Coming Attractions (18 page)

Nine…

They were in the circular lookout
proper now and a few of the old folks had registered the oncoming commotion but
had not had time to move out of the way. The Tacoma was headed straight for the
cliff edge. It seemed inevitable that it would smash through at least a handful
of tourists en route, directly in its path.

Four…

Three things happened at once—Levi
screeched in front of the truck, blocking its way to the abyss, the truck
slowed, veered right, and crashed into the coach, and a gunshot rang out.

****

The truck crashed so slowly that
the airbags didn’t even deploy. While she rocked forward in her seat, there was
no danger of whiplash or that Cara would bang her head on the dash.

She turned to the wild-eyed young
man beside her and gave his arm a firm squeeze, “You’re doing the right thing.”

“That copper…he just shot at me!”
the guy blubbered, his hands shaking too hard to undo his seatbelt.

“I think you’ll find he shot at the
tires, not at you. And, isn’t it better to be sitting here discussing gunshots
than being aerated or worse, bear dinner down that cliff?”

“I guess so, ma’am.”

“You just tell the officer what you
told me and things will turn out fine.” She watched Levi approach at a run, his
face as dark as thunder. “Probably stay out of my boyfriend’s way, though.”

Boyfriend…
She
smiled at the sound of the word. It was cutesy and a bit childish, yes, but it
melted her like a witch in water.

Levi wrenched open the passenger
door just as Brian approached the driver’s side with his gun drawn.

Glancing between the gun and Levi,
the driver raised his hands in surrender. Maybe it was shock, but Cara started
to giggle.

“I hardly think this is something
to laugh about,” Levi roared before yanking Cara into his arms and kissing her
until they were both dizzy. “Don’t you ever do that to me again!”

“Me? What about you, riding like a
Hell’s Angel?”

He kissed her again, hard, urgent.

“Just don’t scare me like that
again. You can’t go and get yourself killed. We belong together, you and me.
You’re mine.”

Chapter
Fifteen

Cara watched Mia talking with Levi.
She was walking him through their mother’s tomato relish recipe, the one Cara
had never been able to wheedle out of her sister. It seemed Mia had joined the
Levi Callister fan club. Cara totally got it. More than even hokey pokey ice
cream, Levi was irresistible.

Hmmm… Ice cream/Levi. Her brain
went into dizzying day dreams involving Levi and a tub of hokey pokey, with not
a spoon in sight. He glanced over as she moistened her bottom lip and his eyes
lit up with shared mischief.

Cara’s suspicion had been correct—Mia
hadn’t known Freya had invited her to help celebrate her birthday. Luckily,
their tales of the morning’s adventure dissipated any bad feelings that might
have arisen with Cara’s unexpected arrival.

Cara took the other adults’
busyness as an opportunity to congratulate Freya on her birthday.

“Here’s a little gift from me,”
Cara told the girl, feeling oddly uneasy as she handed over the wrapped
package. What if her niece didn’t like the gift?

The girl’s squeals of delight when
she pulled the paper aside were worth all Cara’s nervousness and angst.

“I’ve wanted an iPad for, like,
ever!” the little girl breathed, her eyes Frisbee-wide as her siblings cooed
with admiration and envy.

“It’s the latest one, too,” Josie
enthused. “And there’s heaps of memory.”

“Can I have a go?” asked Liam.

All the commotion drew Levi and Mia
out of the kitchen.

“Oh, Cara! No, no, no! You mustn’t.
You’ll spoil her…”

Though Freya’s eyes filled with
tears, her look was pure challenge as she scowled at her mother and hugged the
box tightly to her chest.

Cara saw Levi lay a hand on Mia’s
arm and give her a smile that sucked all the oomph out of her protests and left
her clucking and shaking her head, but with an indulgent smile. “Did you thank
your Aunt Cara?”

“Thank
you, Auntie Cara!” Freya obediently gushed, her face the epitome of relief. “Can
you help me make it go?”

“I
might be able to give you a hand,” a man’s voice boomed from the open back
door.

Everyone
fell silent and turned to the unexpected newcomer.

Tall, black
hair, brown eyes, chinos, a man bag, Cara registered.
Joe?

“Daddy!”
Freya shrieked, abandoning the new electronic device and running to throw her
arms around her estranged father.

Cara’s
eyes flew to Mia, who was as pale as flour and looking woozy. Levi was helping
her to a dining chair.

Clearly,
Cara wasn’t the only secretly invited birthday guest.

****

“So, you’re telling me you talked
the crazy carjacker into stopping?” Mia asked incredulously as she poured tea
and coffee for Joe, Cara, and Levi.

“He was just a scared kid,” Cara
assured them all. “He’d just dug himself into the gang culture and he was
afraid of the repercussions if he tried to get out. Luckily, Brian knows the
kid’s parents and remembers him as a little tacker. I don’t think the law will
be too hard on him. All he needs is a fresh start.”

“She says about the guy who
kidnapped her at knifepoint!” Levi sputtered.

“Hey, I wasn’t the one playing Evel
Kinevel on a cliff edge!”

“What was I supposed to do, just
let him steal my truck and my girl?”

Cara’s face lit up with what was
becoming a stupid smile.

“What?” he demanded.

“Say that again.”

“Say what again? Just let him…oh!
My girl
.”

He squeezed her hand. He had barely
let her out of touching distance since he’d lifted her down from the truck cab
and laid that pulse-spiking, breath-plundering, skin-sizzling kiss on her lips.

“Look at you two!” tsked Mia,
placing steaming mugs on the table. “You’re a goofy pair. I’m going to call the
kids in for some party food. Stop making goo-goo eyes or you’ll scare them.”

Cara and Levi just beamed happily
at each other.

****

No one was really
hungry after the afternoon’s party fare, but they nibbled on paté, cheese, and
fruit as the men drank beers and the women sipped spritzers at the glass-topped
table on Mia’s patio.

The children had
finally put the iPad aside after being threatened with its confiscation if they
were going to stay glued to
Plants Versus
Zombies
all day. The three of them were playing fairies under the elm tree
in the twilit yard.

“I’m a boy fairy!”
Liam was insisting.

“There’s no such
thing!” argued Josie.

“He can be an elf,”
said Freya. “Elves can be boys.”

“See, I’m an elf!
So there!”

“Well if you’re a
boy elf, you don’t need wings or a fairy crown,” said Josie fiercely, snatching
the boy’s tiara and reaching for his wings. “Give them to me.”

“No! I’m a boy elf
with wings!” Liam shouted, taking off around the yard with Josie in hot
pursuit.

Predictably, Liam
tripped and fell, taking Josie down with him. Both children bawled while Freya
helped them up, and Mia and Cara ambled over to help comfort them, picking up
battered wings and dinged jewels and promising Dora Band-Aids and hot
chocolate.

Cara plopped back
down at the table while Mia herded the children inside to help them get ready
for bed.

“I don’t know how
she does it,” Cara murmured, her eyes darting to Joe as she realized she may
have just made a gaffe, seeing as he was the one who had left Mia to raise the
children alone.

Joe raised a
conciliatory hand. “No, no. Fair point. I took off. I deserve the barb.”

“I didn’t mean…”

“I know you didn’t,
Cara.”

“She misses you,
you know.”

“Freya? Yeah, she
said so in her invitation.”

“I meant Mia.”

Joe sighed and put
down his beer. “I miss her, too. I just don’t know where to go with that
feeling.”

“Turning up is a
good start,” said Cara. “Maybe you should talk to Mia about it.”

Levi squeezed her
hand and Cara took the hint and shut her mouth. She swallowed the last of her
white wine and trundled off to say her goodbyes to the sleepy kids and her
sister.

“I’m staying right
out of it,” she heard Levi laugh as she walked away.

Joe’s answering
chuckle and, “I don’t blame you” told her the two men had taken to one another,
on some level at least.

Cara found the
three kids splashing each other in the bathtub with Mia making a show of
supervising them. But the look in her eyes was far away.

“Don’t
stress, Mia. Just take it one day at a time.”

“What would you
know about it, Cara?” Mia snapped.

“Hey, that’s
unfair.”

“You’re right, it
was nasty and wrong. I can see how you and Levi are great together.”

Cara blushed. She
stepped over the pile of clothes and toys discarded on the wet tiles and put
her arm around her sister.

“Anyway, I just don’t
know what to do with him. Why did he even come today?” asked Mia, as though the
answers might magically appear in the steamed up mirror.

“Why don’t you ask
him? Look, Levi and I are heading off. It’s been a massive day. I’ll come by in
a few days and we can talk?”

“Thanks. I’d like
that. And about the film…?”

“Yeah. We need to
talk about that, too! There’s a letter you have to see.”

At that moment,
the tiara that had been at the center of the children’s skirmish caught Cara’s
eye. Her heart pounded. It was a gold half coronet embedded with jewels—tiny
little diamonds, a few little sapphires, and one enormous dark blue stone. It
was a deep navy teardrop the size of Liam’s fist. Surely it was paste. The kids
had been playing with it for years. Alessandra wouldn’t have been so careless?
Would she? Could it be?

Cara reached for
the tiara. It was substantial. Strong metal and heavy stones. It glittered
darkly under the bathroom heat lamps.

“Mind if I borrow
this?” Cara said as casually as she could. “I’ll bring it back with the letter.”

“What are you
planning? I’ve heard of doctor and patient. Is this queens and slaves?” There
was no malice in her tone, just gentle teasing.

Cara tucked the
tiara into her handbag, thinking that tonight was not the night to get her purse
stolen. Potentially, it held Alessandra’s missing fortune. She may well be in
possession of millions and millions of dollars in gems. And Levi had no claim
on them, for they weren’t sold as part of Flinders’ Keep. But should she share
her suspicions about the jewels with him?

No.

****

Three days later,
Levi and Cara headed across the isthmus into Ocean Ridge again, this time,
making a beeline for the police station. They had spent the last three days
with Otto firming up the script so it sizzled, and both were buoyant and
positive. The imminent return of Cara’s bike capped off the festive mood.

Brian greeted them
at the front desk.

“Cara! Levi! Great
to see you. You’ve come to collect the Duke, I’m guessing.”

Cara lifted the
hand that held her black helmet with summer weight gloves tucked inside. “Looking
forward to being back in the saddle. That is, if Valentino Rossi here didn’t
cook the engine,” she laughed, elbowing Levi in the ribs.

“Ooof!” He rubbed
the spot as though she had hurt him. “Didn’t see you complaining when I was
saving your ass the other day, missy!”

“You didn’t save
me. I saved myself. I’m the one who talked him into stopping—”

“Crashing,” Levi
corrected.

“
Stopping
and surrendering.”

“Look, the truck
crashed because I shot the tire out,” Brian said.

“Sounds like you
were all heroes,” said Brian’s ex-wife Belle, who sashayed in the front door in
a flurry of flamboyant fragrance and strawberry blonde ringlets highlighted in
fire engine red.

“Belle!” Cara
greeted her. “It’s fabulous to run into you again.”

“Likewise. I was
planning to give you a call in the next day or two. We really should grab that
coffee sometime soon.”

“Actually, I’d
really love to, Belle. There was something I wanted to ask you about.”

“Listen, ladies,
the techies are maybe an hour away from finishing with Cara’s Ducati, so why don’t
you get reacquainted while I take Levi down the street to the garage? We can
talk to Hank and the boys about getting a good deal on a new bumper for the
Tacoma.”

“I’m due for a
pedicure in about five minutes, but if you’d like to tag along, Cara, I’m sure
they can fit you in. We can chat while we get gorgeous.”

“More gorgeous,”
Levi corrected, dropping a kiss on top of Cara’s head.

Belle raised an
eyebrow and Cara felt a blush heat her cheeks.

“Indeed,” agreed Brian,
looking hard at Belle.

Some secret
signals seemed to pass between the two of them before Brian let out a small
sigh and Belle shrugged before taking Cara’s arm and leading her along the road
to The Beauty Bureau.

****

The two young
beauticians could almost have been twins with their matching ponytails, artful
makeup, and immaculate uniforms. They were friendly, but soon realized their
clients were content to talk to one another and dialed back the pleasantries
and chatter.

Belle talked a
little about her career issues and the strained relationship with Brian, but
the conversation was somewhat awkward. After all, it was a small town with big
ears.

Mostly, they
caught up on what they knew had happened to their fellow high school students
and teachers from gossip and Facebook and the newspapers. Melanie Burrows died
from breast cancer, Sharon Lutz made it big in Silicon Valley, Mrs. Tekton
scandalously ran off with a rodeo cowboy, and Peter O’Flahery was a father of
twelve.

Belle chit-chatted
about her immediate plans, but Cara stayed quiet on that topic. She hadn’t
really thought much about the next chapter of her life and she didn’t think
buying a spider plant really cut the conversational mustard.

“The boys have
been begging for a puppy and I’m thinking Santa might come to the pet party,”
said Belle. “So, I have to look into breeds. Plus, I’ve volunteered to coach
their futsal team—quality time and all that. Next week I’m down in LA for a gem
fair. I’m going to take the boys. They can see the planetarium and the natural
history museum. And for my own treat, I’ll try and squeeze in a side trip to
the Caravaggio exhibition.”

“
Cara
vaggio? The artist?”
Painter!

Luckily, she
didn’t have to explain her peculiar comment and speedy grin as their nails—violet
for Belle and turquoise for Cara—were simultaneously decreed done.