The Law of Attraction

As always, in the moments when his mind had time to wander, Ed found himself thinking of Alec. Regret tugged in the space below Ed’s ribs, like a fish hook trying to reel him in. He replayed that final conversation they’d had in the hotel for the umpteenth time in his head, wondering again whether he’d made the right choice. Then he sighed, closing his eyes and letting his head rest against the cool window pane. Deep down he knew he’d done the right thing, despite how difficult it had been to turn Alec down. Ed couldn’t be in a relationship with Alec while he was in the closet, no matter how much Ed wanted him.

Ed’s train pulled into Worthing an hour and a half later. He went through the ticket barriers and was heading for the main doors with his bag on his shoulder, earbuds still blasting music, when he was knocked sideways by two small bodies slamming into him with no warning. They tackle-hugged him, screaming his name so loudly he could hear them even over the music.

“Blimey.” He steadied himself with a hand on one small blonde head, pulling his earbuds out. “You guys nearly gave me a heart attack!”

He put his bag down and crouched so he could hug his sisters properly.

“Did you see my hair, Ed? Look! Isn’t it awesome?” Alice drew back and waved the tips of her hair at him. They’d been dip-dyed bright red.

“And look at mine too!” Ava demanded. Hers was dark blue where Alice’s was red. “Which do you like best?”

“I think they both look brilliant,” Ed answered diplomatically. He had years of experience at refereeing twin rivalry and knew better than to encourage it. “I bet your teachers are glad you had different colours. It’ll make it easier for them to tell you apart.”

“We’re on holiday next week, and it will have mostly washed out before we go back to school,” Alice said. “That’s the only reason Mummy did it. In the Easter holidays, I’m going to do mine purple and Ava’s going to do hers green.”

“Or maybe turquoise. I haven’t decided yet.”

“You said green.”

“I can change my mind.”

Alice frowned and put her hands on her hips. “But you can’t do purple because I bagged purple.”

Ed laughed, standing up to finally greet his mum, who was waiting patiently, a smile on her face as the twins carried on bickering.

“Hi, sweetheart.” She opened her arms and wrapped him up in a hug that warmed him down to his toes.

“Hi, Mum.” He hugged her back hard, his nose in her hair, an ash version of the twins’ blonde. “You didn’t need to come and meet me. But thanks.”

“It’s no trouble.” She released him, and Ed stooped to pick up his bag. “Anyway, I think Alice and Ava would have exploded if they’d had to wait any longer to see you. They’ve been looking forward to it all week.”

Their argument over hair forgotten, the twins were now fighting over who got to hold Ed’s free hand.

“Shall I take that for you?” His mum grinned, holding out her hand for his bag.

Ed chuckled. “I think you’d better.”

With peace restored, the twins tugged on his hands as they led him towards the car, both chattering away non-stop.

In the car, with the twins in the back, Ed’s mum could get a word in again.

“So, how are you?” she asked. “You look tired. Are they working you too hard?”

“Depends on your definition of too hard, I suppose.” Ed was pretty sure his mum wouldn’t approve of the hours he’d been putting in since he started at Baker Wells. “But you know it goes with the job. This is what I want to do, so it’s worth it.”

“Hmmm. I suppose.”

Ed got the feeling she had a lot more that she wanted to say, but he appreciated that she kept her thoughts to herself. His mum had always been supportive; thrilled for him when he’d done well at uni and even more so when he’d landed this job. She worried too, but Ed knew it was only because she loved him.

“How’s Gemma?” he asked. “Too cool to come and meet her brother at the station?”

His mum laughed. “Maybe a little. She was busy baking when we left—while simultaneously talking to a friend on FaceTime—so she couldn’t have come even if she’d wanted to.”

“Gemma’s got a boyfriend,” Alice announced from the back seat. “He’s called Zac.”

Ava chimed in. “Yeah, she spends all day texting him.”

“Sounds serious.” Ed glanced at his mum, who was smiling.

“Young love these days mostly seems to involve texting and messaging each other on Instagram. They don’t see each other much out of school—which is fine by me.” She chuckled. “Speaking of boyfriends….” She trailed off hopefully.

Ed groaned. “Mum.”

“Oh, come on, you know I keep hoping you’ll meet someone.”