Expecting Miracle Twins by Barbara Hannay

she was thinking about something personal, something that made her pensive and slightly wistful.
    When the silence lingered, he wondered if he’d said something to upset her. He’d merely mentioned that Roy looked on him as the son he’d never had…How had that plunged Mattie into such deep contemplation? Clearly, whatever absorbed her did not involve him.
    To Jake’s dismay, he realised he wanted her attention. Wanted her animated company. Wanted her.
    There it was—the crazy truth.
    Without making a single overt advance, Mattie had crept under his defences. She was so not his type and yet he was attracted. Madly.
    He wanted to know more about her. Wanted to know everything, while there was time.
    ‘Have you always gone out of your way to help people?’ he asked.
    She smiled. ‘’Fraid so.’
    ‘I should have said people and animals,’ he amended.
    ‘Well, yes, it probably started with kittens.’
    ‘Really? When was that?’
    A reminiscent gleam crept into her eyes. ‘Oh, I was about ten. There was a group of us who always used to hang out together. We’d play cricket, go swimming or riding and have picnics down by the river.’
    ‘Sounds like fun.’ Jake was thinking of his lonely childhood on an Outback cattle station, with no brothers or sisters, only his busy parents and a string of indifferent governesses.
    ‘One time, we went swimming in the local creek,’ Mattie continued. ‘And I found a bag of half-drowned kittens that someone must have dumped just before we arrived. I was devastated.’
    A warm ache flowered deep inside Jake as he pictured ten-year-old Mattie, her blue eyes stricken by the pitiful plight of a bunch of kittens.
    ‘I raced back to my place,’ she went on. ‘My parents weren’t home—they were busy at their shop. So I quickly organised my friends, drying the kittens off with bath towels and feeding them bits of sardines soaked in milk. Then I hid them in the bottom of my wardrobe.’
    ‘I hope you didn’t try to keep them there.’
    She made a scoffing sound. ‘I was too smart for that. The next day I piled them into the basket on the front of my bike and pedalled them all over the district. I reckon I must have visited just about every family from Willowbank to Nardoo.’
    ‘And you found safe homes for all those cats?’
    ‘Every one,’ she said with a grin.
    Jake smiled too. ‘So…what do you have planned for the rest of today?’ he asked her.
    Mattie blinked and bright colour rushed into her cheeks. ‘Oh…um…I should be getting on with my book.’
    ‘But you’d rather not,’ he suggested, sending her his most charming smile. ‘You’d rather come to the movies with me, wouldn’t you?’
    She didn’t answer and Jake’s spirits took a downward dive. She was sitting very still, staring directly ahead.
    ‘I could throw in lunch as well,’ he said.
    ‘But we’re very casually dressed.’ She frowned down at her T-shirt and faded jeans.
    ‘No worries. There’s a terrific fish and chip joint just around the corner from the cinema.’
    A corner of her mouth twitched, then her lips curved upwards into a fully fledged grin. She turned to him, offering a full-frontal view of her beautiful smile. Her blue eyes danced. ‘How did you know I can’t resist fish and chips?’
    ‘I’m a deeply intuitive guy.’
    ‘Sure.’
    He pretended to be hurt. ‘Haven’t you noticed my sensitive side?’
    Still smiling, she shook her head, but then, with the speed of a light switch, her smile vanished. ‘This wouldn’t be a date, would it?’
    Jake felt the fun go out of his day. He stopped at a red light and turned to her. ‘I simply want to thank you for helping out with Roy.’ To his surprise, he found himself adding, ‘But would it be so terrible if we went on a date?’
    ‘Ange might think so. Won’t she mind?’
    At first, Jake thought Mattie was joking. What had Angeto do with this? She was already a fading memory, joining the long list of other women