“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.
Natalie’s stomach ached slightly as she thought about what she was doing. She was crossing the line and she knew it. But she couldn’t seem to find a way to get off this rollercoaster of lies she had landed herself in.
At first, she had made sure that Mia couldn’t call Eric anymore by blocking her number. But she realised that a blocked number wouldn’t stop her from visiting Eric in person. So she waited until she saw Mia leave for work and then knocked on her neighbour’s door, telling the old lady (who of course thought she was Mia) that she had forgotten her keys and needed to get inside. She asked the woman if she’d let her climb between their balconies, so she could gain access to Mia’s flat that way. Even if Mia had locked her sliding door, it didn’t matter - they were easy enough to push off their runners.
The moment she had crushed that first tablet she knew that she was entering ‘crazy stalker’ territory, she’d even hesitated before adding the drugs to Mia’s sweetener, but she’d pushed on – what choice did she have? If she came clean and told them who she was, she might never have Eric. And now…. now, the more time she spent with him, the more time she wanted. She didn’t know how to make this end…
After watching her twin and the man she’d brought into her apartment draw closer to each other, she decided that she’d seen enough. Starting her car, she was ready to drive home, content to leave her twin with her new man. She couldn’t see her being a problem tonight, she was obviously very busy - at least now she knew where Mia had been all night.
“Cheeky bitch,” Natalie laughed to herself as she pulled out into the street and headed back to her apartment, glad that Mia had a n
ew distraction that would keep her away from Eric.
Chapter Sixteen
Cayd looked up when Mia exited her bedroom. She was dressed casually in a pair of fitted black capris, and a white tank top, with her still damp hair out so it could dry in the warm air.
Sliding her feet into a pair of Panama’s she wrapped a hair elastic around her wrist as she usually did, knowing that the moment her hair was dry enough, she’d want to tie it back.
Cayd, who had been watching her, set the book aside and rose from the couch as she walked toward him, a worried look upon her face as she tried to smile bravely.
“I’m ready to go,” she announced, checking the time on her phone to see how long she had until she was to meet up with Eric. “I might take off now. I’m sure I won’t have to wait for him long.”
“Alright,” Cayd said quietly. “Would you mind if I borrowed this?” he asked, holding up her copy of World War Z.
“Of course,” she smiled, as she picked up her bag, slipping it over her shoulder.
“Listen, if you’re having any trouble. Call me. Ok?” he told her as he followed her out.
“You’re making me nervous, it’s just coffee and talking,” she said as she walked down the stairs.
“Never the less, I’ll have my phone with me if you need me,” he told her just before it started to ring, his ringtone the sound of an old fashioned bell phone. “Cayd Donnelly,” he said, lifting the phone to his ear and listening intently. “Yes, that’s fine. I can be there in about twenty minutes.”
“Is everything ok?” Mia asked as he disconnected the call.
“Everything’s fine. I just have a new client being sent to me. I’ll be with them for perhaps an hour. Although, if you really need me, I want you to call the office, Cherry will put you straight through.”
“Ok,” she said as they reached her car. “Well, I guess this is it – this could all be over in a couple of hours,” she told him hopefully.
“Perhaps it will… Mia?…call me, please – to let me know how it all went. And if you’re not comfortable in your flat, you’re more than welcome to use the guest room again,” he offered, digging his hands in his jean’s pockets.
“Thank you Cayd, I’ll definitely call you,” she said a little more breathlessly than she intended. She actually heard the change in her voice and felt sure that Cayd had too, causing heat to creep over her face. “Well, I’d better go,” she said, thumbing over her shoulder toward her car.
“Of course,” Cayd said, stepping back as he opened the driver’s door for her. “Good luck Mia.”
Mia nodded, her head swimming with a bucket load of mixed emotions as she slid into her car. She tried to put all of her effort into focusing on driving instead of the man standing on the foot path, his hands still in his pockets as he watched her leave, unmoving until her car was out of sight.
***
The moment his patient left the consultation room, Cayd pulled his phone from his pocket to check for any missed calls. Nothing.
His stomach churned with nerves and he loosened the tie he’d put on when he’d changed into his work clothes after he’d returned earlier.
It was almost two hours since he’d left Mia’s flat, his appointment taking much longer than he’d anticipated, and even though he knew that she and Eric had a lot to talk about, he felt that she should have contacted him by now.
“I’m going out,” he said to Cherry as he dropped his tie on her desk and strode toward the front door purposefully.
“Didn’t call you huh?” she mused, not even bothering to look up from the book she was reading.
Cayd didn’t gratify her with an answer, instead, he continued on his way, pulling down the handle and jerking the door open before trotting down the concrete steps towards his car. He needed to go to the coffee shop to see if she was alright, something he couldn’t explain told him she was still there and that she needed him.
Chapter Seventeen
“Are you finished with that?” the coffee shop attendant asked, indicating the third empty cup of coffee Mia had drunk in the two hours she had waited for Eric. She didn’t even know why she was still sitting there, waiting like an idiot – he obviously wasn’t coming.
“Sure, I’m finished,” Mia said, hitching her handbag over her shoulder as she stood to leave, her body heavy with her disappointment as she pushed up.
“Mia!”
Turning toward the direction of her name, Mia couldn’t help but allow a slight smile to curl her lip as she saw Cayd jogging toward her. He was looking extraordinarily gorgeous, wearing dark grey dress pants and pale blue dress shirt unbuttoned casually at the neck. He was the one happy thing that had come about in all this mess.
“He didn’t show,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders, as he came to a stop in front of her.
“Oh Mia. I’m so sorry,” he said genuinely, pulling her into a hug as he saw her face crumple. “It’ll be ok. We’ll work it out,” he soothed, as he held her against him while she sobbed quietly into his shoulder. As he smoothed the hair on her head as if she was a child, he wished he could take her away from all this, and pretend that the world around them didn’t exist anymore.
***
At around five thirty, Eric was finally getting in the passenger side of the work ute. He was now finished with the emergency job that he and Baz had been called out to. It was a stressful job, one that required a lot of care and patience from both him and Baz, which was why they had left their mobile phones in the car glove box, not wanting to risk a phone call startling either of them at the wrong moment and making everything worse than it already was.
Looking at his phone now, Eric could see he had four missed calls from a private number. Immediately, he called the woman he thought was Mia, considering she had called him from a private number that morning.
“Hey Mi, I’m finished up now, so I can meet you in about five minutes if I don’t go home and shower first.”
“Five minutes it is. I love a bit of manly work smell,” Natalie teased him.
Eric chuckled. “Hey did you try and call me from that private number again?”
“No why?” Natalie replied quickly.
“Oh, I just have like, four missed calls is all.”
“Well, did they leave a voice message?” she asked, knowing full well that she had deactivated his mailbox – now all anybody got was an annoying man telling them that the person they were calling was yet to set up a recording.
“Nope, nothing. Can’t have been too important then right?”
“Right. I’m heading to the car now, so I’ll see you at the pub?”
“Yep, sit in the beer garden. There’s a nice breeze out,” he told her.
“Alright, I’ll order you a drink if I get there first.”
“Thanks babe, you’re awesome,” he said a smile spanning the width of his face.
“I know,” she said simply before disconnecting the call and leaving Mia’s flat where she’d gone to get ready. She always made sure she was wearing Mia’s clothes, feeling that it helped her fit into the role better.
***
It was around the same time that Cayd decided it was time to encourage Mia to finally leave the coffee shop.
“Mia, I think you’ve waited long enough,” he said, his tone soft and reassuring as she handed back his phone. She’d tried to call Eric four times in the last twenty minutes and reached nothing but an inactive mailbox.
She had been waiting for him to show up for two and a half hours, and after witnessing the frustration and disappointment on her face while she tried in vain to contact Eric, Cayd didn’t want her to wait any longer. She was only upsetting herself.
“She must have figured out I was going to meet him,” Mia said quietly.
“Come, I’ll buy you dinner. We can figure out our next move there,” Cayd said, inclining his head to entice her to walk with him.
Nodding, Mia stood up from the table and followed beside him as they exited th
e coffee shop.
“I noticed a pub down the road a bit, we can walk there if you’d like?”
Nodding again, Mia followed along beside him, even taking his elbow when he offered it to her, sliding her own arm through the crook of his and leaning into him a little for support. So grateful right now that she wasn’t doing this on her own anymore.
As they rounded the corner, the pub’s beer garden came into view and the sounds of happy dinner time chatter filtered through the air towards them. Mia found herself scanning the tables with interest, noting how each person seemed ecstatically happy compared to her own internal turmoil. Especially the couple in the corner that looked so familiar to her that she almost stopped walking and stared.
“Keep walking Cayd,” she insisted as her heart started to thud in her chest, her coffee filled stomach, swirling uneasily.
“Why?” he asked, following her gaze and raising his eyebrows as realisation dawned on him. “Oh wow, that’s her, and is that - ?”
“Eric, yes,” Mia said, projecting a state of calm that was completely at odds with the tumult screeching through her mind.
Sitting in the beer garden were Natalie and Eric, laughing and chatting like a young couple in love. Natalie’s leg was draped over Eric’s thigh as they drank, ate and, much to Mia’s heartbreak, kissed. It wasn’t a peck and it wasn’t a sweet kiss that you would give someone you care about. It was a full-on, face-holding, tongue-diving, lip-devouring kiss, that made her sick to her stomach.
Suddenly Mia felt betrayed. For some reason, it hadn’t even dawned on her that Eric could actually be sleeping with Natalie – but logically, of course he would. He thought she was Mia.
“How can he not tell the difference?” Mia asked Cayd as they continued to walk, looping the block so they could return to his car. “I mean, we’re supposed to be in love – how could he not feel something was different.”
Cayd had a feeling that Eric did feel that something was different about the ‘Mia’ he was with, but that he had chosen to either ignore it, or believe in the idea of an alter-ego. Because to look at him, Eric seemed like a man completely smitten with the woman he was with. In truth, he probably liked the ‘new Mia’ and wasn’t willing to question the change.
Our Hearts Entwined Page 8