“Hey!” she called. “Nix! Over here!”
Nicole’s cheeks turned slightly pink, but when Sam ran over and pulled her into a hug, she hugged her back tightly. Sam felt the click, the familiar sense that she was exactly where she needed to be. She knew Nicole felt the same way. They were home. The hug went on for a long time and it wasn’t until a passerby bumped them that Nicole squeezed and released, stepping back with a bemused smile. “So…?”
“So,” Sam repeated, irritated with the ‘are we still doing this?’ quality to Nicole’s smile.
Sorry, Nix.You can live in Adelaide and get engaged to a fuckwit and cover your tatts and try to control every conceivable aspect of your life, but you can’t change the fact that you’re me and I’m you. Science says so.
“So.” Nicole tossed her ponytail like an anxious horse. “You’ve gotten another tattoo.”
“I have,” Sam said, touching the lacework lock and key on the right side of her neck. She’d had Noah do it the day before, a reminder of her father’s gift and an assurance she would do everything she could not to fuck it up. A promise made permanent, as her dad often said of tattoos. “Do you like it?”
Nicole pursed her lips. “It’s very…visible.”
Sam knew what she was thinking, that if she ever wanted to go into another, more conventional line of work, she’d be fucked. Nicole could never let go of the idea that everyone secretly longed to do nine-to-five in a skyscraper and wear boring skirts and make small talk about real estate.
“I like it,” Sam said, hoping to side-step her twin’s judgments. “How was your flight?”
“Pretty good.” Nicole checked her watch. “Tabby should be here soon. Get a coffee and wait?”
“Sounds good.”
As she and Nicole walked toward the baggage carousel, Sam could feel people looking at her. The ostentatiousness of her tattoos—and tits—meant people usually did, but this was different. This was twin-staring. Passersby were spotting her and Nicole’s similar height, hair and coloring, then realising everything else was the same, too. The novelty of seeing human doubles always outweighed societal politeness.
“God, I’d almost forgotten what it’s like to be a twin,” Nicole whispered as a couple passed with their mouths hanging open. “It’s relentless.”
Sam smiled. “Should we hold hands and do the whole ‘come and play with us’ thing? I have a feeling that would help.”
Nicole nudged her, self-conscious as always, but she was smiling. They collected her neat brown-leather suitcase and Sam did the gentlemanly thing and wheeled it toward a nearby café. Her twin’s luggage was the subtle kind of fancy that cost hundreds if not thousands. More money spent in the service of being both boringandintimidating. Aaron had definitely bought it for her. Nicole had moved to Adelaide with hot pink snakeskin luggage, exactly the sort of thing that class-jumping cheesedick would sneer at. Sam wondered what Scott Sanderson would think of Aaron, genuine posho that he was, but that was an incredibly stupid and irrelevant thing to wonder. Now that they weren’t selling the business to Greg, her need to speak to, or think about Scott Sanderson, was over.
Tell that to your dreams, a snide voice remarked, but she ignored it. You couldn’t control your dreams. That was a widely acknowledged fact. The dreams werenother fault.
“How’s Aaron doing?” she asked as she and her sister took their seats.
Nicole didn’t meet her eyes. “Fine.”
“Is he pissed you’ve come home?”
“This isn’t home,” Nicole snapped. “Adelaideis my home. When are you and dad and everyone else going to figure that out?”
Sam bit her tongue to stop herself from responding. She’d only be giving Nicole the anger outlet she should be directing at her arsehole fiancé. Several tense seconds passed and Nicole looked down at her hands. “Sorry, that was…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”
“That’s okay. You’ve come all the way out here to help me, I’m not gonna forget that.”
They smiled at each other as the waitress arrived and took their order. Nicole got a mint tea and Sam ordered a caramel frappuccino with whipped cream. She hadn’t eaten all day and she needed sugar and fat and caffeine if she had any hope of driving home without ramming a stop sign.
“How are things around the shop?” Nicole asked once the waitress left. “Did you look at the two-week plan I sent you?”
“I glanced at it,” Sam lied. She’d spent most of her pre-Nicole time cleaning the house and the studio. Both had gotten fairly gross in their dad’s absence and she didn’t want to give Nicole another job to do. “What’s the plan about?”
Nicole rolled her eyes. “I’m glad I spent so long working on it.”
“Sorry, I had a lot of other stuff to do. Besides, I was hoping we could go through it together.”
Her twin looked slightly mollified. “Okay, we can do that. Have you told anyone Tabby and I are coming in to help you?”
“Yeah, I’ve told a couple of clients and they seem keen. I mean, they follow Tabby on Insta, anyway. I don’t know if that means anything.”
“Our sister, the celebrity.”