‘Are you sure it was a good idea to let the twins cook dinner for us?’
‘Look,’ Shay said, ‘they haven’t offered to cook for me for feckin’ years, so I was hardly going to turn them down.’
‘Anyway, who’s the fifth copy for?’ Tammy asked. She picked up her copy of the photo. Shay glanced at it and stifled a laugh.
‘Before I answer that,’ he said, ‘can I just ask, what made you decide to go cross-eyed just before the photo station? And that tongue! Is it even attached to your mouth there?’
‘I didn’tmeanto go cross-eyed!’ Tammy insisted. ‘I don’t know, I was just so excited and we were going so fast and all the lights were so bright and everything else was so dark and, and, and…’
‘It’s OK, sweetheart, you know I’m only teasing.’ Instinctively, his hand went to Tammy’s back and he gently rubbed her. He felt her relax under his touch. ‘You know, I think you’re about the only person who can pull that expression and still look sexy at the same time.’ It felt so good to be able to speak honestly with her.
‘Really?’ she asked.
‘For sure. In fact, I think you should consider pulling that face full-time.’
She gently thumped his shoulder. ‘Mean.’
‘I’ve gotta make up for the years when I wasn’t able to tease you. By the way, the fifth photo — it’s just insurance. I don’t want there to be any chance of losing these over the years.’
Tammy looked up at him, those big eyes blinking, her sweet mouth smiling. ‘I like you, Shay.’
‘I like you too,’ he said, his mouth suddenly dry. ‘Always have.’
‘I’m beginning to see that,’ she replied. She thought for a second, then she said, so quiet it was almost a whisper: ‘What if I wanted you too?’
His heart skipped a beat. At that moment, it felt as though the rest of the world just faded away. Tammy’s tender, innocent face — that face he’d yearned to kiss since he was a kid — shone with happiness and emotion. All he had to do was reach forward and kiss her.
They shifted toward each other slowly, and then, just before they could touch, the door clicked open. Tammy and Shay sprung apart, like two magnets touching at the wrong end.
‘Hey,’ Conor said, drumming on the door with his fingers, ‘dinner is served.’
‘So, it’s actually very traditional for Polynesian people to eat extremely burned food,’ Conor said after they’d managed to salvage the edible portion of the meal.
‘I didn’t know you were an expert on Polynesian culture,’ Shay said.
‘He knows as much about Polynesian culture as he does about cooking,’ Finn said.
The dinner hadn’t actually been that bad. The twins had tried to make some kind of BBQ rib thing, with some mac and cheese on the side. Sure, the ribs had been a little crispy, but thankfully the mac and cheese turned out pretty good.
Mind you, Shay’s mind hadn’t really been on the dinner. He couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened — or nearly happened — with Tammy. Had she meant what she said? Did she really want him, as well as Conor and Finn?
If she did, then what would the twins say about it?
They’d probably be furious. Sure, they weren’t jealous of each other, but that’s because they were twins. Shay had always felt like the least good Healy twin. Not a gifted writer nor a sports star. Just plain old Shay. Always living in their shadow. Why would the two golden boys want to share with a brown-haired mongrel like him?
‘I thought it was tasty,’ Tammy said. She reached out to Conor and put her hand on his. ‘You did a good job, Daddy.’
Hearing Tammy call his brother that made something tighten in Shay. He’d watched Tammy be intimate with his brothers plenty of times. But now that he knew she was interested in him, too, everything had a different flavor.
‘Thanks, Tam-Tam,’ Conor said, ‘but you can be honest. I’m a crappy chef, especially compared to GordonO’Ramsayover there.’ He motioned at Shay.
‘Don’t put yourself down,’ Shay countered. ‘That mac and cheese was pretty damn good.’
‘You want to know my secret?’ Conor asked.
‘Go on, Mr. Kraft,’ teased Finn.
‘What you do is follow literally any mac and cheese recipe from the internet. Then, at the last minute, you put in double the amount of cheese.’