by Talia Hunter
“All right,” said Smythe. “Just this once. And make sure you’re back the day after tomorrow.” He adjusted a figure on his spreadsheet. Taking out her salary to see how much better it would make his bottom line look?
Rosa turned and left. She didn’t have long before the ferry arrived, and she had to pack a bag, but she found herself leaning against the wall outside Smythe’s office. The thought of being fired and having to leave Lantana permanently had made the strength drain from her legs. Lantana was home now, and she’d come to love it. What would she do if she couldn’t stay?
Looking down at her carving, she ran her fingers over the texture of the wood. She wanted the man who’d seen her like this. The man who’d taught her to fight and nurtured the person she needed to be.
In a perfect world, Dalton would love her and want to be with her. They’d live on Lantana Island, and she’d run the resort without Smythe looking over her shoulder. Tiny would be healthy, Otto would still be in prison, Carin would be safe and happy, and Crusoe would have a loving family to pamper him.
Yeah, and she’d be able to ride to Sydney whenever she wanted on the back of a flying pig.
Truth was, she wasn’t Rosa Roughknuckles, or the woman Dalton had carved into the driftwood. She was just plain old Rosa and it was time to face facts. There was one scrap of her perfect dream that had a chance of coming true, but only if she managed to make it happen. She’d go to Sydney and make Carin safe. Somehow.
23
Doctor Cooper’s office was on the outskirts of Sydney’s city center, in an area with a mix of offices, shops, and apartments. Dalton found a parking space a couple of streets away, and helped Tiny out of the car. The therapy she’d been having was making a difference, because she was moving more easily. If only she didn’t look so unhappy, maybe he’d be able to convince himself he’d done the right thing bringing her here.
But he wasn’t beaten yet. Doctor Cooper could turn things around by giving Tiny the hope she desperately needed.
“How did you get an appointment?” asked Tiny as they walked.
“I wore him down. He thinks by agreeing to meet, he’ll be able to convince me to stop pestering him. He clearly doesn’t know me.”
“You’ve been harassing the poor man?”
Dalton nodded and tried to smile, but her question had made him worry about Rosa. Was she okay? Was Otto still bothering Rosa’s sister?
Through the window of the building opposite, movement caught his eye. It was a karate class. A group of people in white uniforms were lined up and all punching the air in unison.
One was a slender woman with her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Dalton’s heart stopped. Rosa.
But when the woman turned her head the other way, it wasn’t Rosa. In fact, their build was the only similarity between the woman and Rosa. The woman didn’t have Rosa’s fine features, or her sometimes-green, sometimes-grey eyes. She didn’t have an intense look of total concentration on her face, and her tongue wasn’t poking out of the corner of her mouth.
“You okay?” asked Tiny.
Dalton blinked, realizing he must have stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk. “I’m seeing things,” he said trying to make light of the rush of disappointment that had filled him when he saw it wasn’t her. “For a moment, I thought that woman was Rosa. It was just a trick of the light.”
Tiny studied the woman, then shook her head. “Not as pretty as Rosa,” she said with a sideways look at Dalton.
“Mmm.” He tried to sound casual as he watched the people in the class pair up. It looked like they were going to practice sparring, like he and Rosa had. “What do you know about the man who was stalking her?” he asked.
Tiny shook her head. “Not much. Why?”
The woman was about the same build as Rosa, and the man she was sparring with was tall and heavy. A total mismatch. How big was Rosa’s stalker? A lot bigger than she was, no doubt. And if she came back to Sydney, he’d be waiting for her.
Only Dalton wouldn’t let that happen.
“The guy’s been bothering Rosa’s sister,” he said. “I’m pretty sure she said his name was Otto Bergmann. Probably not too many people in Sydney with that name, so he shouldn’t be hard to find.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Make a few calls and see if I can track him down.”
“And if you can?”
“Then I’d like to talk to him.” Dalton flinched as the woman he was watching messed up the block she was supposed to be performing and took an accidental blow from her partner. His muscles tensed and he turned away from the window.
“Come on,” he said. “We’ll be late.” But as they walked on, all he could think of was the man’s fist connecting with the woman’s shoulder. He could too easily picture the fighters as Rosa and Otto, and the image filled him with rage.
“Stop being stubborn. Call her,” said Tiny.
Dalton shot her a glance. No point in pretending he didn’t know who Tiny was talking about. And she was right, he needed to talk to Rosa. He’d assumed being apart from her would get easier, but if anything, it was harder by the day. The absence of Rosa in his life felt like he’d lost a limb. There was an empty space where she used to be, and it hurt.
He missed her peppermint smell, and the crazy things she said, her mind jumping from thought to thought on its unique, winding path. He missed her laugh, and the way she snorted when he took her by surprise. He missed the no-holds-barred way she liked to fight, and swimming with her in shark-infested waters. He missed the way her smile could make him feel like he was both invincible and vulnerable. And if that was a contradiction, well, it fit, because she was a contradiction and a conundrum, and the kind of mystery a man could spend a lifetime solving.
And he wanted to do just that. Spend a lifetime with Rosa.
If he hadn’t seen it before, it was because he hadn’t wanted to. Because he’d never wanted things to get complicated. Because loving someone meant they could reach into your chest and rip your heart out. And because realistically, being together would mean asking her to give up Lantana, and asking Tiny to do that had been hard enough.
Tiny stopped again, pulling him to a halt. “You okay?”
“That’s the second time you’ve asked. Aren’t I supposed to be asking you that question?”
“We’re here.” She motioned to a door he’d been too deep in thought to notice. They would have walked right past it if Tiny hadn’t stopped him.
“Just checking to see if you were paying attention,” he said, helping her inside.
Doctor Cooper turned out to be a man of about Dalton’s age, with blonde, sun-lightened hair and a surprisingly deep tan. Except for his white coat and serious expression, he looked more like a surfer than a specialist whose work had been referenced in many of the books about stroke that Dalton had read.
“Thank you for seeing us,” said Dalton, shaking the man’s hand.
Doctor Cooper shook Tiny’s hand too, then gave Dalton a rueful grin. “You’re persuasive, I’ll give you that. But I’m afraid you’re wasting your time. I’ve already told you, I’m not taking on any new patients. In fact, I’m not seeing any patients at all for the next year.”
Dalton helped Tiny into one of the chairs in the doctor’s office, then sat down next to her. “I wanted you to meet my sister, and to talk frankly. I’m certain there’s a way we can work Tiny’s rehabilitation into your year. We just need to discover how.”
The doctor laughed. “You don’t give up, do you?”
“Not when I know there has to be a solution.” If there was one thing Dalton had learned over the years, it was that creative thinking — and large amounts of money — could solve nearly every problem.
Well, until recently.
Cooper’s gaze went to Tiny. Was it Dalton’s imagination, or was that a look of appreciation on the man’s face? The muscles on one side of Tiny’s face didn’t work as they should, but Dalton thought she was stil
l pretty. Maybe he was biased, being her brother, but he had the feeling the doctor might agree with him.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Knight, I would have liked to help you,” said Cooper. “I can recommend you to one of my colleagues.”
Tiny smiled. Was there a sparkle in her eyes that hadn’t been there a moment ago? Dalton couldn’t be sure. But if there was, he intended to do everything in his power to encourage it. To see her interested in something — or someone — would be a definite improvement, especially if it snapped her out of the depression she’d fallen into. That was, if it didn’t end in heartache and impossible longings.
“My brother won’t budge,” she said, each syllable slow and careful. “You can’t argue with him. He always gets what he wants.”
If only that were true. Because Dalton knew exactly what — who — he wanted. Rosa. But missing her was proving to be something all the money in the world couldn’t solve.
24
Rosa was woken by the sound of the front door shutting, and footsteps on the wooden floor of her sister’s little house. She opened her eyes, blinking at the sunlight pouring into her sister’s living room.
“Hi Carin,” she said sleepily.
There was a crash in the kitchen as her sister dropped what sounded like a plate. Then Carin’s head poked into her living room, her eyes wide with shock. “Rosa! What are you doing here?”
Rosa yawned. “I told you I was coming.” She had a crick on her neck from sleeping on her sister’s couch, and Carin’s cat Rusty had slept on her legs most of the night, making the couch even more uncomfortable.
“You didn’t tell me you’d arrived. Why didn’t you call me? I would have picked you up at the airport. And you’re staying in my house.” Carin frowned, shaking her head. “Why on earth would you stay here when you made me promise not to?”
“My plane landed late last night and I didn’t want to disturb you. By the way, I can’t believe you still keep your spare key under the flowerpot out back.” She motioned to the key she’d brought in with her and left on the coffee table. “What if Otto saw you put it there? He could have walked in anytime he wanted.”
“At least it would have stopped him from breaking my back door.”
“You’re too flippant about all this.”
“What do you mean?” Carin’s voice rose in outrage. “I’ve been staying at Jake’s just like you asked me to. You’re the one breaking your own rules and staying alone, where he can find you. What if something had happened to you last night? You could have gone missing, and I might never have known.”
Rosa threw off her bedclothes and sat up. She was wearing her monkey-printed sleep shorts and matching T-shirt. Not exactly an outfit to enhance her credibility. “Sorry, I should have told you. But I’m fine.” She glanced toward the kitchen. “You in a hurry? Feel like having a coffee?”
Carin snorted. “You mean, you want me to make you a coffee.” She turned to the kitchen. “If you’d told me you were here, I would have come over earlier. I just stopped in to feed Rusty, and I have to be at work in half an hour.”
When she heard the coffee machine start up, Rosa went to the bathroom to pee and wash her face, then went back to the couch and shoved the blankets and pillow aside so she could sit and sip her coffee.
“What’s your plan?” asked Carin, sitting down next to her.
“I wouldn’t call it a plan, exactly. But all that time he was harassing me, I’ve never actually spoken to Otto. I don’t know if he’ll listen, but that’s what I’m going to try.”
“That’s it? You want to try talking to that fruitcake?”
“It couldn’t hurt, could it?”
“Are you kidding? It could hurt a lot if he wants to talk with his fists.” Carin frowned, sipping her steaming coffee. “Anyway, how would you find him?”
“That’s why I’m staying at your place. I’m kind of hoping he’ll find me. If not, then I know the address he was paroled to when they let him out of jail. I’ll go and see if he’s still there.”
Her cup dipped. “You’re crazy. You know that, right?”
“I’ve been told.”
“Won’t it be dangerous? What are you going to say? You think he’ll listen if you tell him to leave you alone?
They were all excellent questions. Shame she had no answers. “All I know is that I have to do something and I’ve only got one day. My new boss insisted I fly back to Fiji tomorrow.” Rosa screwed up her nose. “Truth is, he’s a bit of an ass.”
“Your new boss is an ass?” Carin raised her eyebrows. “What about the old one?”
“Dalton is a lot of things, but not an ass. He’s convinced he’s done the right thing, and maybe he has. I’m not sure anymore. Maybe I’m the one who’s been wrong all this time.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Tiny falling over was my fault.” Rosa put her coffee down, hoping her sister would give her an answer she could live with. “What if it had been something serious? What if my telling her about the buyer arriving had triggered another stroke. How could I ever have lived with myself?”
“You really want to know what I think?” Carin leaned forward. “Every time I’ve spoken to you lately, it’s been Dalton this and Dalton that. I think this guy has gotten under your skin big time. So maybe this is a conversation you should be having with him.”
Rosa sighed. “I don’t want to think about him all the time, but I keep having imaginary conversations with him. If I think of something funny, I don’t want to say it out loud because it seems like a waste if I’m not saying it to Dalton. And lately, I can’t sleep at night unless I put a pillow at my back and pretend he’s lying behind me.” She scrunched her face up. “Is that super weird? Tell me I’m not certifiable.”
“Wish I could, but you are.” Carin drained the last of her coffee. “Are you going to see him while you’re here?”
“I’d like to, if I get time. Do you think I should?”
Her sister shot her an incredulous glance. “Are you kidding?”
“You’re right. I have to see him.” Rosa took a deep breath. What was she going to say to Dalton? Should she apologize? Should she tell him how much she missed him? Should she offer to leave Lantana and move back to Sydney, or would that just spark another, ‘I don’t want things to get complicated’ reaction?
“I’d better get to work.” Carin stood up. “After my shift at the cafe, I’m going to see the kids.”
“The kids at the hospital? I’ll have to come and see one of the shows you put on for them sometime.” She motioned to Carin’s large carry bag, sitting by the door. “Is that your costume?”
Carin picked up the bag and opened it to show Rosa what was inside. It was filled with sparkly cloth, cardboard crowns and wands, and assorted large spectacles, clown noses, and other costume pieces.
“This is just a few new pieces for the kids to wear. They like dressing up and being part of the play. Most of my costumes I leave at the hospital so I don’t have to cart them around.” She grabbed her handbag and threw it over her shoulder. “I’ll see you about eight, okay? Call me if you see Otto, okay? And leave your phone on while you talk to him, so I can listen in and send the police and an ambulance to rescue you if I need to.”
Rosa had closed the door behind her sister and settled back on the couch when she noticed her sister’s phone still sitting on the kitchen bench. She grabbed it, but hesitated a moment because she was still wearing just sleep shorts and a T-shirt with monkeys and bananas printed all over them. But Carin shouldn’t spend the day without her phone. What if something happened?
Making her mind up, Rosa peeked out the door. The street was narrow enough that cars were only allowed to park on one side, which meant that side was tightly packed with parked cars. Trees planted at regular intervals cast dappled sunlight, which confused Rosa’s eyes, making Carin difficult to spot at first. Then Rosa saw her, walking briskly, about to round the corner onto the main road. Dammit, she’d have to run a
fter her.
She slipped the house key into her pocket, pulled on a pair of trainers, then slipped outside. The early morning sun was already bright enough for her to wish she’d grabbed her sunglasses, but compared to Fiji, the wind was chilly. She ran with the phone gripped in one hand, trying to move as smoothly as possible because she wasn’t wearing a bra. Not that her breasts were big enough to bounce much, but with just a thin cotton T-shirt on, every boob-spring was probably eye-catching. Good thing it was early so there weren’t too many people on the street. Only a young guy who did a double-take as she ran past him, and an older woman who didn’t crack a smile at Rosa’s monkey-themed running outfit.
Carin was close now, and she was about to call her sister’s name when a man stepped onto the sidewalk a few yards in front of her, appearing as if by magic out of a passage that ran between two houses. He hadn’t seen Rosa because he was busy looking the other way, towards Carin’s back. He had a bag slung over his shoulder, and had the hood of his jacket pulled up over his head. Suddenly he turned toward Rosa, and she nearly ran into him. He jerked back with surprise, and their eyes met.
It was Otto.
A bolt of ice-cold fear pulsed through her, followed a moment later by a hot wave of rage. Otto’s eyes went wide and he lurched backward. By then she was already moving, her foot coming up between his legs. The kick landed satisfyingly hard. And she remembered to jump back as he jerked forward. Dalton would have been proud.
A loud noise came out of her throat, half a scream, half a triumphant yell. She hadn’t meant to make it, but when she heard the sound and realized it was coming from her, she doubled down and screamed louder, turning it into a battle-cry.
Otto’s groans were all but drowned out by her scream, and he was still on his feet, although bent forward and cupping his balls with both hands. The bag he was carrying crashed to the ground, and something spilled out. Rosa’s blood was pumping too fast to do more than give it a glance.