Saving Wishes (The Wishes Series) (5 page)

“No.”

“I think you don’t like people getting close.”

I stared at him, for far too long to appear unaffected by his words.

“Whatever.” My reply would have been perfectly adequate coming from a ten year old girl with a limited vocabulary. Coming from me, it sounded pathetic. I wasted no more time walking away.

“Charli, please,” I heard. I didn’t slow down until I reached the car.

Then I realised that my dramatic exit was for nothing. I had to face the humiliating fact that I’d arrived at the lookout in Adam’s car. I had no choice but to wait for him.

The tortured French-American boy eventually strolled out of the bush, twirling his car keys around his fingers as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

My awkwardness had consumed me by the time we got in the car. I slumped in the cold leather seat, not looking at him. He turned the key and the engine purred to life. “I’d really like a cup of coffee right about now,” he said. “Do you think we could go for coffee?”

He must have really needed the caffeine hit. I could think of no other reason for dragging out the agony.

“I’ve had enough for one day,” I mumbled.

“Okay, I’ll take you home,” he replied quietly. The scraping of the bushes against the paintwork, amplified by the silence inside the car, didn’t seem to bother him the way it had on the way up. Not a word was uttered until we were nearing the town.

“You can drop me off at the café,” I told him. “You’re going there anyway if you want coffee. You could try the Daintree’s souvenir shop coffee but as far as I know, it’s still instant and tastes like dirt.”

He didn’t answer me and I wasn’t sure where we were headed until he pulled up at the café. We weren’t the only ones parked there.

“What is it?” asked Adam, noticing my grimace.

I pointed at the little blue Ford Festiva parked crookedly across two bays. “That car belongs to Jasmine and Lily.” He looked blank. “The Beautifuls.”

He shuddered. “The Daintree’s souvenir coffee is sounding good right about now.”

“You’ll be fine,” I falsely assured. “Just don’t make eye contact.”

Just as we got to the glass door, the bell at the top jingled. It opened quickly, and before we knew it we were face to face with Lily Tate.

“Charli and Adam. Adam and Charli,” she said, almost singing her words as she bobbed her head from side to side.

“Hi Lily,” I mumbled. At least I spoke. Adam managed a half-hearted smile and a weak wave.

“I thought we had plans today.” She stared accusingly at Adam. “Charli, can you translate please?”

“Ah, there was a little misunderstanding, Lily, but he’ll make it up to you,” I promised.

“I hope so. We went all the way out to Miss Décarie’s house this morning. She wasn’t expecting us at all! She said Adam had left early.”

“Don’t read too far into it,” I told her, doubting she could read at all. “He went for a walk along the beach and lost track of time.” The lie rolled off my tongue too easily.

Adam remained silent but his frown spoke volumes. It was amazing how much he understood considering he didn’t speak English.

“Where do you fit in this story?” Lily asked, looking me up and down. Her snippy tone got my back up. Instead of trying to placate her, I found myself stooping to a level lower than pond scum.

“I ran into him down there. But I’m done with him now. You can have him back.”

“You stole him?” she asked, widening her eyes in horror. “Jasmine’s going to flip out when she hears that.”

Adam looked at me, not so discreetly this time. I kept my focus on Lily, to escape his fierce glare.

“Like I said, you can have him back now.” I offered him to her as if he was a toy we were sharing.

Lily stared at Adam but spoke as if he was invisible. “Maybe I could tell her he misunderstood, got the time wrong or something.”

“Yeah. That’ll work,” I said.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” said Lily. The loud slow voice she was using was obviously for the deaf, gorgeous, American, French boy’s benefit. “He’s here now.” She hooked her arm through his.

Her territorial display didn’t bother me one bit. What bothered me was the baleful look Adam gave me. I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t really that wretched – that I was truly sorry for throwing him to the Beautiful wolves. But I didn’t. I continued tormenting him.

“His English has improved too,” I said, driving the final nail in the Adam-and-Charli coffin. “He spent the whole morning telling me how lovely he thinks you are.”

Lily stood in stunned silence, for the first time ever.

Realising her mind freeze could go on for a while Adam took control. “Lily, I apologise for the mix-up.” His smooth accent and low voice did nothing to unfreeze her brain. “I’m here for another week so I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to catch up.”

It was an offer Lily was never going to refuse. And why would she? As far as she was concerned, Prince Charming was there for the taking.

“Walk me to my car and I’ll give you my number,” she instructed.

Adam was too polite for his own good. He followed her down the steps and I made my getaway, charging through the door of the café. Nicole was sitting behind the counter. Her grin was wide, as if she was expecting big news.

“Adam’s going to come in here in a minute for coffee,” I blurted, slamming both hands on the counter and making her jump. “Make him one and get him out of here.”

“Why?” She leapt off the wicker stool. “What did you do, Charli?” She didn’t sound anywhere near as surprised as she should have.

“Just get him out of here,” I choked, trying to whisper and yell at the same time. “I’ll be out the back.”

Grabbing my sleeve, Nicole dragged me back to her side. “No way! You’re not hiding out the back, you little coward!” she hissed.

“I royally screwed up,” I whimpered.

I didn’t need to explain to my best friend why the day had gone so far awry, which was a good thing because the telltale bell jingled. She was back behind the counter before Adam even walked in. I stood cemented to the spot as he bypassed me completely. He ordered coffee and kept her engaged in conversation while she made it. The few minutes dragged like hours. It was getting harder to breathe.

Finally, coffee in hand, Adam thanked Nicole. He almost made it to the door when I choked out his name.

Adam looked around, vaguely as if a stranger had called out to him.

“You told Lily you were leaving in a week.”

“Yes.”

“I thought you were staying for a couple of months.”

“I said I
could
stay a couple of months,” he corrected, coldly. “I’m going to spend some time with Gabrielle and then head home.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I agreed.

Nicole let out a groan. The slap I heard was her hand connecting with her forehead. Subtly had never been her forte. Adam’s focus remained on me. Thinking about what he might be seeing made me want to bolt from the room.

“I had it in my head that this place held something for me. For a minute I thought it was you….” He shook his head like he couldn’t believe he’d gotten it so wrong. “Thanks for showing me around. It was nice meeting you, Charli,” he said, cold and polite. He walked out the door, leaving me standing there like the idiot I was.

“Are you just going to let him go?” Rushing over, Nicole grabbed a fistful of my coat. “You like him,” she said, shaking me with each syllable. “Why are you making such a mess of this?”

Breaking free, I smoothed down my coat, buying time. She didn’t wait. “Get out there and talk to him,” she ordered, pointing towards the door.

“And tell him what?”

“Tell him that he wasn’t wrong,” she yelled, as if that was necessary to make me understand. She shoved me towards the door. “What are you waiting for?”

“He’ll be gone now. It’s too late.”

“He won’t be gone. He’s standing by his car.”

“How can you possibly know that?” Whoever built the store a zillion years ago had the good sense not to obstruct the view of the ocean. The small car park couldn’t be seen from inside the café.

Nicole dangled a set of keys in front of me. “He’s not going anywhere.”

Snatching the keys from her, I marched to the door. I didn’t even take time to string a reasonable apology together in my head. Adam was already walking up the steps, coffee still in hand. It took all my might not to throw the keys at him, run inside, bolt the door and hide until he was gone.

He could probably tell by the look on my face that he was going to have to speak first.

“I left my keys.”

I shook my head. “Nicole took them to stop you leaving.”

I dropped them into his palm.

“Why would she do that?” he asked.

“Because she knows I will have sabotaged this day. And she knows I need time to make it right,” I explained.

“Charli – ”

“You said that you thought it was me that drew you here.” Interrupting him was all I could do. If I let him finish telling me how vile he thought I was, I would’ve lost my nerve completely.

His face contorted as if he wished he’d never said it. “You blew me off and handed me to the Beautifuls,” he reminded me, outraged.

“I know,” I replied contritely. “I’m sorry.”

Adam backed down the steps. “You’re so confusing,” he muttered.

Before I knew it, I was following him to his car, taking two quick steps to keep up with each of his long strides. “Adam, you asked me if I believed in fate.”

He balanced the cup of coffee on the roof of the car. His hand was on the door handle but he didn’t open it. “And you said you didn’t.”

“I lied.” He shook his head, incensed by me all over again. The car door opened and I wedged myself in the way to stop him leaving. “Please, I know I don’t deserve it but let me explain.”

He took a step back from me, folding his arms defensively. “No games,” he warned.

“None,” I promised, sealing the deal by crossing my heart, just to prove I had one. “If I’d told you the truth, you’d think I was crazy.”

“As opposed to mercurial and jaded?” he asked.

“I’m only a little bit jaded and I don’t know what mercurial means.”

A hint of a smile ghosted across his face. “So what is the truth?”

I stepped out from behind the car door and pushed it closed. “I chance everything to fate. I always have. I’m constantly looking for shifts in the universe. My brother tells me that I’d find a deeper meaning in a hole in the ground.” I paused and looked down, trying to slow my rant. “When you told me that the first chance you’d ever taken in life was to come here, searching for a place on a postcard, I just knew....”

I sucked in a breath. I’d reached my limit.

“Knew what, Charlotte?” he prompted. It was the first flicker of curiosity he’d shown since I’d begun speaking.

“Fate brought you here.”

He replied quickly. “If what you’re saying is true, fate isn’t kind. Today was a disaster, so I’m struggling to understand why you’re intent on salvaging this.”

“It was only a disaster because I got ugly,” I pointed out. “My head is very protective of my heart and it’s a defect I’m well aware of. Keeping the Beautifuls out of my business has practically become my life’s work. I’m so sorry you got caught up in it.”

He shook his head, looking utterly confused. “I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me.”

“Things would be making a whole lot more sense right about now if I’d given you the chance to know me better.” I bit my bottom lip, holding my breath, waiting for him to speak.

“Tell me who you are then, Charli,” he suggested.

Bravely reaching into his coat pocket, I took out the ragged postcard. He stood completely still as I pressed it against his chest, smoothing out the crease.

“Well, for a start, I’m Charlotte Elisabeth Blake,” I told him. “And if you look at the bottom right hand corner of your picture, you’ll see my initials.” I handed the postcard to him and he studied it closely.

Photography had been my passion for a long time. It wasn’t a secret and I could think of no plausible reason why I hadn’t told him about it the minute he’d shown me the picture.

It had been Alex’s idea to publish them as postcards. It was never going to make me rich but the proceeds bumped my bank account up enough to make my dreams of travelling at the end of the year a possibility rather than a pipedream. Not surprisingly, I’d managed to corner the market. Every postcard in town was one of mine.

“I knew exactly where that photo was taken because I took it. A picture I took made it all the way around the world to you. And you came looking for it. It’s fate. You had no choice but to come here. You said so yourself.”

“How is that even possible?”

“Don’t question the universe. Just go with it. We’re practically guaranteed a happy ending.”

He grinned at me. “Is that so?”

“Definitely so.”

“So what happens now?”