Wild Action

by Dawn Stewardson

  “Terrific. And we’re the ones who get to tell Jay.”

  She merely shrugged. In comparison to the past couple of hours, delivering a little bad news to Jay would be a piece of cake.

  BY THE TIME THE police were finished with Carly and Lisa, the rain that had been threatening was coming down in buckets.

  They raced to the van while Nick ran for Royce’s car, and Carly got the engine started as fast as she could.

  She was just about to say she’d never been so glad to get out of a place in her entire life when Lisa beat her to it.

  “Until Nick got there, I was scared stiff,” she added.

  Carly nodded. Nick was definitely a good man to have around—for a whole lot of reasons.

  “You’re going to be okay with him now, aren’t you?”

  “I…yes.”

  “Good. Because I was thinking, since he doesn’t have a job to go back to…”

  That made Carly smile. Lisa and she had always thought alike. And the possibility that Nick might decide to stay on made her feel warm inside.

  The feeling lasted through all the chitchat on the way home, but a chill set in when she pulled up to the house. Through the front window, she could see her parents were sitting in the living room—with Jay.

  Nick pulled up beside the van, then the three of them dashed through the rain and onto the porch.

  “Wait,” she whispered when Nick reached for the door handle. “Jay’s in there.”

  “Yeah? He must be waiting for us. Or, more likely, for Sarina and Garth.”

  “Well, regardless of what he wants, I have to ask you something before we go in. Did you tell anybody that we got mixed up in that takedown?”

  “No, I just said you’d had some trouble on the highway.”

  “Good, because on the way home, Lisa and I decided it would be better not to tell Mom and Dad about it. Even after the fact, they’d get upset.”

  Nick gave her a slow, wicked smile. “You’re not asking me to lie…are you?”

  She felt her face growing warm but did her best to look cool. “No, I’m not asking you to lie. I’m merely asking you not to mention something.”

  “Really,” he said, drawing the word out. “Look where it got me the last time I didn’t mention something.”

  “Very funny. But, just for this once, it’ll be okay.”

  “Well…if you say so.” He opened the door and gestured for Lisa and Carly to go in.

  “You first,” she murmured nervously.

  “Oh, good, you’re back,” Jay said as the Marx brothers greeted them at the door.

  “You boys go and lie down,” Carly ordered after they’d gotten their pats.

  “Is everything all right?” her mother asked. “You fixed whatever was wrong with the van, Nick?”

  “He’s a regular mechanic,” Lisa said.

  Jay peered around the three of them toward the door. “You dropped Sarina and Garth off at their trailer?”

  “Well…” Carly said.

  “Good. Now, the reason I’ve been waiting for you is to ask if you can get those German shepherds for tonight’s shoot.”

  “I don’t think this rain’s going to let up,” Nick said.

  “I know, but I’ve decided to use it. We’ll leave the wolf scenes for another night. Having them wandering around in the rain wouldn’t produce the feeling I want. But I got to thinking that the search party slogging through a rainy night would be really effective. We can intercut shots of the searchers with ones of the lost boys—soaking wet and chilled to the bone.”

  “Ahh.” Carly said, realizing that telling Jay wasn’t going to be a piece of cake after all. “The boys’ parents are part of the search party, aren’t they?”

  “Of course. You know that. You’ve read the script.”

  Lisa shot Carly a glance that said she’d just clued in. “Sarina and Garth are playing the boys” parents, right?”

  “Uh-huh.” Carly unhappily looked at Jay again. “Jay, Sarina—”

  “Oh, I know what you’re going to say. Sarina won’t like the idea of getting soaked. But she’s never happy unless she’s got something to complain about, so can you get those shepherds on short notice or not?”

  “Probably. Their owner doesn’t live far from here. But there’s a different problem.”

  “What?”

  “Sarina and Garth stayed in Toronto.” Nick said.

  “What!” Jay screamed.

  The Marx brothers’ heads shot up off the floor. From the solarium, Crackers called, “Trouble! Trouble!”

  “You!” Jay shouted, pointing his finger at Carly. “How could you let that happen?”

  “Dammit, Jay,” Nick snapped. “Don’t yell at her about it. Garth and Sarina don’t take their orders from Carly. So when they said they were going to stay over and come back tomorrow, what was she supposed to do?”

  “She was supposed to bring them back, that’s what!”

  “She tried to make them come,” Lisa put in. “But they were determined to stay.”

  “They know I sometimes change the shooting schedule at the last minute. But they take off anyway, and now we’re going to waste more time. Dammit, there are so many jerks in this business I don’t know what I’m doing in it.”

  Carly glanced at Nick and knew they were sharing the same thought. Who could possibly fit in with a bunch of jerks better than Jay Wall?

  SINCE JAY COULDN’T SHOOT his search party scenes without Sarina and Garth, everyone had the night off. And when Carly’s father decided he wanted to take his family and Nick into Port Perry for dinner, they ended up at Carly’s favorite restaurant.

  The Russell House was a charming turn-of-the-century brick structure, with several separate little areas to dine in, and the owner led them to the closedin porch—where Carly’s mother not very subtly orchestrated the seating so that Carly and Nick were side by side.

  “So,” her mother said over predinner drinks. “Nick was telling us a little about himself while you were gone today.”

  Carly shot him a swift glance, wondering exactly what he’d told them.

  “It’ll be exciting, won’t it? To start up his own business, I mean.”

  “Yes. Very.” Carly glanced at him again, finding it more than a little unsettling that her parents knew more about his plans for the future than she did.

  “Oh?” Lisa said. “Carly didn’t tell me you were starting a business, Nick. What sort?” she added, giving Carly a sidelong look.

  “Well, I’d like to start my own private investigation agency.”

  “I guess a lot of ex-police detectives end up in that line of work,” her father said.

  Nick nodded. “It’s what we know.”

  Carly uneasily sipped her wine. It might be what he knew, but she couldn’t imagine there’d be much call for a private investigation agency around Port Perry. So where did that leave them?

  She could hardly ask. In fact, she could hardly ask anything at the moment. Her parents would think it was awfully strange if they realized Nick had never told her about this. But if they’d just magically vanish for a couple of minutes…

  Telling herself that wasn’t going to happen, she caught Lisa’s eye and silently asked for more help.

  They hadn’t played this game in years, but Lisa hadn’t lost her touch. “Where are you thinking about starting up?” she asked.

  Nick looked at Carly, his expression so uncomfortable she felt a chill around her heart

  “In Toronto?” her mother asked.

  Nick’s gaze lingered on Carly for another second, then he looked at her mother. “No, it would have to be in Edmonton. That’s were all my contacts are.”

  The chill turned to ice. Even though they’d never talked about a future together, the way Carly felt about him…The way she’d been certain he felt about her…

  “Yes, I guess contacts are essential in that sort of game,” her father said.

  “Especially when you’re just getting going,�
�� Nick agreed.

  There was a taste like burnt toast in Carly’s mouth, and she found herself wishing she could magically vanish.

  “Carly?” her mother said. “Is something wrong? You look awfully pale.”

  “I just feel a little…I think maybe I should get a breath of fresh air. I’ll only be a minute.” She pushed back her chair and fled to the front door.

  It was still raining, but there was a sheltering overhang above the front steps and a wooden railing that she rested her hands on for support. She couldn’t recall ever feeling weak-kneed before, but she’d been on such an emotional roller coaster for the past while that it had to be physically catching up with her.

  For a moment, she simply stood in the pale glow from the light over the entrance, staring out through the rain. Then, behind her, the door opened and Nick said, “Let’s talk, okay?”

  Turning, she gazed at him, thinking that if hearts could cry, that’s what hers was doing right now. He was the only man she’d ever really loved, and she couldn’t have him.

  He reached out and took her hands in his. “Carly, nothing I said last night was a lie. Especially not that I love you.”

  She swallowed hard and bit her lower lip. The man she loved, loved her. That should make her incredibly happy. Instead, she was filled with a feeling so bittersweet it was making her ache.

  If he was going back to Edmonton, it didn’t matter whether he loved her or not. Because even if he asked her to go with him, she couldn’t Trying to set up what she had here, halfway across the country, would take a million dollars and a million years. And she had neither.

  “Last night,” he went on, “I intended to finally make myself tell you the truth. That’s why I made a nice dinner—because I wanted all the help I could get. But then Jay interrupted, and…

  “At any rate, when we got back to the house I was still determined to explain things to you. Then Ben phoned and beat me to the punch.

  “But the point is, I knew I had to tell you, because I wanted us to talk about the future, and you had to know the truth before we could do that”

  “Word is,” she murmured, “your future is a private investigation agency in Edmonton.”

  “I…look, I’m really sorry that came as a surprise. I’d assumed I’d have a chance to fill you in, and I didn’t But your mother started asking questions while you were gone, so I told her my plans. I mean, the plans I’ve had for a long time. But now…with you…”

  “Yes?” she whispered, almost afraid to hope that falling in love with her had changed those plans.

  “Carly, I love you. I don’t want to live the rest of my life without you.”

  “Oh, Nick.” She moved into the warm circle of his arms, resting her cheek against his chest But simply standing there, listening to the reassuring beat of his heart and breathing in his scent brought tears to her eyes.

  He was saying all the right things, yet there were no certainties. Two for Trouble had the potential either to make or break Wild Action. And if it was the latter, if the agency didn’t get much work in the near future, she’d be scrambling simply to keep it going, while Nick would have to search for a job. And if all his contacts were in Edmonton…

  “I can’t pack up and move Wild Action out west,” she finally said.

  “I know. I haven’t forgotten. We’re mortgaged to the hilt. And if things don’t work out with this movie…”

  “Don’t even say it”

  “You’re right We shouldn’t be talking at all.”

  With that, he tilted her face toward his and kissed her, a long, loving kiss that promised her the world.

  But she’d happily settle for only a tiny corner of it as long as she could share it with him.

  CARLY STOOD ON THE front porch with her mother, watching her father, Lisa and Nick load the car and absently thinking back over the past week.

  Once it had started raining, it hadn’t stopped for days—which had given Jay the opportunity to shoot all the wet-and-miserable-type scenes he’d wanted. And he’d shot so many takes of the search party slogging through the rain that she just knew he’d done it to get back at the film’s stars for their little escape to Toronto.

  Surprisingly, he hadn’t thrown one of his screaming fits when they’d shown up the next day. But given Sarina and Garth’s grumbling, the water torture had been far more effective punishment. At any rate, the sun had finally reappeared, everyone had breathed a collective sigh of relief and they’d gotten down to shooting the remaining scenes.

  Best of all, from Carly’s point of view, there hadn’t been a single incident since the chicken under the rock. And with the shooting here virtually finished, she’d almost stopped worrying.

  There were only a couple of scenes left. Jay wanted some shots of the Marx brothers traveling through the woods at twilight. And he wanted to reshoot the one of them tearing apart prey. He hadn’t liked the rushes of the nighttime version, so they’d reshoot the scene this afternoon. Then, in the morning, the cast and crew would be moving on to Camp Run-a-Muck.

  “Carly, you look lost in thought,” her mother said.

  She smiled. “Yes, I guess I was. Just thinking that everyone will be gone tomorrow.”

  “Well, we’ll be gone far sooner.” Her mother glanced toward the car, then looked back at her. “We didn’t overstay our welcome, did we?”

  “No, of course not.” They had stayed longer, than they’d originally intended, though, so fascinated by the magic of making movies that they hadn’t wanted to leave.

  “That’s everything,” her father said, closing the trunk.

  Lisa headed over to Carly and her mother, while her father shook hands with Nick. “Good luck with the last day of shooting,” he said.

  “And good luck with Nick,” Lisa whispered to Carly. “Although, from the looks of things, you don’t need it. The man’s positively mad about you.”

  Carly couldn’t help smiling, because she knew Lisa was right. Of course, she was positively mad about him, too, which made things ideal.

  Her mother gave Nick a hug and invited him—for about the hundredth time—to come and visit them in Kingston.

  Then Lisa hugged him, saying, “Thanks again for helping us out on the highway.”

  Finally, the three of them climbed into the car and headed down the drive.

  “Alone at last,” Nick said.

  “Except for that camp full of cast and crew” she teased, but she knew exactly how he felt For the past little while, they might as well have been living in a goldfish bowl.

  Things had been so hectic that they’d had no time alone together to talk. And making love had been out of the question.

  Her parents had adored Nick, but she’d known they wouldn’t have adored the idea of her sleeping with him right under their noses. She might be an independent woman of thirty, but to them she was still their baby. So she’d been sleeping alone in her bed, with only dreams of Nick for company. And she was aching to get back to reality—which meant it was a good thing that Jay didn’t need the Marx brothers for a couple of hours.

  As her father’s car rounded the curve in the drive and disappeared, Nick wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. “I know Lisa was on to us, but what about your parents? You think they figured there was something going on between us?”

  She smiled. “You think they’re blind?”

  “I really liked them,” he said. “But I could hardly wait for them to leave.”

  “Oh? Why?”

  “When we get inside, I’ll show you.”

  “Promise?”

  “Hey, I’m never going to lie to you again, remember?”

  “Never, ever?”

  “Never, ever.”

  Carly smiled once more, then took a final glance down the drive—just to make sure her family hadn’t forgotten something and turned back.

  They hadn’t, but a black stretch limo was pulling into view.

  “Looks like someone has company,” she said.<
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  “Won’t be anyone coming to see me,” Nick told her.

  “Me, neither.”

  “Good,” he said, drawing her even closer.

  But as they watched, the limo drove past the camp and on up to the house.

  It stopped, its dark windows offering no clue as to who was inside.

  The driver got out and opened the limo’s back door.

  A moment later, a man of about sixty emerged. He was tall, tanned and fit. His suit said “money” with quiet understatement. His expression said “displeasure,” with no understatement at all.

  Not uttering a word, he walked up onto the porch, eyeing them cooly.

  It made Carly anxious. He looked like a man accustomed to getting whatever he wanted, and she had no idea what that might be.

  Turning his gaze to Nick, he said, “Augustus Montgomery?”

  “No, I’m Nick Montgomery. Gus was my uncle, but I’m afraid he died a while back.”

  “Then who owns Wild Action now?”

  “Carly Dumont and me.” He nodded in her direction, then looked at the stranger once more. “And you are…?”

  “Howard Langly. I’m a business associate of Brian Goodfellow’s.”

  For a second, Carly drew a blank. Then she realized that was Goodie. “By business associate, do you mean you’re one of his partners?”

  Langly gave her another cool look. “I’m surprised you know he has partners. He rarely mentions that Get Real isn’t entirely his.”

  She simply shrugged. Telling Langly it was Barb Hunt who’d done the mentioning might get Barb in trouble.

  “What can we do for you?” Nick asked.

  “I understand Jay’s been having problems with your bear—among other things.”

  “There’s been the odd problem,” Nick admitted slowly. “But if you heard the bear was to blame for any of them, it’s not true.”

  “And the problems seem to have stopped,” Carly put in.

  “Well, things aren’t always the way they seem, are they? And I’d like to be clear on exactly why so many things have gone wrong. Without knowing that, I can’t be convinced there’ll be smooth sailing for the rest of the shoot.”

  “I think this is something you should be discussing with Goodie,” Nick said.