“Yes, I just need to sign the forms. Are you seeing Owen tonight?” His look was entirely too innocent.
“No, I’m going for a Chinese with Seph. Owen and I are just friends, Dad,” I said, not believing that at all.
He smiled. “Bullshit and you know it. He’s in love with you for a start.”
“We’ve not known each other long enough,” I said, debating whether I needed to be admitted given how fast my heart was now beating.
“I knew your mother a few days before I knew how I felt about her. There’s no contract that love follows, kiddo. And that man’s in love with you. It was written all over his face last night when I was talking to him about you,” my dad said, his attention turning to the door where a doctor was. “Am I allowed to go home?”
She laughed. “Yes. All your results are back and the consultant will get in touch with your doctor tomorrow or the day after. You know the schedule for your meds. Start exercising more, healthier meals and less alcohol. No stress.” She eyed Seph. “Family need to keep it stress free for a while.”
“No chance. I’ve seven kids. Stress came with the label of ‘dad.’ Thank you for your help; where do I need to sign?” He was itching to leave, which I supposed was good.
We took him back to Max’s, briefly seeing Mum who looked unsurprisingly relaxed after her time at the spa. It wasn’t often she did anything like that, so I supposed she’d needed to find that head space.
Seph’s conversation distracted me from what my father had said about Owen. It had made me nervous and I wasn’t entirely sure why. I didn’t want to distance myself from him; instead, I was anxious to see him again, to see if I could spot the signs my father had seen.
“You’re quiet, Payts,” Seph said when we were seated in Lin’s, one of his favourite restaurants in Southwark.
I smiled, looking at him from above the menu, which was pointless as I had pretty much memorised it some years ago. “It’s been a busy couple of days. I’m just catching up.”
He put his menu down. “But you’ve been quieter since we dropped Dad off. What did he say to you when I went to get the doctor? He didn’t tell you that something was wrong, really wrong, and not to tell the rest of us, did he?”
I sat my menu down. “Joseph, Dad is going to be fine as long as he does what the specialists have advised. He’ll be fitter than you in about three weeks.”
“Then what did he say to you? Are you okay? I know we were worried about you a couple of weeks ago because you were so burnt out after finishing that case, but you’ve seemed more like your old self since then,” Seph said and took off the glasses that I knew he didn’t need. My twin was an enigma. He was beautiful and looked like a Greek god, probably the cleverest and most brilliant out of all of us but a complete and utter klutz when it came to relationships and friendships as he had no filter and cared too much. He was currently living with Max and Victoria, a temporary arrangement he’d managed to wrangle, as he hated living on his own. It hadn’t occurred to him that they might’ve wanted some privacy, because Seph was Tigger from Winnie the Pooh and didn’t understand the need for being private.
“I feel much better,” I said. “Obviously Dad being poorly has thrown me like the rest of us, but I know he’ll be okay. He did say something though.”
Seph’s eyebrows raised. My twin was my best friend. We had always leaned on each other, stuck up for one another and I could trust him to tell me the truth even when it would hurt, if he had to.
“Dad told me that Owen was in love with me,” I said as the waitress came over to take our order.
Seph remained quiet after asking for his usual soup, dim sums and crispy beef. He hadn’t needed a menu for years.
“You disagree? I mean, it has only been a couple of weeks and we barely know each other. He’s a really good guy, not a jerk like my usual type. He’s successful, personable, kind—”
“Payton,” Seph interrupted. “What are you asking? And can I have an indication as to what you want the answer to be, please?”
God, I loved my brother. “Do you think he likes me as more than a friend? Start with that one. And I want the truth.”
He laughed loudly, loud enough for the waitress to look at us in some concern. “For fuck’s sake, Payts. If you think he just wants to be friends you need to go back to dating girls again, because you clearly can’t read men.”
“Straight answers, Joseph.” I rapped my knuckles on the table.
He folded his arms and I wondered how much time he’d been spending in the gym because my twin looked huge. “He wants to be a lot more than friends, otherwise he wouldn’t be spending this much time with you or looking at you the way he does.”
“How do you know that and how does he look at me? And can you confirm you’re not taking anything you shouldn’t to help you in the gym?” My filters were never on when I was talking to Seph. There was no point.
Seph’s eyes glinted. “I’m not taking steroids. I am taking supplements and pre and post work out drinks, but nothing that could cause harm. I’ve researched it. You don’t need to worry.”
“Are you getting obsessed with training?” Seph had a tendency to throw himself into something with determination and a hell of a lot of motivation.
“Kind of. I’m following a plan, but no more than that. I have rest days. The exercise is keeping me level and happy. Back to Owen,” he said as the waitress dropped off some prawn crackers.
I bit one noisily.
“He looks at you like he wants to eat you and he’s nearly always watching you. Not in a creepy stalker way, but like he can’t take his eyes from you. When did you sleep with him?”
