Heat Wave (26 page)

Maxine opened her mouth then closed it again.

‘Good choice,' I said, waving at the bartender at the far end of the bungalow. ‘Ralph! One more?'

‘I wasn't always heartless,' said Maxine quietly. Her thin face seemed even more drawn than usual. ‘I loved a man, sacrificed everything for him, and he threw me away. You're young and in love; you couldn't understand. Everything I do has to succeed now, or he wins.'

Maybe it was the fact I knew Tanner was on his way and everything was going to be okay. Or it might have been the strong painkillers mixing with the alcohol. Either way, I experienced a stab of pity for Maxine.

Sighing, I called out again. ‘Ralph? Make it two, mate.'

He raced over with frosty glasses, slices of pineapple hanging from the edge. I lifted mine towards hers. ‘Life isn't a competition, Maxine. If you take nothing away from this fucked-up experience, I hope that goes with you. Fuck your ex; live your life, and don't be afraid of falling over every now and then. To the failures that make us stronger.'

She hesitated, clearly unused to such honesty and actual emotion. Then slowly, she tapped her drink against mine. ‘To falling down and getting up again.'

We sat and sipped in silence, the island settling down around us for the night. The ocean turned to a glossy pink as the sun began to dip lower, and I watched as a spot on the dusky sky turn from a blob into a helicopter shape.

Tanner.
A smile brightened my face, knowing my cowboy was riding towards me as fast as he could.

‘He was frantic when he heard you'd gone overboard,' said Maxine softly. I'd almost forgotten she was there, and I turned to stare at her as she went on. ‘I've never seen anyone so determined. He demanded the chopper, rallied the coast guard, radioed other ships in the area. He was unstoppable. If I didn't know better, I'd say that was what love looks like.'

‘You do know better,' I replied.

She stood, placing her empty glass on the table. ‘I'll leave you to your reunion. No need to worry about cameras. I've spoken to the management here, and they'll put you up for as long as you like in their royal suite. When you're ready to film the final scene, send word for the crew
—
unless there's anyone you'd like here earlier to assist you.'

‘Tomorrow, Greg and Sumara,' I said. ‘And Ricky and his boyfriend. Mama Ruby tonight.'

‘Consider it done.' She nodded at me slowly, which I was fairly certain was her equivalent of a hug. ‘Well, then. Goodbye.'

‘Bye, Maxine.'

She clipped off, and I watched her go. As she reached the stairs, she paused to say, ‘Oh, Maddie? I have a poker night lined up Sunday week. I'll be sure to let Fincher know if he's looking for a capable AD, I have someone for him to meet.'

Before I could respond, she swept out, her haughty façade firmly back in place. I didn't have to like Maxine to understand her, and I was glad we'd come to a truce of sorts.

The chopper landed, the blades blowing noisy gusts along the beach, whipping the loose sand into a frenzy. I rose up out of my chair, limping slowly across the bungalow. Stairs were out of the question, but I had fought an ocean to be with Tanner, and I wanted to be standing and ready for him.

He leapt from the passenger side and sprinted up the beach, his eyes wildly darting around, his expression ragged. My heart hitched. The only drawback to love
—
when one of you hurt, so did the other. It was a small price to pay, especially as he caught sight of me, and his face crumpled, overjoyed and relieved.

Tanner took the wooden steps two at a time. ‘Hi,' I said, my throat suddenly swollen with everything I'd been holding myself back from saying for so long.

There wasn't time to say any more than that before he reached the top of the stairs. I could sense that he wanted to scoop me up and embrace me fiercely, but seeing my wounded leg and general shaky state, he settled for cupping my face in his hands and kissing me with so much emotion, I melted and forgot my aches and pains.

We both wept silently as our lips spoke without words. The hot tears from his cheeks mingled with mine, falling around us and soothing the fear and pain. I hadn't realised quite how weak I was until I found myself slumping into Tanner's strong arms. He gently wound one arm under mine and lifted me up, cradling me against his chest.

‘I thought I'd lost you,' he said, his voice thick.

I nestled into him. Normally, I would have balked at the mere hint of being a helpless female, carried around by her strong man, but after enduring a four-storey fall, a marathon swim and coral injuries, I figured I should just let myself be cared for. ‘You didn't.'

He walked us to the closest couch and sat, keeping me tucked tight against him. ‘She threw you overboard.'

‘She did.'

‘I'm … I'm so sorry, Maddie-girl.' Against my shoulder, his chest hitched up and down, contracting with emotion. ‘You warned me about her, about this whole thing. If you'd died, it would have been on me! My own stupid fault. Oh, God, I'm so, so sorry, baby, so sorry
—
'

‘Tanner!' Alarmed, I leaned back so I could see his eyes and touch his stubbled chin. ‘Don't! It wasn't your fault. Callie was out of control. I survived and she can't hurt us anymore.'

He shook his head, tears still flowing from under his closed lids.

‘Please, baby,' I said, kissing his chin, cheeks, eyes, ‘don't cry. She only wins if she continues to affect us. I'm alive, you're here, and I love you. I love you, cowboy, you hear me?'

He finally opened his mocha eyes, the anguish in their depths clearing. ‘I love you too, my Maddie-girl, my sunrise.'

We sat there for hours, holding each other as if any separation might send us spinning into alternate universes. The lovely staff fluttered around us, bringing food, making drinks, and offering to escort us to our suite.

‘No, not yet,' I said. ‘I'm waiting on someone.' I'd known earlier that I couldn't have handled a reunion with the entire crew, but there was one person I needed to see before I finally allowed Tanner to carry me to bed.

Finally, we watched a yellow light bobbing across the waves. The water-taxi pulled up at the dock, and a familiar figure stepped out.

When she walked into the bungalow, she immediately raised a knowing eyebrow. ‘So, you finally ready, girly?'

‘I am.'

Mama Ruby hefted herself heavily into the chair opposite us. ‘You finally believe Mama?'

‘According to everyone I've spoken to, I should have died about ten times over today.' I pulled the moonstone out of the pocket of my robe. ‘I have no idea if this thing helped, if I really do have bad juju, or if it's all in my head, but whatever the problem is, I'm ready to get rid of it.'

She calmly began to pull candles and crystals from her bag. ‘'Course it's in your head. That don't mean it can't mess witchoo and everything you touch.'

It took an hour, and I didn't understand most of it, or feel particularly different afterwards. But as Tanner finally carried me to our tree-house suite with its glorious green view over the rainforest interior of the island, I noticed he didn't slip on anything and drop me, or whack my head as he laid me down on the soft sheets.

‘You finally got me naked,' I joked as he stripped my salty, torn gym gear from my weary body.

His small smile pulled at my heart. ‘I did, darlin', but …' He took in my bandaged leg and bruised limbs. ‘This isn't quite the way I thought it would go.'

Some lovely housekeeper had already filled the swamp-sized spa tub with scented warm water. Tanner lowered me carefully into the suds, and helped me wash away the trauma of the day. ‘I know this isn't perfect,' I said as he towelled me off. I was suddenly so weary, I found myself weak as a baby panda, ‘but neither is life.'

Naked, we lay together in bed, Tanner kissing my fingertips gently as I began to drift off to sleep. ‘I was in our field today,' I said sleepily. ‘When you told me I was going to be your wife one day.'

‘You were?' For the first time since we'd been reunited, I heard life and hope back in his voice. ‘So, if I was going to ask you to marry me …?'

‘I'd say yes.' I felt the lightness in my brain lifting me off into slumber. ‘Don't ask now though …'

‘Don't you worry, Maddie-girl,' I heard him say as I floated away. ‘Life can't be perfect, but I've got big plans for the day I ask you to be mine forever.'

Epilogue

Bumping up the dusty drive, I rolled down my window and took in a lungful of sweet Texan air. Our home was set almost ten minutes' back from the road, and I was so eager to reach the sprawling country homestead I pushed the Jeep a little harder than normal, willing it to carry me faster to my love.

I parked at the top of the sweeping driveway. Our two-storey house with its wide verandas waited for me as I leapt from the car. I'd never experienced what it was like to come home before settling in Texas with Tanner. My whole childhood had been a series of temporary housing, while as an adult I hadn't even put my name on a lease before.

Now I truly knew the feeling of utter peace that only came from seeing my own home, my most favourite place in the world, where I could already hear my unborn children laughing along the halls, and imagine the many happy years ahead of us within those walls.

Tanner had insisted on designing and building the homestead together with me. ‘Darlin', I want us starting our lives right,' he'd told me, after I'd made it very clear I'd be happy in the old weatherboard home he'd shared with his dad. ‘I love that house, I do, but it's a part of my history; you're my future.'

So we'd gifted the house to our foreman rent-free so he and his family could live on the property, and began building our dream home together on the rise at the far end of Tanner's land. From our floor-to-ceiling windows the view was of our fields, as far as the eye could see
—
and the privacy meant we could run around naked twenty-four seven and never be seen.

Hmm … that's an idea …
I briefly contemplated stripping nude to greet Tanner. Before I'd left Miami, I'd pulled on my favourite pair of faded jeans, with a sky-blue tee in a delicate fabric, thin enough to show the outline of my very expensive Simone Perele bra. My lacy white underwear had rubbed deliciously against my skin all throughout my flight home, as if I needed anymore sexual build-up; five days away from Tanner left me as panting and needy as a dog with an itch.

Still, our lives were balanced well. I'd been on the set of
Invisible Monsters
for a few months, where not only was I flourishing in my job, but I also went largely unnoticed. After
Ship of Lust
had aired, the media had buzzed around, trying to catch me doing something interesting. But when they found me working alongside movie stars
—
real celebrities
—
they forgot who I was and went after them instead.

It was such an easy way to hide in plain sight, and I really did love being back in the industry. I had my next four jobs already lined up
—
as close to Texas as possible and with plenty of gaps in between to recover at home with Tanner.

I stretched, smiling contentedly. My intention for the rest of the day was to find the man in question, throw him down and ride him like a bucking bronco. Searching inside the house would be pointless on an afternoon when the sun rode above cumulous clouds and the air smelled of deep summer. I half-ran, half-walked along the path at the side of the house towards the stables.

And there, with his shirt half-open and his face shining, was my cowboy. Tanner stood in the centre of a fenced training yard, clicking and calling to Serendipity, a magnificent snowy mare. I watched her halt on Tanner's cue, then bow low, nudging her nose along the ground.

‘Bravo!' I called out, unable to keep the pride from my voice at seeing the two of them in action.

Tanner turned to me, his face alight. ‘Maddie-girl!' He leapt over the fence that divided us and sprinted towards me. In one fluid motion, he lifted me high and swung me around as I cried out joyfully.

He lowered me to the ground, his eyes glowing in a rich earth tone. ‘How long have you been standing here?'

‘Long enough to see that “Artax” is going to be a superstar,' I said, kissing his nose. ‘She's doing so well.'

‘I haveta admit, I do love my job
—
and so does Dip.' Tanner led me over to the fence where the pretty pony whinnied for a nose rub. I knew Tanner had been hesitant about taking on the role of senior horse wrangler for the remake of
The Never-Ending Story
, but it was working out beautifully. With her natural abilities and almost-human understanding, Dip would be perfect as the lead
—
with Tanner working her from behind the scenes, in his element.

‘Who's a pretty girl?' I asked, stroking her mane as she leaned into my fingers. A bump and whine from my shins made me look down to where a red dog rubbed himself against my leg. ‘Oh, yes, Chilli-dog, you're my pretty boy, okay?'

He gave a little woof in agreement. I was so glad we'd adopted him after Callie had been arrested. The ginger mutt had been a wonderful companion to Blue up until the day he'd passed, and now Chilli was part of our little family.

Tanner slid his arms around my waist, drawing me backwards into his chest. ‘I'm not sure I like sharing you with all these other needy critters.'

‘Is that because you're the neediest critter of all?' I giggled.

‘You bet I am. Hey,' he said, tilting his head towards the open fields. ‘We could all probably stand to stretch our legs. Do you fancy a ride?'

‘You're on, cowboy.'

We saddled up. I rode Dip, and Tanner climbed onto Samson, our gigantic stallion. Both horses were raring to go as we set out running across the property that had become my home.