Love, Laughter & Happily Ever After: A sweet romantic comedy collection

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Love, Laughter & Happily Ever After: A sweet romantic comedy collection Page 64

by Ellie Hall


  “You are an artist at your core,” she said in a whisper. She reached up her arm and cupped his face in her hand. Her green eyes peered deep inside him, to a place he didn’t let anyone see. “Thank you for saving me.”

  He felt himself slipping, falling into her tiny nest. He needed to distance himself. Now.

  “Can you hold on tight?” he asked, standing. “I’ll need you to get on my back and hold tight when I scale the rock.”

  “Hold onto you while you climb up that?” she asked, scooting back from him as she stared up the cliffside. “Not on your life.”

  8

  I would kiss you, had I the courage.

  ~Edouard Manet

  Their ascension up the rock was slow and labored. Every muscle in Kora’s body quaked with fear as she clutched Noah’s neck in a death grip while her legs wrapped tight around his waist with equal pressure.

  “This will only work if I can breathe,” he said in an annoyed voice. His right arm lifted simultaneously with his left leg. He secured his footing and handhold, pushed himself up, then switched to the other side. She only knew this because she’d been watching him intently. Not to mention, she plastered herself so tight against his back that she could feel his back muscles as they worked in motion against her chest and stomach.

  “I’m sorry.” Even her speech came out shaky. “I’m just really scared right now.”

  “Alright. Choke away,” he said in a deflated tone.

  She had to do something to reduce her fear, or she might die from a heart attack after being saved from falling off a cliff and nearly drowning.

  “And I may pee my pants,” she said in a more lighthearted voice.

  “It’s okay. I’m already wet.”

  She’d hoped that comment would bring a little humor and lighten his load. If at first you don’t succeed… “And I may swear.”

  “Really? Sweet,” he said, becoming more upbeat. “I’m a guy. Impress me. I could use a few good curse words about now.”

  “And I may tell everyone that I saved you tonight.” That got a little chuckle out of him.

  “And you think anyone will believe you?”

  She nestled her face into the back of his neck. “I don’t even believe it. That you saved me,” she said, sucking in a deep breath and putting to memory what a true hero smelled like. She may never be this close to him again. Sea water and honey. “Honey?” she asked. “Why do you smell like honey?”

  “You don’t hear that one every day,” he said with a grunt as they neared the top.

  Don’t look down, she told herself, trying not to think about what it had felt like to fall the first time.

  “Ano, my drummer’s mom makes homemade sunscreen for us. It has beeswax in it from her hive.”

  “I have to know,” Kora said, sneaking a quick lick of the back of his neck. He even tasted like honey. Oh, this man was dangerous.

  He paused his climb. “Did you seriously just lick my neck?” he asked with alarm. “Are you trying to distract me and kill us both?” he reprimanded her.

  “Sorry,” she said, wondering if she’d distracted him in a good way or an annoying way. No matter how he received her attention, her fear had completely dissipated. Somehow, the longer she held tight to Noah for survival, the more at ease she felt, even while climbing up a treacherous cliffside.

  “We’re at the top,” he said. “This is going to be the hard part. I need you to climb over me. Grab onto me as hard as you need to. Step on my head, dig your nails into me if you have to, but do not let go until you are safely on top. Even if I start to slip, I need you to jump up onto that ledge. Understood?” He spoke to her as if they were on a mission and saving her life to finish the mission was the only option.

  “Got it,” she said, cheerfully, climbing up his back and onto the edge of the cliff. Once she had her footing, she reached her arm down to help him up.

  “Are you kidding me?” he said between labored breaths as he pulled himself up over the ledge. “I should’ve had you scale up this rock in front of me. Why did I carry you on my back?” he seemed to ask himself more than her.

  “You’re a hero,” she said, hugging him. “Plain and simple.” She pressed her cheek into his chest, refusing to let him go.

  He wheezed out something. Then said, “Come on,” stepping out of her embrace and pulling her arm. “Please never come out here again. Ever. And don’t call me a hero.”

  He stayed a step in front of her as they walked in silence to retrieve the art supplies. He had a right to be upset with her. Because of her folly in stepping out to the edge, he was forced to risk his own life to save hers, but it wasn’t fair that he wouldn’t accept being thanked for his good deed. She didn’t deserve the silent treatment from him.

  “Why won’t you let me thank you?” she asked him as he stepped in front of her painting.

  He didn’t answer her, just stared straight ahead at her painting.

  His lack of attention fueled her frustration. “Look, I know I messed up and we’re at a silent meditation retreat, but I deserve an answer.”

  He pointed at the painting, ignoring her comment. “You painted this? I never thought anyone could do this view justice, capture its true wild and wonderful nature, but you have. You’ve improved it. As Shakespeare would say, you’ve ‘painted the lily.’”

  “Thanks, but isn’t the term, ‘guild the lily?’”

  “No,” he said with a shake of his head as he crouched down to pack up the paints. “Didn’t you take English in high school?”

  “You think I remember anything from high school English class?”

  “Shakespeare said, ‘to guild refined gold, to paint the lily, to throw perfume on the violet…is wasteful and ridiculous excess.’” His eyes widened, staring at her stomach. “Kora, are you bleeding?”

  A wave of anxiety rolled over her as her hands felt their way around her shirt to a sticky, red substance. She lifted the hem of her shirt and patted her belly and sides. “Am I cut?” she asked, not able to locate where the blood had come from.

  “Cut?” he said with an expression of recognition, touching his side.

  “You’re cut!” she yelled, lowering her face to examine his laceration.

  “It’s not bleeding anymore,” he said, waving her away.

  She narrowed her eyes. “Unless you sit down right now and let me see that, I’m knocking on the director’s door and telling her to get out of bed and take you to the hospital.

  He sat.

  She kneeled next to him and flashed the light from the small flashlight he’d given her on the wound. “It doesn’t look too bad, but I think you might need a few stitches.”

  “Alcohol and super glue,” he said in a monotone voice.

  “Seriously?” she said, flickering…vfd the light of the flashlight in his eyes to tease him.

  “Give me that,” he said with a laugh, trying to grab it out of her hand. She pulled back, accidentally pulling him on top of her.

  The moment turned from comedic to thrilling in a heartbeat. She looked into his deep brown eyes and knew he felt the same passion. She lifted her face up and kissed him. His lips were delightfully warm. He didn’t kiss her back at first. Gradually, his walls crumbled, and he repaid her longing with his own. Her hand found his neck. She slowly ran her fingers down until they stopped at his medallion. She rubbed the coin between her fingers. There was a familiarity to it. She’d felt something exactly like it…

  “You wear a coin?” she said, pulling back and staring at his medallion. “I’ve held this exact coin in my hands before. My father let me hold it every day. It’s Spanish gold.” A flood of memories from her childhood rushed her mind, causing her head to ache. Her father had placed the same coin in her hand and told her the legend. A Spaniard had dropped it when a warrior fought him for stealing the princess’ crown. The Spaniard won, jumped in his boat, and sailed away behind the whales. What the Spaniard didn’t know is that one of his crew had fallen in love with th
e princess and sworn to her when he was forced to leave that he would sabotage the boat and return to her someday. He never returned.

  A look of fear crossed Noah’s face.

  “Where did you get that? Please,” she begged. “I need to know.”

  He shrugged and looked away as he stood. “My mom bought it off the internet for me when I was a kid.”

  “From where?” she asked in desperation.

  “I wish I could tell you,” Noah said in a soft voice, touching her arm with sincerity. “I’m not feeling great. I think I’ll head to the clinic to have this looked at.” He pointed to his side. “I might need Max to take over my sessions tomorrow. If I don’t see you, I’ll make sure that you get some more canvases dropped off at your room, but I need you to promise me that you won’t go out to the seascape again.”

  She made a cross over her heart. “I hereby banish myself from the cliffs.”

  “I’ve heard that one before. Goodnight, Koraka. You sure you can make it back to your room okay with your painting and easel?”

  “I got this,” she said with a flick of her wrist, waving him away. “Go get yourself sutured up.”

  Something deep in her gut told her that Noah knew exactly where that coin had come from. She would have to employ different tactics.

  9

  Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.

  ~Edgar Degas

  Kora set up her easel in the garden after dinner the next night, then the next, then the next. She hardly knew what she was painting from day to day as the hours ran into days, and the days seemed to stretch out into months.

  Noah had not returned since the night he’d saved her, and no one knew where he’d gone. Or maybe they did, and they simply weren’t rule benders like her and refused to speak out of principle. When pressed, the director simply stated that Noah had taken a few days off.

  Kora started to wonder if Noah had ever existed at all. Then, in a quiet moment of introspection, which was always, she tasted his sweet skin and felt his lips pressed to hers. The throbbing question of where and from whom he’d obtained his gold coin remained a mystery she had to solve.

  The scent of honeysuckle intensified as the clouds darkened overhead. Kora was only halfway through her painting, but it would have to wait. By the look of things, the rain would be pouring down before she’d made it out of the garden. She searched out a covered spot in the garden as the first huge drops saturated the top of her head. A stocky Polynesian man in his seventies grabbed the canvas and easel and waved for her to follow him toward the protection of the pomegranate tree. She obeyed, running to catch up to him.

  Once under the tree, the man placed his coat over her painting and leaned his side against the trunk. “I’m the gardener.”

  Light rains converted to pounding showers.

  “Thanks for helping me,” she shouted above the downpour.

  He nodded. “This place is sacred to me. My family has cared for these grounds for thousands of years.”

  “Thousands?” she asked, trying to remember her history of when this island had first been settled.

  He nodded again. “This Heiau, sacred earth terrace, was used as a place to treat the sick, make offerings of the first fruits of the season, start and stop the rain, and pray for peace.”

  She smiled at him. “So, you’re to blame for the rain?”

  He chuckled. “With time, only priests and high chiefs were allowed in here.” His voice quieted. “They would sometimes hide sacred relics and other things in the stone alters and walls.”

  Kora glanced around to see if she could locate a stone alter. She hadn’t seen one in the gardens, but she also hadn’t looked for one until now. Her mind had been engaged in painting the sea since she’d arrived. “Do you think anything is hidden in here?”

  “No,” he said in a low, serious voice. “And I would know. This place doesn’t look like it did when my ancestors cared for it. It was only a field back then, with those stone posts, and the low rock wall; those are the originals. My family has cared for these sacred grounds with dedication, not allowing anyone to steal a single rock from its walls.”

  It was hard for Kora to imagine the current fragrant garden, bursting with color and floral aromas, as a once barren field. “I’m sure glad that Charlotte has you.”

  His countenance grew more formal. “Is Ms. Terrence your mother?”

  “No,” she said, watching as the gardener released an audible sigh of relief. “But she’s taken me under her wing as if I were her daughter.”

  “Ms. Terrence and her husband bought this land from my family over thirty years ago. My brothers and sisters have moved away. Bought big houses around the island, but this is where my home will always be. Tending this sacred land gives me purpose.”

  “You’ve done a wonderful job. I feel a connection to Charlotte when I’m in this garden. Thank you for that.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said with a hint of pride in his voice while he rocked back and forth on his heels.

  The rains ceased suddenly.

  “Do you think it’s safe to venture out?” she asked, sticking her hand out from the cover of the pomegranate canopy to check for rogue sprinkles.

  The gardener dipped his eyes to say yes. During the week, she’d grown accustomed to that sign. With the end of the rain, came the end of their discussion. She set her easel up and went to work.

  10

  I do not seek, I find.

  ~Pablo Picasso

  Alone in the garden, Kora stared out at the sunset on the last day of the silent meditation retreat.

  Other than having the privilege of painting, she guessed she’d had a similar week to anyone else who’d come to the meditation retreat to deeply immerse themselves…in themselves. Considering the first insane day of the retreat, she’d come out of ten-day meditation with an appreciation for introspection, dialogue, physical touch, and, most notably, meat.

  Charlotte had hoped that Kora would find love, which she thought she had by the end of that first day with Noah. One thing she did discover about herself, with the help of Noah and Johnny, was that, in her mid-twenties, she was still too immature in love to think that it could happen that quickly, with that much fervor and intensity.

  The fire dance drums played in the distance. Noah was there, somewhere, preparing to dance. She wouldn’t be in the audience. She would stay right here until the last sliver of the sun dipped below the horizon, then she would pack and leave for home, where her roommate would welcome her home and never believe the stories she would tell her.

  “Kora,” a familiar voice echoed off the vegetation. She turned to find Johnny with outstretched arms.

  Her eyes teared as she ran and jumped into his arms. “I forgot how good it feels to hug a friend,” she said, snuggling into his arms.

  Johnny reached down and lightly kissed her lips. “I’m sorry I’m late.”

  “So, it’s true?” Noah said, standing at the entrance to the garden in his leaf costume for the fire show. He turned to walk away.

  “What’s true?” she asked, upset that he chose that moment to come speak to her.

  He flipped back around with anger in his eyes. “That your boyfriend has come to pick you up. You’d said that he was coming, and here he is. You came here to find love and you found it.”

  Johnny took a step back. “I feel like I shouldn’t be here right now.”

  “Stay,” Kora commanded, then addressed Noah. “What do you want?”

  “I was going to tell you that I’d made a mistake. That I’d lied to you…about everything,” he said, waving his hands in the air. “But it doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “You lied about the Spanish coin?”

  “Yes. I found it in the ocean, where you fell in. And then another.”

  She clutched her hands together. “You have two?” she asked, grabbing hold of his arm.

  He held out a closed fist, then slowly opened his hand to a
second gold coin. “Take it.” Once Kora had removed it from his hand, he released a long exhale. “I’m done searching for Spanish treasure. I hope you and your friend will find what you’re looking for. It looks like you already have. Goodbye Kora.”

  Her heart ached to see Noah in pain. She stepped toward him. “Noah, what do you want?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked.

  Johnny stepped between them. “Yes, it is. It’s obvious what you both want. And there’s a good chance if we work together, everyone will get what they want. Including Charlotte. Finally,” he said, holding up the manilla envelope from the French restaurant.

  “Tommy gave it to you?” Kora asked.

  “After he told me what had transpired between you two at the restaurant, yes.” Johnny scratched the side of his face. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what to expect when I got here, but this certainly wasn’t it,” he said, motioning between Kora and Noah. “The connection between you two is…well, it just is.” He took a paper out of the envelope. “I’m just going to dive in because my head is still fuzzy from the long flights from Australia to Sun Valley to here, and it looks like you have somewhere to be,” he said, glancing at Noah’s costume. “To break it down, Charlotte knew that Noah here found another coin and I have a treasure map. Basically, new research has surfaced proving that whales migrated from Central America, specifically where your family is from, Kora, to the Hawaiian Islands, again, specifically here. Now, what’s interesting is that the whales now prefer different alcoves, such as the area around Electric Beach. With power plant dumping warm water into the ocean, the feeding grounds have changed, but I have a whale migration map that predates the power plant.”

  “Wait!” Kora shouted, silencing him. “Charlotte wanted me to come here to Hawaii to treasure hunt? Not to find love? She said to find it before he does.” She looked at Noah and it all started to make sense. “And you knew that I knew Charlotte and that I might be searching for the gold? Your gold?” she asked, throwing the coin at his chest. “That’s why you pretended to like me, then stayed away from me?”

 

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