by Ann, Natalie
He rang the doorbell and waited. He had a key, but if no one came to the door then there was no reason to go in the house.
He heard Drake’s voice yell out he had it, then the door was thrown open. He wouldn’t ever say it was like looking in a mirror. Though he and Drake were twins they weren’t identical.
They both had dark hair and dark eyes, and it was obvious they were twins, but most could tell them apart. Besides the fact Drake was one inch taller than his six foot three. That stupid inch that Drake held over his head...literally.
Drake was the same height as their father and Uncle Garrett. The rest of them were a mixture of six foot one to three.
“Hey,” Drake said. “Why did you ring the doorbell?” Drake popped his head out of the door and then back in. “Shit, you walked over. What’s going on?”
And this was why he was here because no one knew him as well. “Just wanted to talk. And I rang the bell because I didn’t know if you two were chasing each other around the house naked or not.”
“Very funny,” Kara said when Noah followed Drake into the kitchen. “We save that for a time when we might not get visitors. You don’t need to ring the bell. Just walk in.”
“I might do it at ten at night now,” he said, laughing.
“Then I might take a bat to you if you did,” Drake said. “Especially if I’m chasing Kara around the house.”
“You chase her with a bat? Geez, Kara, you picked the wrong twin. I’d never do that.”
She laughed. She had the best personality and was great for his brother even though they were complete opposites. Drake floated with the wind, Kara was structured. They tended to argue but usually halfheartedly.
He was thrilled Drake seemed to find his perfect mate and suspected an engagement ring might be coming very soon. Drake had been hinting around last week about it.
“Pull up a seat and join us for dinner,” Kara said.
He looked over at the small table in the breakfast nook and saw two plates. “I guess this wasn’t good timing.”
Drake walked over and grabbed a plate while Kara got out silverware. “What is wrong with you? Sit down. Since when do you worry about bad timing and ringing doorbells?”
“Since you have a houseguest more times than not,” Kara guessed. “I’ve changed the dynamics, haven’t I?”
“Kind of,” he said. “Not in a bad way. It’s just different.”
“I don’t want anything to change,” Kara said. “You two are twins and close. Drake tells you everything, I know he does.”
“Not everything,” Drake argued.
“He’s right. I didn’t know you chase each other around the house naked after visiting hours. You just told me that.”
Kara laughed. “My point is, I would never come between you two and I don’t want you to think you can’t just stop over when you want. Or do things together either. Please, Noah, I’m begging you, keep taking him out of the house.”
He smiled and sat at the table when Drake carried over a bowl of meatballs and Kara the bowl of spaghetti. There was a salad already there that he’d pass on. Only Drake ate a salad when it was out.
“Sounds like Drake is getting on your nerves still. Sorry, the rest of us find it funny as Drake is the most laid back.”
“I keep telling her she has it made, but she won’t believe me. No one else in the family would be as tolerant as me,” Drake said, smirking. “So stop stalling and tell me what is going on with you.” Drake turned his head while he filled his plate, then told Kara, “Noah walks when something is bugging him. He’s always done that. He walked over here.”
Noah stood up and went to the fridge to get a beer. It’d hit the spot right about now. When he returned he said, “So I went on a date Sunday. Just a lunch date.”
“Okay?” Drake said. “What’s so unusual about that?”
“At the mall,” Noah said.
Drake started to cough on his dinner. “You went to the mall on the weekend...in December...for a date? What is she, eighteen?”
“God no,” he said. “She’s thirty. Sebastian told me she’s thirty.”
“Who’s Sebastian?” Kara asked.
“Paige’s nephew. He lives with her.”
Drake frowned. “How old is this kid?”
“Fourteen. She has custody now.” He stopped, not sure how much of the story he wanted to say. “It doesn’t matter right now. It was only one date.”
“True. So you like her enough to have a date like that. How did you meet?”
“He’s a student. She came in to deal with something with him. I’ve had to talk to her a few times.”
“So he’s a troublemaker?” Kara asked.
“No. He’s a good kid that has had a hard life and is getting singled out,” Noah said.
“That makes more sense. You always know who needs help and when. So you’re drawn to the kid and now his aunt. Or you are drawn to the aunt and therefore the kid. What came first, the chicken or the egg? The kid or the aunt?” Drake asked, grinning.
“They are about equal. Sebastian first, since that is how I met the aunt. Then I kind of wanted to see Paige more and might have singled Sebastian out in my head. Not in a bad way. Just that I might have sought him out to make sure everything was fine.”
He didn’t think it was that big of a deal to do that. He’d done it with other kids in the past. Just not to get a date out of it with a family member.
“Okay, so fast forward. I’m assuming it’s been a few weeks and you asked her out?”
“Sort of. I actually went over to help Sebastian with history.” He stopped when Drake burst out laughing. “What?”
“You and history. Did he say he hated the subject?” Noah started to put food in his mouth and scowled at his twin. “Kara, you know how your eye twitches when someone moves papers on your desk? Noah is worse if anyone says they can’t stand history class or don’t care about it. He seems to think everyone should love history since it affects or has shaped every person’s life.”
“He’s kind of right when you think of it that way,” Kara said.
“Thank you, Kara,” Noah said.
“So you went to get Sebastian to love history as much as you. Then what?”
“Then when Paige was in the other room he asked me if I liked his aunt. If I was only there to see her.”
“He called you out on it. I’ve got to meet this kid,” Drake said, laughing.
Noah grinned. “It was a funny conversation. But he said he hated that his aunt was lonely and put him first. Whatever, no need to go into details since I wouldn’t have minded asking her out anyway. But I knew she’d be all embarrassed over it and she was. Anyway, moving on, we went on a date Sunday and it was her suggestion to go to the mall since she had to get some Christmas gifts.”
“That explains things then. You figured you couldn’t say no since she was feeling insecure about how the whole date went down, right?”
“Yeah.” He knew his brother would understand.
“So what is the problem?”
“I’ve never dated anyone with a kid before. I’m not sure how to do this or what to do next. On Monday I went to work like normal, saw Sebastian, but we didn’t act any differently, which is good. I’ve talked to Paige a few times and we’ve texted.”
“Sounds normal to me,” Kara said.
“But he doesn’t know what to do for a date, do you?” Drake asked.
“Bingo,” he said, picking his beer up. “The kid is fourteen. He stays home alone a lot, Paige works, but I don’t know how late she’d want him home alone. It’s not like you’d get a sitter for that age.”
“There’s no other family?” Kara asked. “Though if she has custody that is probably answer enough.”
“His grandfather lives in Morrisville, but he works a lot. I don’t feel right having him go there one night.”
“Because at that age he’d know you were getting it on with his aunt. That’s another thought in your mind, isn’t
it?”
Maybe it wasn’t that great of a thing his brother knew him so well. But yes, that was a concern. Not only could he not figure out what kind of date to have with Paige he also wondered how they’d move on to the next step.
It’s not like he was asking her to spend the night or he’d stay the night at her house. At least not this soon, but he wasn’t stupid either. They were two single consenting adults and Paige had a death grip on his shirt when he kissed her in the parking lot on Sunday. He almost had to pry her fingers off one by one.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the glazed look in her eyes made him want to yank her in for another kiss, but he stopped himself when he realized they were in a mall parking lot and he was thirty-three, not fifteen.
“When we get to that point, yeah,” he said.
“If you get to that point,” Kara said. “You’ve been on one date.”
Noah laughed. “Did you know you’d end up sleeping with Drake after one date?”
Kara’s face flushed. “I’m not answering that.”
“She couldn’t resist me,” Drake said. “But you knew about our three-date trial.”
“See?” Kara said. “He does tell you everything.”
“I do not,” Drake said.
“Hello, this is about me,” Noah said. He couldn’t help but laugh because Drake never argued with anyone, but he and Kara always seemed to go at it. “You two can hash it out later. So help me out here. I need date ideas first.”
“I’ve never dated anyone with a kid. How should I know? Mom might be able to help you better.”
“No, thank you,” he said. “I’d rather she not know just yet.”
“Why?” Drake asked. “You know Mom never gets in the middle of when we are dating anyone until it’s been a while or you know it’s serious.”
“I’d rather she not know.”
“Was Sebastian one of her students?” Drake asked.
“Yeah, and it might be awkward. Back to our next date. It’s tomorrow night.”
“Nothing like waiting until the last minute,” Kara said.
“Not everyone has to plan every movement of every day,” Drake said, reaching for her hand.
“And not everyone wakes up every morning and looks in their closet for five minutes to figure out what they are wearing last minute.”
Noah started to laugh. “Please. That’s how I dress every day. I think all the guys do in our family. Jade is the only one that picks her clothes out the night before. That one doesn’t fly, Kara. I’m defending Drake on this.”
Kara started to laugh. “Sorry, I should have come up with a better one. Anyway, why not just ask Paige what she wants to do? Or what she likes?”
“I already did. She said she wasn’t fussy.”
“Then just take her out to dinner and talk. When you were at lunch did you talk much?” Drake asked.
“The whole time. Of course now that I think about it we really only talked about Sebastian and her family past. She just wanted me to know and understand what I was getting myself into.”
“What are you getting yourself into?” Drake asked.
“She meant that Sebastian is her responsibility. That is all.”
As much as Kara thought he and Drake told each other everything he didn’t want to go into too many details just yet.
“Makes sense. She knows what you do for a living. Does she know anything else about you?” Drake asked.
“The basics. Oh we talked about Wyatt and the Elf on the Shelf. She loved it so much she bought one for Sebastian.”
He went to pull his phone out and Kara asked, “What about the Elf on the Shelf?”
“We all got to decorate at the holidays and Wyatt just wanted the Elf on the Shelf. For weeks he tortured us with that thing and where it’d show up. It never ended and none of us knew who was going to get targeted. I’ll never forget waking up and finding all the socks out of my drawer, pulled apart and flung everywhere. The stupid Elf was sitting on the open drawer too. I’ll never understand how he pulled that off when I was sleeping.”
Noah laughed. “Look at what Sebastian did. Paige sent me this.”
He handed the phone over for Drake and Kara to look at it. “Is that poop on the floor?” Kara asked.
“No,” Noah said. “Puke. It’s a chocolate hangover.”
“Sounds like this kid is just like Wyatt,” Drake said.
“Anyway, you asked if we talked and we do.”
“Then just go out to dinner and talk. Bring her home at a reasonable hour and show that you are putting Sebastian first,” Kara said. “I’d like to think any mother would appreciate that more than an expensive or fancy date.”
16
Back To Reality
“You look fine,” Sebastian said when she was looking through her closet.
“Are you sure?” Paige asked, then wondered why she was. He was fourteen and his idea of fashion was whatever pair of jeans he grabbed out of his drawer with the hoodie on the top of his folded laundry in the basket. The laundry she folded for him or he’d be a walking wrinkle.
“Anything is better than scrubs, so you’re fine.”
“Urgh,” she said, turning to look in her closet again. Talk about a backhanded compliment. She had on her favorite dark skinny jeans and ankle boots. She knew from the waist down she looked good, but she wasn’t sure of what top to wear. Noah had said casual but that didn’t help her.
“It’s just dinner. Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me.” She started to push shirts aside in her closet. She didn’t have an abundance of clothes since she wore scrubs to work, but she did have the basics. She supposed it was good she didn’t have a lot of clothes to choose from or she’d never be ready on time.
“Then don’t worry about it. He’s going to be here any minute and you don’t want to be late. That says more than whether you should have on a pink shirt or not.”
She looked down at her gray sweater. “Do you think I should put on my pink shirt? I thought it was too summery looking.”
“You look fine,” Sebastian said, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of her bedroom. “Now go put makeup on.”
“It’s on,” she said. “It’s not enough?”
He burst out laughing. “I’m kidding. But if you don’t go sit down in the living room and wait for him I’m going to find something else to make you neurotic about.”
And how many fourteen-year-olds used the word neurotic? It brought her right back to reality. He was acting more mature than her.
“You’re right. It’s just a dinner date. Only a second date. No reason to stress.”
“I didn’t say you shouldn’t stress. I mean you don’t want to mess this up.”
She growled at him and moved to the living room. Now he was just playing with her. The same as he did when she woke up and found that stupid elf in the refrigerator sitting on a half eaten slice of cheese. The kid was a riot and that skinny little doll scared the shit out of her when she reached in for her creamer.
The doorbell rang before she could even sit down, but Sebastian was at the door before her, opening it wide and letting Noah in.
“See, Noah has on jeans too. I told you to relax.”
“Is there a problem?” Noah asked.
“No,” she said, grabbing her purse and jacket from the hook. “We’re leaving before I ground Sebastian for terrorizing me.”
“Don’t rush back, you kids,” Sebastian said as he went to shut the door.
“Lock it behind me,” she told him.
“I always do.”
“We’ll be back by nine,” Noah said.
“Early date,” Sebastian said, shaking his head and shutting the door.
“I’ve left him home alone until ten,” she said suspecting Noah was doing that for her benefit. It was kind of sweet, now that she thought of it.
“While you went on a date?” he asked. “I thought Sebastian said you didn’t date.”
&
nbsp; “You think I haven’t gone on a date in the four years since he’s lived with me?” she asked. “I must seem like a loser then. But in this case it was out with the girls.”
Noah turned his head and grinned at her, then held the door open for her to get in. Wow, okay, no man had ever done that for her before.
“Not a loser. Just that I know you put him first. I didn’t need him to tell me. But I guess it would be more shocking if you hadn’t dated in all that time.”
She didn’t want him to think she was the loser she joked about, but then she didn’t want him to think she was promiscuous either and left her nephew home alone while she went out and partied.
“I’ve dated on and off. Maybe a handful in the past two years. The last year has been kind of hectic. But like I’d told you, I tell the men I’ve dated about my life and it doesn’t normally go much further than a few dates. I’ve kind of given up looking.”
“Guess you weren’t looking in the right spot,” he said.
“I didn’t normally check out the single guys at Sebastian’s school. Maybe that is where I went wrong.”
“Maybe,” he said and pulled out of the parking lot. “Did you really stress about what to wear tonight? I said casual.”
Damn Sebastian. “Maybe. Or not much. Sebastian was just being his typical self. He loves to pick on me.”
“Well, sorry if you did stress about it. I was trying to figure out what to do and knew you wouldn’t want to leave him home alone too long. This place has great Italian food too.”
“That works. I love Italian. It’s about the only thing I can make without ruining and that is because I open a jar of sauce and cook pasta.”
“So how was your week?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Work,” he said, turning his head. “How was your week at work?”
“Oh.” No one ever asked her that either. “The same as it always is. Not much changes except people’s breath.”
“You know, that is kind of gross.”
“Sorry,” she said, letting out a little giggle. “Inside joke. It’s a boring job in some ways and interesting in others. I get to see a lot of people and it’s always fun to talk to them when they’ve got their mouth open and can’t reply back.”
