Together Apart | ✓

|Chapter XI|

The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones

Chapter 11: Dinner with the wolves

"Hi." She greeted. In entered a woman who seemed to be around the same age as Cali. She was a shorter height than her but that was only because Cali was tall. Her light brown sat on her soldiers which was pushed back by a hair band.

Behind her came in a taller figure who I recognised as Tyler. He wore a simple shirt and jeans with his hair neatly brushed.

I glanced over at Cali who looked as if she had seen a ghost. The colour in her face had seemed to drain and something flashed through her eyes. A mix of recognition and fear.

I then looked at Jordan to mentally ask what was wrong with his mother but he seemed to be caught up at staring at Tyler's mother. His eyebrows were furrowed with a questioning look.

Tyler's mother also had the same expression as Cali. She looked shocked like as if she'd just remembered something. I wondered if she knew Jordan.

"Hey." Jordan broke the tension. "I'm Jordan." He held out his hand to Tyler's mom.

Cali was a friendly person and invited Tyler's mom to dinner to welcome her to the neighbourhood. We were only told last minute about this but I'm sure dinner with Tyler was one that was going to be interesting. It beat being in my room and moping about life.

After what seemed to be a really long time she shook his hand. "Thea." She had the same Australian accent as her son.

"You must be Tyler." Cali said to Tyler. He nodded and shook her hand that she had offered.

Just at that moment, two kids ran inside the room in the middle of playing tag. Their laughs filled up the room and lessened the tension. It painfully reminded me of something I'd lost.

"Boys." Thea warned the little ones. The two stopped what they were doing and murmured sorry's before standing next to their mother.

I then noticed how they both shared the same features. Blonde hair and baby blue eyes with bright smiles on their faces enhanced by dimples. They were adorable but looked nothing like Tyler and his mother. It didn't take a genius to confirm that the two were twins.

The one twin sheepishly looked down while the other held his head up cheekily smiling at Cali. By the looks of it, he was the trouble maker of the two.

"Hi. I'm Gavin." The troublemaker twin said. He held out his arm to Cali which she shook.

"Well aren't you quite the gentleman." She looked down at the adorable child who looked to be no older than nine years old.

I looked over to the other twin who no more seemed shy and was mirroring his brother's actions. He pushed his brother aside and took Cali's hand in his smaller one. "The name's Grayson and may I just say how beautiful you look, Miss."

Oh, this dinner definitely was going to be very interesting.

I chuckled at these two boys as Tyler rolled his eyes. He must've been used to their behaviour.

"You've raised such wonderful boys." Cali told Thea who smiled at her two boys.

Cali closed the front door as Thea looked my way. A smile laid on her face, one that she didn't offer Jordan, I wondered why.

"And you are?"

"Renée."

"Renée." She tested the name. "Lovely name." I smiled back at her murmuring thanks. "Is it French?"