by Wendy Vella
“Wow, okay, so we saw your feature on the whooping crane in that mag. That was really something, man. Nice job. Those pictures were amazing. I felt like I was right there.”
No shame flashed across the man’s face as Newman spoke to him. He just stood there taking the praise that should have been for Hope.
“No hard feelings about the other stuff,” Tex said, following his lead, but he caught the questioning look his friend threw him. Mac just grunted.
“Mac will get you the fudge. How much do you want?” Newman said.
“Ten bags, thanks.”
Mac walked out from behind the counter and disappeared. Newman wondered where Hope was hiding.
“So how long you Wildlife guys here?”
“Another month.”
“What you photographing?” Tex asked.
“The Great Blue Heron.”
“No shit,” Newman drawled. “Must be important work?”
“All our work is of vital importance,” the limp dick said, only increasing Newman’s need to leap over the counter and pummel the guy.
“We want to get some people in and do some shots for a magazine spread of the redwoods. Oldest trees for many miles. Right, Tex?”
“Sure.” The eldest Gelderman brother had always been a quick thinker, and today proved no different.
“Wildlife has highly skilled photographers, who are handpicked for selective conservation projects. We don’t just photograph trees for a booklet.”
If he sneers once more, I’m wiping it off his face with my fist, Newman thought.
“I suggest you contact a local to help with your little project.”
“Actually, I just received a phone call from my cousin, and he’s keen to do it.”
Newman looked at Tex, not knowing which of his many cousins he was talking about.
“Cousin?” Jay enquired politely, no longer surly now they’d acknowledged him and the magazine.
“Johnathan Finchley.”
“Never heard of him.”
“You may know him as John Finch?”
Newman watched Jay closely, and saw the flash of excitement at the mention of John Finch.
“He’s your cousin?”
“He is, and been at me for months to get down here, and now Hope’s on board, we’re looking to get him here soon.”
“Yes, and with Hope being a local and all, the booklet should turn out great.” Newman added his support to the lie.
“Hope?”
Newman watched the man shoot a look left and right. He didn’t look quite so confident now, the fucker.
“You probably know her, she was with Wildlife. Finch wanted a local to work with him, she was available, and with her experience it was a no-brainer,” Newman said.
“Hope Lawrence?”
The man was the color of a stale sandwich now.
“That’s her. She’s much loved and respected. We’re very proud of our girl,” Tex said.
“Yeah, no offence, Jay, but this is the big time for her. I mean Wildlife is a big deal and all, but John Finch, well, you know all about him, right? Next level stuff.”
Jay nodded.
“Here’s the fudge.” Mac arrived. He walked behind the counter and elbowed Newman to one side. He bagged it, then Jay paid. The man’s hands were shaking.
“So, Hope. Any idea where she is?”
“Nope, she was out scouting locations when I last spoke to her,” Newman said, then picked something out of his teeth. Jay left.
“Don’t let the door hit you in the ass,” Newman muttered. “Fuckhead.”
“Okay, so I just used my cousin’s name without his knowledge, which doesn’t bother me overly, as he owes me big. But I’d like to know what I was lying for, so fill me in.”
“That rat stole Hope’s photos, discredited her, and ruined her. That enough for now?”
“We should have thumped him,” the Texan snarled.
“It was in the forefront of my mind, but we don’t want blood on Mac’s stuff, so we’ll get round to it soon.”
“Here when required,” Tex added.
“Thanks for following my lead.” He shook the Texan’s hand, then Mac’s. “It’s important to Hope.”
“And what’s important to Hope is important to you, is my guess?”
“She’s a friend.”
His friend smiled. “Of course she is, and if you think I’m leaving now, you can think again. Besides, Annabelle will kill me.”
“You’re so whipped.” Newman threw the words over his shoulder as he went to find Hope.
“You’ll need backup when she tries to unman you anyways!”
Ignoring Ethan’s words, he looked down the aisles and in the storeroom. Stepping back out the door, he looked right and found her behind a large bookshelf. Forehead pressed to the wood, she had her eyes closed and fists clenched. It didn’t bode well for him, was his guess.
“Hope.”
“How could you?”
“Come out here, and let’s talk about it.”
She did, sliding sideways, and when she faced him her eyes were slits.
“You bastard!”
“Now, Hope.”
“You lied, and now I’ll look stupid when he realizes you lied. Hell, Newman. What were you two thinking?” she raged. “Clearly you weren’t, and now when John Finch doesn’t arrive in Howling, it will simply reinforce what Jay has told Wildlife.”
She was pacing now, around the chairs away from him and then back again.
“How about credit for trying?” he said, hoping she’d lighten up. She didn’t, if anything her scowl darkened. “We needed a plan, now we have one.” Newman kept his voice calm and reasonable. He was good at this. Placating people was his thing.
“We,” she said loudly, “don’t have shit! What we have is a monumental fuckup!”
“Don’t cuss.”
“Excuse me?” She stalked back to stand before him, her face now inches from his. “You cuss constantly, so don’t you tell me not to.”
“You, however, don’t,” he said as his temper began to climb.
“Of course I do, all the time, and add to that, I’m an adult, so I can say whatever the hell I want!”
Her face was so close her breath brushed his lips when she talked, and he felt it again, the need. Even though his anger was climbing, he wanted this woman.
“It’ll be okay, Hope. We’ll work this out. Tex and I have just started the ball rolling.”
“How? You lied to Jay, but not just a small lie, a great big, huge one. One so big, I’ll never live it down! John Finch is like the rock star of nature photography!”
“If I may interject?”
They turned to face Tex, who was watching them with an amused expression.
“Interject? What the hell do you know about interjecting?”
“More than you, pretty boy.”
“You were party to this lie.” Hope had Tex in her sights now. She looked fine riled, but Newman kept that thought to himself. “You don’t even know what the hell this is about, because even Howling’s grapevine doesn’t work that quick, and yet you told Jay a lie that I will never live down.”
“Actually,” Tex help up both hands to hold Hope off, “Newman just filled me in. And can I say, honey, that Jay is a real piece of work, and needs a lesson in manners.”
“Manners!” Hope screeched. “This is my life you two are about to ruin… further.”
“John Finch is my cousin.”
“You were actually telling the truth?” Hope asked.
“I don’t lie.” The Texan looked insulted.
“And this helps me how?” She had her hands on her hips. “Because Finch is a big player, and not likely to come to Howling just because his cousin wants him to. Added to that, he doesn’t work with low-level photographers like me.”
“He owes me a favor, I’ll get him here, and let’s face it, a magazine could really benefit this town. Help with tourism and that kind of thing.”
“She’s an untrusting soul, Newman.” Tex looked over Hope’s head to him.
“Her mother’s Millicent Lawrence, bud.”
Tex nodded wisely, as if nothing more needed to be said.
“Leave my mother out of this!”
“No offence meant, Hope,” Tex said with another easy smile. “And my cousin owes me money.”
“Lending someone a twenty is not grounds to make them come and partake in a lie!”
Newman wondered why he was so attracted to this woman. She was nothing like the women he usually wanted. She was bad-tempered, had no social skills, and dressed like a bag lady. But he wanted her just the same.
“It was more than twenty.”
Tex looked uncomfortable suddenly, and Newman knew why, he just wasn’t about to save his friend and turn Hope’s fire on him.
“Fifty then!”
“More than fifty actually.”
“How much then?”
“Two million.”
Her mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out. “I-I don’t how many zeros are in two million,” she whispered.
“What’s the deal with the women in this town, Newman? Didn’t they do math like the rest of you? Annabelle asked me the same question once.”
“I don’t think millions were thrown around much in math, bud.”
“They were in my school.”
“I can’t believe you loaned someone two million dollars.”
Hope’s tone was shocked; the anger seemed to have fled now. Newman didn’t hold out much hope that would last.
“I had it, he needed it.” Tex shrugged, and to him it was that simple. The man had millions, and he was a generous person. If someone he cared about was in need, then he’d provide.
“You’re related to John Finch, and he owes you two million dollars?”
“He did, we’re square now.”
“Square.” Hope sounded dazed.
The Texan nodded.
“How much money do you have?” Hope asked. “No, scratch that, I don’t want to know.”
“You need a loan, honey?”
“No!” She took a step backward. “Thanks.”
“You only have to ask.”
And he meant it, Newman knew. Because he’d been raised with money, it was no big deal to him like it was to those who didn’t have any—like Hope.
“You don’t know me!”
“My girl likes you, that’s enough for me. Plus you’re a Howler, and I’ve never really met a bad one.”
Hope turned to look at Newman and then back to Tex.
“I can’t deal with this right now. Because it’s just too weird, plus there’s the small matter of you lying to Jay and now I have to find a way to undo that lie, and I don’t know how to, which in turn means I’m probably going to have to move to New Zealand. Which I’ve heard is awesome, but I hadn’t planned on it.”
“Hope, we can work this out. Tex will call his cousin—”
“You can’t just call someone to save me, Newman. Life doesn’t work exactly as you want it to.”
“Actually, I probably can,” Tex said, stating the facts as he saw them. “John owes me.”
“We’ll make it happen,” Newman said.
“Why?” She lifted her arms wide. “You don’t owe me anything, and neither does he.” She pointed at Tex. “I should have just kept my mouth shut and not confided in Buster. This is what comes from breaking hard and fast rules and trusting people.”
“What comes from trusting people?” Tex asked her.
“Nothing good.”
Tex and Newman then watched her walk to the counter and pack up her things. She then left without looking their way again, and Newman had a sudden case of indigestion.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Hope looked left, right, and straight ahead when she stepped out of the Roar. Of Jay there was no sign. Thankful for this small reprieve, she headed down the street and made her way to the water. She found Mikey at the water’s edge skipping stones. Branna McBride and her daughter, Rose, were watching.
Hope stopped several feet away, and thought about retreating, but Branna turned at that moment and saw her.
“Hey, Hope.”
She had a lovely soft burr to her voice that spoke of her Irish heritage, and if that wasn’t a giveaway there was the dark hair, pale skin, and green eyes.
“Hi, Branna.”
She made herself walk forward. The little girl, who’d had her arms wrapped around Mikey’s leg, released him and looked at her as Hope stopped beside her mother. She had a sweet smile tilting her rosebud lips.
“’Lo.”
Hope wasn’t a kid person as such, mainly because she’d not been exposed to many, but this one, wow, she packed a punch.
“Hey there.” Hope found herself dropping to her haunches. “How you doing?”
The smile showed a mouthful of perfect little white teeth. She wore a sundress sprinkled with blue and white flowers, and little white sandals on her feet. In her hair was a blue satin ribbon.
“She’s so sweet.”
“Today, she’s sweet,” Mikey said as he skipped another stone. “Yesterday she was the child from hell.”
Hope looked at Branna to see how she took this piece of news about her beloved toddler.
“It’s true. Yesterday she screamed for a solid hour when she went down for her nap. Mikey was watching her. He’s tougher than me and Jake.”
“You could never be a hell child, could you, Rose?” Hope gave the child a smile, which she returned. She then moved closer, wrapped her arms around Hope’s neck, and squeezed. Quietly literally, every thought in Hope’s head fled. She couldn’t breathe and her chest hurt. It was bliss.
“Rose McBride, you are a suck-up,” Mikey said, unimpressed.
“It’s true,” Branna added. “She’s not happy unless everyone loves her, which they pretty much do.”
“Meany,” the little girl said, easing back from Hope and glaring up at Mikey. She then patted Hope’s cheek and went to annoy the boy.
“How old is she?” Hope said when she could find her voice.
“Three.”
“If I could have one just like that, I’d do it,” Hope surprised herself by saying.
Branna laughed. “Yes, she’s really something, isn’t she. She told her daddy this morning that she felt he should give her another cup of hot chocolate because she wanted to be as smart as him.”
“Bet that worked.”
Branna sighed. “You’d think because he’s a doctor he’d have more resistance to such a ploy, but no.”
Hope laughed.
“I heard about what happened to you, Hope. And before you get all bent out of shape, it was only because I saw Annabelle in the Hoot and she and Buster were discussing it, and I threatened to break her fingers if she didn’t share.”
“It’s okay, I think most of Howling will know by now.”
She felt Branna’s fingers on her arm.
“No, this is too serious for that. It won’t go outside our group, I promise you. But, Hope, we want to help.”
“I don’t think you can, and after what just happened in the Roar, I’m pretty sure I’m sunk.”
“Okay, that I don’t know, but right now I have to take Rose to meet her nana for lunch. So I’ll hear about it later.”
“See you.” Hope waggled her fingers at the little girl as she left Mikey, after urging him down to her level so she could kiss his cheek. Rose then did the same to Hope.
“Bye, Hope.”
“Can I take some pictures of her before I leave, Branna? I’ll give them to you.”
“Oh, yes please!” Branna hugged Hope and left.
“Right, let’s go, Faith is waiting for us,” Mikey said.
“I thought we were taking more photos of the water?”
“I’m helping you with the shoot tomorrow, remember? We need to get
onto the boat now. Jake told me I was wasting my time trying, because he had the winning entry. I need to show him different.”
This place , Hope thought looking around her, is changing me . Even considering what had just taken place with Newman and the Texan lying to Jay, she could feel the change. People were forcing her back into their lives, and she had no say in the matter. And if she was honest, she liked it. Liked being part of a community again. Yes, she was often on the perimeter, but she’d still been a part of it. People still knew her name and wanted to talk to her.
“Okay, let’s go.” If she was only here for a few more days, she’d take them. But she’d stay hidden from Jay until she did leave. No way in hell did she want that confrontation, not when she had to tell him Newman had lied.
Hope, Faith, and Mikey pored over his plans in the storeroom out the back of the Howler. The door was shut and locked from the inside, in case Noah came snooping.
“It’s coming along, don’t you think?” Faith said, looking at the structure on the work bench behind them.
“I’m just not sure about a cardboard boat?” Hope said.
“It’s been done before, Hope,” Mikey said patiently. “I’ve been on YouTube and watched clips, that’s where I got the plans.”
“I feel so old about now.” Faith sighed.
“So I’m guessing it’s all about the glue and the plastic liner, Mikey?” Hope moved closer to look at the plans. She was good at this kind of thing. Her brain liked a logical process to follow, and she worked well when she had direction.
“It is, and the race is in a month, so we have heaps of time to get this done. But I’d like a test run first. It will only hold two of us.”
“I’m not good on the water, so I’ll be the cheering squad,” Faith said.
“But I’m not sure how long I’m hanging around either, so let’s make that decision when and if I leave?”
Mikey and Faith nodded.
They worked steadily for two hours. Hope tried not to think about Jay, and what he now believed and likely had told the other members of Wildlife. She even laughed and lost herself in the moment, even if only briefly.