That One Moment

1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Jamie

M y mum falls in love hard and fast, throwing herself all in when she does. Maria Durand has always been like this, for as long as I can remember. She’s in love with the idea of love and doesn’t believe everyone has only one perfect match. She believes there’s a multitude of people in the world for us to love - or so she’s been telling me since I was five and she and my father split.

She’s wrong, though. I’ve watched her over the years, seen the high she gets from being with someone new, then the crash when they inevitably break her heart and I don’t for a second believe what she had with them was love. No. There is one person for us - one person who holds the key to our heart and soul. Call me an old romantic but that’s what I believe. None of the men she’s met before or even my dad have been that person for her, but he’s out there the same way my person is.

Is it ridiculous for a twenty-one year old to believe in a one true love? Maybe. Do I care? Not particularly.

“They’ll be here soon,” my mum says as she flies down the stairs, her blonde hair styled into waves, hanging loosely around her shoulders. She’s wearing her favourite yellow sundress and a chunky sunflower necklace. “I hope you like them, I really want you all to get along.”

I know the hopefulness in her voice is because this time is different to all the times before. Her new beau - Duncan - is the first of her many love interests to come with a family of his own. He is also the first she has agreed to marry - and after only knowing him for a few weeks. It feels quick; I know that plays on her mind but she seems happier than she ever has before.

I’ve met Duncan twice - he’s kind, soft-spoken, considerate and treats my mum like the queen that she is. I don’t know much about him, but I like to think I am a good judge of character and my gut tells me this marriage is a good thing.

Today is the day I finally get to meet his sons. Sons I know absolutely nothing about other than that they are twins and slightly younger than me.

My feet tap to the rhythm of the music playing softly through the speakers built into the ceiling. Alannis Morresette sings about the ironies of life while Mum sits on the sofa next to me, straightening her dress over her knees, humming along.

She fiddles with a strand of her blonde hair, so unlike my dark brown waves that I inherited from my dad. It's our eyes that match though. Green like a forest in winter where only shards of sun get through - light on the edges and darker in the middle. Mum smiles at me expectantly, the same dimples we share popping on her rosy cheeks.

“It’s going to be fine. We’re all adults, it really shouldn’t be difficult for us to get along.”

She kisses my cheek. “Thank you, Jamie. You’ve always been so level-headed, my little prince.”

I scoff at the nickname she’s had for me since I was born, then wrap an arm around her shoulder and pull her to me, kissing the top of her head. She smells like lavender and sunshine.

“Things will work out this time, I can feel it,” Mum says in a quiet voice.

“I know, Mum. I know.”

My phone vibrates in my pocket. Pulling it out, I grin when I see a message from my best friend, Sage. We met in our first year of secondary school, when her family moved from London. We’ve been inseparable ever since.

Sage: Have you met them yet? What do they look like? Tell me EVERYTHING.

Me: Not yet. Stop being so nosey.

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 eyes land 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 us over, 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 us drinks 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.

Sage : So? Have they arrived yet?

Sage: Jamie!!!! I’m bored. Tell me!!!

Me: They’re here and I think I’m in love.

Dots appear on the screen to indicate Sage is replying and I wait, tapping my foot on the linoleum floor until her message pops up.

Sage: WTAF Jamie? In love with who? Also, send photos.

My fingers hover over the keyboard as I try to think up what to say to my best friend. I wish she was here right now to knock some sense into me. Isn’t that what best friends are meant to do? Stop you making a fool out of yourself in front of new people?

Me: Okay not in love but fuck me, Sage, he’s incredible. He’s got this messy black hair that I want to run my fingers through and a smile that lights up his entire face and…well I don’t know much else about him but I want to know everything.

Me: Oh God, I sound pathetic. Ignore what I just said.

Sage: We’re gonna have words when I get back. But aren't there two of them?

Me: The other one is grumpy and rude and nothing like his twin.

“Jamie!” My mum calls from the dining room and I grab the tray of drinks and head to sit at the table with them.

“So, Jamie,” Duncan starts, “Your mum says you’re studying to become an architect?”

Finishing my sip of soda, I nod before answering. “That’s the plan. I love the design process. I’d love to create something that is eye-catching, eco-friendly and affordable. The type of building people look at and think, ’wow I could never afford to live here’ but then surprisingly, they can.”

“That’s very noble of you,” Duncan says, tipping his wine glass towards me in a toast. “I hope you achieve that goal. Your mum tells me you have a good head on your shoulders where schooling is concerned. Just like my Cooper.”

My eyes land on Cooper whose cheeks are a pretty shade of pink, but his smile is wide with enthusiasm.

“You’re going to be a teacher? Is that right?” Mum asks. That doesn’t surprise me one bit. I can still remember my very first teacher, Miss Baker. She smelled like soap and she wore these bright dresses everyday of the week, dresses that reminded me of pencil crayons. Her smile was large and her eyes kind. I study Cooper closely and I can see the same kindness in his blue gaze.

“Early years, yep,” he says proudly. “I enjoy working with kids. I spent last summer as a holiday club assistant and while it was exhausting, it was incredibly rewarding too.”

“That’s sweet,” my mum says then turns to Caiden. “And what about you? Your dad says you’re a landscaper?”

He levels my mum with a face of stone, his blue eyes so similar to his brother’s yet devoid of any of the kindness you find in Cooper’s. “I’m surprised he told you that, he usually tells people I’m a glorified gardener. It is neither noble nor sweet.”

Duncan grunts but it’s Cooper who speaks up next. “Well, I don’t know about noble but, Caiden spent all of last summer working on the new pleasure garden for the assisted living residence in town. The residents love it. And he designed it all himself.”

“Hopewood Lodge?” I say, hoping I don’t sound too incredulous. I saw the new garden when I last visited my mum’s aunt, who has a place there, and it is incredible. Well thought out, taking into consideration the natural flora, the access to light and the residents who’ll be using it. It’s accessible for all, and useful, with a small kitchen garden on the east side.

“Huh, that’s impressive,” I say, looking at Duncan and then at Caiden. Neither say anything and there’s an awkward silence that fills the room. Thankfully, it dies the minute the buzzer for the oven goes off, and Mum and Duncan disappear to bring out the lunch. Cooper and Caiden turn towards each other, their heads tipped closely together and I watch them for a second. I find their dynamic fascinating - I’ve never met twins before but I guess I expected them to be so much more alike than they are. Maybe that’s a stereotype. I don’t know.

Mum and Duncan return and my mouth waters as the scent of roast beef and potatoes wafts through the room. Mum is a great cook - she puts a lot of care and effort into preparing meals and when she settles down at the table with us, I take her hand and squeeze it.

“This looks amazing, thanks Mum.”

“It really does, sweetheart,” Duncan says, as he starts dishing potatoes and roast beef onto his plate.

Duncan, Cooper and I dive in, taking huge portions, but Caiden on the other hand, merely picks at it, pushing the food around his plate, his lip twisted in disgust.

“Not hungry, Caiden?” My mum asks, and he shakes his head.

“No, I don’t eat this.” He gestures to the meat on his plate and my mum places her hand over her heart.

“I’m so sorry, I should have asked your dad what you like.”

Caiden rolls his eyes and it’s all I can do not to lash out at him for his rudeness. “He would actually have to know what I like then.”

“Caiden!” Duncan yells, his jaw clenched again, his nostrils flaring. “Do not be so rude. I raised you better than this.”

Caiden opens his mouth to respond but is stopped when Cooper places a hand on his shoulder.

“Cade, it’s fine, have my potatoes and veg, I’ll take your meat. Next time we can cook something you like for Maria and Jamie,” Cooper offers quietly. Not for the first time today, the hostility in Caiden dissipates under his brother's touch. Caiden offers him a mumbled ‘thank you’ under his breath and the two exchange food until Caiden’s plate is piled high with veg.

Cooper smiles at his twin, then his eyes meet mine and he offers me the same lift of his lips. His gem-like blues dance in the light of the dining room and my stomach flutters with little baby butterflies preparing to take flight. It’s a weird feeling that I try to bat away by turning my attention to my food.

The playlist we had on earlier starts over and I stifle a laugh as Alannis starts on again about life being ironic. It would seem that irony has just slapped me in the face. I've met the man of my dreams and his dad is about to marry my mum.