Washed Away (18 page)

H
ER HANDS WERE SHAKING
so much that she could barely get the key in the lock, and if her brain hadn’t been so full of her plans, she would have noticed the dark shadow in the hall outside her apartment, would have felt a knot of panic as the dark figure loomed over her shoulder. But even when she did turn and open her mouth to scream, her breath caught in her throat. Tears welled as Buster hurled herself up at her, and she knelt down to meet her furry friend. If Buster was here, then Noah would be, too.

“Noah…”

He fell on her with all the frenzy of Buster, pulling her fiercely into his arms and kissing her cheeks, her eyes, her lashes, her lips as if he couldn’t bear to let her go. She kissed him back, the world as it should be now that he was here beside her.

“What are you doing here?” she gasped when she finally had to come up for breath.

“Looking for you.” He smiled. “Have you been drinking, Cheryl?”

“On a very empty stomach,” she admitted. “A cock
tail at the diner probably wasn’t the most sensible of choices.”

“So you won’t be wanting this, then?” Pulling a bottle of champagne out of his bag he held it up and winked as she pretended to think it over. “Buster needs to eat, though. She’s been on a hunger strike, and in her condition she shouldn’t be missing meals.”

“Her condition?” As if on cue, Buster leaped into her arms, growling in triumph at a laughing Noah, who was left to open the door.

“It’s very early yet, but there’s a bellyful of little Busters in there.”

Noah stared at her apartment as he stepped inside, taking in the cool white walls, the pale honey-colored floorboards, the vast floor-to-ceiling windows revealing drop-dead gorgeous views and he understood suddenly how hard it would be to leave.

The apartment was Cheryl.

Cool, crisp, and minimalist, with a few bold dashes of color. The scarlet abstract painting on the wall. The lilac cushions scattered on long low couches.

And though it was a world away from his cluttered house, with Cheryl there, it felt right. She was opening the fridge, pulling out eggs and cracking them into a bowl….

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Making her something to eat. You said she wasn’t—”

“
I’ve
brought her food,” Noah said firmly, producing a bag. “If this is going to work, I can see I’ll have to hang
signs everywhere like the ones at the zoo—Do Not Feed The Animals, Cheryl!

“
This
is what Buster needs right now, and lots of it,” Noah said. “We should think about renaming her, as well. Everyone who stops to pat her will assume she’s a boy.”

“That’s their problem.” Cheryl shrugged. “I’ll buy her a pretty pink bowl. That’ll really confuse them. How’s the clinic?” she asked, kneeling down to stroke Buster as the dog ate the smelly biscuits Noah had brought. “How’s Mabel?”

“Surprisingly contented—motherhood seems to suit her.”

“And the babies? Still eleven?”

“The piglets are fine, Cheryl.” Noah grinned. “And yes, there were still eleven at the last count.”

“Georgina?”

When he hesitated, her expression clouded.

“She died, Cheryl.” He let his words sink in, knowing the news would hurt. Even though Cheryl had only known the little horse for a couple of days, she had been fond of Georgina. “You remember her owner, Mary, got evacuated. Well she died a few days later and Georgina just went downhill from there. It might sound like a cliché but it really was for the best. She never would have been happy staying with me, she was too used to being spoilt and treated like a little lady.”

“Was she on her own when she died?”

“Apparently she had a sister no one knew about—” Seeing Cheryl frown, Noah realized he’d misinter
preted, but the chance to tease her was just too good to pass up. “Hey, sorry. I thought you were only interested in looking out for humans.”

“Touché.” Cheryl grinned but he still hadn’t answered her question.

“She was with me,” Noah finished without prompting. “Being spoilt rotten, of course. And contrary to everything I believe in, I gave her some chocolate near the end. She slept with Madge, Buster and me for the last few nights.”

He shifted the conversation then, reality needing to be faced. “Why didn’t you answer your phone, Cheryl? Why couldn’t you bring yourself to talk to me? I know you needed space but…”

“I’ve been in hospital, Noah.” The relief he felt quickly flicked to concern as she crossed the room and sat on the edge of one of the long couches, indicating for him to join her.

“I got worse on the flight home,” she told him. “I couldn’t catch my breath and the cough was really bad. I had an X ray and the chief of emergency medicine insisted that I be admitted.”

“Why didn’t you call me? I should have known, Cheryl.”

“I know,” she admitted, accepting the glass Noah offered and taking a tentative sip. “I wanted to call you, believe me. I just…” She stared at the pale fluid, watching the bubbles moving endlessly upward, like the hope that fizzed inside her now that Noah was here. But talking was important. “Since I left Joe, since I moved to
Courage Bay, I haven’t stopped for a single moment to really think. I’ve been running on a treadmill and getting nowhere.”

“And now?”

“Being in hospital gave me time to think, Noah. I had a fever and needed to rest, but I wasn’t actually that sick, and as much as I opposed the idea of being kept in, once I was there it was kind of nice to be shut away in my own little room and finally catch up with a world I’ve been running away from—and sort out what it is I want from life.”

“Which is?”

“What everyone wants,” Cheryl said simply. “To be happy. And I was doing a reasonable job till now. I have been happy. The past two years haven’t all been hell. As nice as it was for you to come along when you did, I haven’t been sitting around waiting for someone to rescue me.”

“I know that,” Noah said softly.

“I’ve got a great job, not a lot of friends but a few good ones, and I’ve got a life I’m happy with—or at least I was until I met you.”

“I don’t want to make you unhappy, Cheryl,” Noah said slowly as she shook her head.

“You don’t. You make me very, very happy. So happy in fact that I realize what’s been missing. You weren’t the only one battening down the hatches when I arrived in Turning Point. I’ve been doing it automatically for two years, making sure no one got too close, so no one could hurt me like…”

“Your husband?”

“
Ex
-husband,” Cheryl corrected with a dry smile. “My divorce papers were waiting for me when I got back.”

“Good.”

Noah’s honesty made Cheryl laugh.

“Am I supposed to say that I’m sorry?” Noah grinned. “That I wish it hadn’t happened? Well, I’m not, Cheryl. It’s the best news I’ve had in a while. How do you feel about it, though?” he added more seriously.

“Disappointed, I guess.” She shrugged. “Though not because my divorce is through. It’s the feeling of failure that comes with it, the realization that seven years of marriage is actually over. It’s not exactly something to be proud of.”

“Maybe it is,” Noah mused. “You tried your best, Cheryl, and it didn’t work. Maybe you can be proud that you had the guts to walk away and didn’t just hang in there growing more bitter while you prayed for things to change.”

“Maybe,” Cheryl said slowly. “I never really thought of it like that.” She stared over at him, his long, denim-clad legs sprawled on her couch, that gorgeous brown hair flopping over his forehead, and when the impulse came to reach out and push it back, she didn’t resist. “Thank you for coming to Courage Bay. I mean, how did you manage it?”

“I called in a few favors.” Noah smiled, and she watched the endearing way the corners of his eyes crinkled as he did so. “More than a few favors actually. I’m probably in the red now—I’ve got a veterinarian friend,
Charlie, who lives in Corpus Christi. I helped him out a couple of years ago so he could go on his honeymoon, so he’s staying over, and Carly’s hauling in enough overtime to pay for her honeymoon. I only managed to swing a week, though.” He gave an apologetic grimace. “I’m sorry it isn’t—”

Cheryl placed a finger to his lips. “Don’t be sorry. If you knew how much it means to me, just the fact that you’re here, that you came, then you’d know that there’s no need to be sorry.”

“I was going out of my mind when I thought you were ignoring my calls. I couldn’t deal with it. Anyway, it’s better I’m here. Some things shouldn’t be said over a telephone.” He took her hands, both of them, clasping them in his strong lean ones. “I can’t do this, Cheryl. You were right. You’re not the only one who’s not up to a long-distance relationship. It might work for some but not for me. If I’m going to have you, it has to be full-time. I need to go to bed with you beside me, watch you waking up in the morning.”

“I know,” Cheryl said softly. “I know what you’re saying, Noah.” And she did know. Those days spent staring at her ocean view from her hospital bed and her chat with Amy had clarified what was already in her heart. She would have told him that but as usual Noah got there first.

“I’m putting the clinic on the market. I’ve got to get it all onto paper first, though, and make sure it looks a bit more presentable. But I’ve got an accountant seeing to that, and Charlie’s half interested in taking over. We
talked a while back about him buying in. I’m going to keep the name, though.”

“Keep the name?” It was all she could manage to say as her mind shot into overdrive, the magnitude of his words overtaking her.

“Noah’s Ark,” he explained as if it should have been self-explanatory. “For when I set up shop here.”

“Here?” She sounded like a stunned parrot, Cheryl realized, and when Noah continued talking she deliberately kept her mouth closed just listening as his delicious words washed over her.

“
Here,
Cheryl,” he said. “I figure a career move might not be so bad after all. I loved looking after Georgina, and California’s full of pampered pets. I could set up my own doggy hair salon.” He gave a rueful smile. “I don’t really care what I do, Cheryl. I’ll even wait tables for a while till I can pull it all off. But I promise you this—you won’t have to work a minute to support me. You’ll be too busy juggling babies and the occasional shift in the trauma room to keep your hand in—”

“Noah…” Her mouth was so dry she had to force herself to swallow, and finally resorted to taking a rather hefty swig of champagne before she could continue. “Are you telling me that you’ll come here? That you’ll give up the clinic just so you can be with me?”

“In a heartbeat,” Noah said softly. “Well, a bit more than a heartbeat. It took a few lonely nights to come around to the idea, but hell, Cheryl, if that’s all it takes to be with you, then it’s worth it a million times over.”

“No.” Her voice came out all wrong; too harsh, and
she watched the hope in his eyes fade as she shook her head. “You don’t have to do that—”

“But I do—”

“Can I get a word in?” She smiled at him and took a deep breath to prepare herself for the most monumental words of her life. “You don’t have to do all that, because I’ve already decided that I’m coming home with you, Noah. That’s why I was running back to the apartment. I was running back to call you and tell you that I want to return to Turning Point.” The hope was back in his eyes, but she saw a flicker of confusion, too. He started to speak, but she shook her head, determined to have her say, to be the bossy, outspoken woman that she was. “I accused you once of wanting the perfect woman to step into the perfect little world you’d created. Well, I don’t claim to be perfect, Noah, but I do want to step back into your dream world, make it our very own fairy tale, make it better….”

“Better?”

“I’m going to whip your butt into shape, Noah Arkin.” She smiled slowly, moving her lips seductively toward him, teasing him with their proximity. “I’m going to get on that computer and set up accounts, fire off bills, set up appointments, and every second weekend you’re going to hire someone to watch the clinic. You’re going to hand over your pager so that you can concentrate on more important things.”

“Such as,” Noah whispered, his lips moving closer, until finally he was kissing her with a depth and passion only love could bring.

Cheryl pulled away, but was close enough to see his eyes. “Me. Your very new, very high-maintenance, exceptionally high-strung wife.”