Page 70 of Exchange of Heart

Corey cocked his eyebrow, waiting to see how I described his position. I smoothed my shirt over my stomach and shifted in my seat.

‘Nora does that when she’s nervous.’ Rowan pointed at me with a smile on his face.

He turned to Oliver excitedly, then Mum. They all nodded in agreement, laughing at the coincidence. I didn’t laugh. It tore at my chest like a familiar claw.

‘I work for an insurance company,’ I replied.

Despite tightening my lips, Corey’s fell open. His eyes shone with questions he couldn’t ask in front of my family.

‘Insurance, that’s a tricky job.’ Oliver nodded.

Rowan began a story he’d shared close to two million times before about the time he’d cracked his windscreen and couldn’t decide whether to use his annual free windscreen replacement, but then a drive down south a few weeks later gave him his answer when a kangaroo finished the job.

‘Embarrassed by my job or something?’ Corey whispered to me.

‘The day I tell my family I’m a finance manager, I want to say it as me. A job I earned.’

For the first time ever, Corey had nothing to say to me. He stared at me, probably laughing away inside his head at the idea of little old me moving up in the world.

‘I’m growing my hair,’ he announced for no reason at all.

‘That’s great, Nora. Your hair looks great.’ Mum patted Corey’s arm then turned back to Rowan who had almost finished his insurance story.

‘Stop being weird,’ I hissed.

‘Let’s have lunch. I’m starving.’ Corey bounced off the lounge.

My eyes widened in annoyance. He made me look like a bratty asshole.

‘Nora, there’s no hurry.’ I grabbed Corey’s hand and yanked him back to the couch, lacing my fingers between his like a spiderweb catching its prey.

‘Do you want them to ask you about your job in insurance again, or do you want them distracted?’ Corey whispered.

I wasn’t sure if it was possible for hearts to tingle, but mine did. I jumped to Corey’s feet with enthusiasm. ‘Nora gets snarky when she’s hungry, should we move to the table?’

Mum stood with a sigh. ‘All right then, but I’d love to hear more about you, Corey. The twins here have been stealing the spotlight.’ She shot them one of her famous ‘please stop talking’ looks.

I caught Corey’s eye and grinned. ‘Well, I can tell you all about Muay Thai over lunch.’

‘That sounds interesting.’ Mum grabbed my arm and led me to the kitchen table I’d eaten at every night until my twentieth birthday. ‘Is it a curry? Can I have the recipe? I sure hope there’s no meat in it.’

Corey sat on the cushioned chair at the dining table, wedged between Rowan and Oliver. His scrunched eyebrows and occasional finger cracks told me he wasn’t loving his tiny shoulders rubbing against my brothers. Each time he adjusted himself so his shoulders hunched forward, Oliver or Rowan would bark to sit up straight so he could digest his food properly. Having a nurse and dietitian on either side while eating was great health-wise, but less so when you barely knew them.

‘Have you considered applying for a new job, Nora?’ Mum asked.

Corey choked on his food and Oliver immediately slammed his large palm between Corey’s small shoulder blades. Corey scowled, huffed, and probably considered throwing his napkin to the table and storming out.

‘Why on earth would I apply for a new job?’ Corey asked.

I was secretly pleased at his confusion, because that’s exactly how I felt. Mum had never mentioned anything about me finding a new job, though deep down I’d known she would push me to search for a way to keep climbing the corporate ladder. God forbid I settle and be content. She didn’t raise a content girl. She raised a go-getter, someone who bows to no one. But at what point would I deem myself successful? I started to wonder where it ended, this obsessive need to be number one. When would I feel comfortable enough to share my ups and downs with someone else without worrying I’d crumble into a reliant fool? Hayley always said being with the right person means not changing who you are, and despite everything with Corey, I’d never changed who I was, and he’d never suggested it either. I was just me, and he was so okay with it that he impersonated me without jeopardising anything I stand for.

‘Well, you’ve been there for such a long time now,’ Mum explained.

‘And?’ Corey placed his fork down.

‘And I thought you might want to… broaden your horizons, I suppose.’

‘Why?’ I blurted, forgetting I masqueraded as a curly haired man.