hair. “So you stole my hair dye huh?” she said over Mia’s shoulder, causing her friend’s shoulder’s to start bouncing with a chuckle. “It’s ok, you look good as a redhead. We can tell everyone that we’re the twins,” she joked. “Is it too soon to joke about it,” she asked as Mia let out a sob.

Mia squeezed her friend tightly in response before pulling away and wiping at her eyes, drying them with the backs of her hands.

Look at you. You’re a mess,
Louise signed.
We’ll be laughing about this in a few months – you just wait and see.

Mia simply nodded, still trying to stem the flow from her eyes but hoping her friend was right.

“Everything’s out in the open now, so I think I’ll have to head back home and face the music there too,” Natalie sighed, sitting on the couch in Evelyn’s consultation room. She had called and made an appointment that morning after the way things ended with Eric the night before. She needed to talk and didn’t have anyone she was close enough with to speak to, so she paid dearly for the privilege instead.

“Why do you feel the need to go back home?” Evelyn asked, her legs crossed as she sat in her high backed chair, her tablet on her lap as she scrawled notes about the session on its screen.

“Well there isn’t really much for me here, is there?”

“You tell me,” Evelyn prompted.

“What - you think I should sort things out with my sister?”

“Natalie, I think that you need to accept responsibility for what you have done. You purposely misled people, and drugged your twin in order to get what you wanted. Running back home isn’t going to make that better.”

“Well what is going to make things better?”

“You tell me,” pressed Evelyn.

Sighing, Natalie dropped her palms on the couch with a thud, “I know I need to apologise, but then what? I need some guidance here, if I knew what to do I wouldn’t need you would I?”

“Natalie, I can’t tell you what to do. I can listen and I can guide you through your own thoughts. But every decision you make needs to be your own.”

“I may as well be talking to myself in the mirror,” she replied under her breath.

“Well, as long as the mirror wasn’t answering you back. I can’t see that as a problem,” Evelyn joked, causing Natalie’s mouth to twitch with the beginnings of a smile.

“The whole point of me coming here was to meet Mia. This thing with Eric has thrown me sideways, flipped me upside down and left me hanging,” said Natalie.

“Well that’s an interesting analogy. Why do you consider yourself hanging?”

“Because last night, we saw each other – I wanted to talk to him but I never got to and somehow we ended up… well… almost sleeping together. And before we even really did anything, he told me he knew I wasn’t Mia all along and that he ignored it because he fell in love with me and then… he left.”

“How did that make you feel?”

“At first, I couldn’t believe my ears so I felt hopeful, but when he left…I was crushed, I feel crushed.”

“So, you feel like he’s left you ‘hanging’ by saying he loves you and then leaving things unfinished in a sense,” Evelyn clarified.

“Not just the bedroom. As much as being with him like that is amazing, that’s not what the problem is. It’s my heart that I feel is hanging. It’s like he inflated it and then let go – if that makes sense... I don’t know where I stand with him. I don’t know if we have a chance. I truly feel that he’s my soul mate but I feel like lying to him is going to keep us forever apart – not to mention the fact that I have completely screwed up my chance at having a sister.”

“Do you think your deceit is why he left?” Evelyn asked.

As Natalie opened her mouth to answer, a soft tap sounded on the door.

“Excuse me a moment,” Evelyn said, rising from her seat and opening the door to Cayd.

“I’m sorry. I know you have a patient, but your mother is on the phone. She is very upset and I can’t understand what she’s saying.”

“Alright, I’ll quickly finish up and take it in the office,” she said, a glint of fear in her eyes as she ran the gamut of possible disasters her mother could call with. Turning to Natalie, Evelyn apologised for having to end their session so abruptly. “A family emergency of my own has come up,” she explained.

“I understand. This was last minute anyway,” Natalie said, rising from the couch and collecting her purse before she headed for the door.

When she entered the reception area, she was surprised to see Cayd standing at the kitchenette, making himself a cup of coffee. As he looked up, prepared with a pleasant smile upon his face, his eyes widened as he recognised her. “Oh shit,” he murmured beneath his breath.

“You! I knew I’d seen you somewhere before!” she hissed at him. “I could have your license for this. You have ruined everything! How could you tell her? My sessions are privileged information. You had no right!”

“Natalie, no, I can assure you I never breathed a word about you to Mia. She discovered everything on her own,” he stated, his career flashing before his eyes, as well as his balls after Evelyn was finished with him.