by H. Y. Hanna
Sara looked at the giant dog sitting, panting placidly, in the centre of a crowd of admirers, and suddenly saw Craig, smiling and signing autographs, surrounded by his fans.
“We’re so pleased to see you again so that we could have a chance to thank you properly,” said Rob, interrupting her thoughts. “We’re really grateful, you know.”
“Oh, it was nothing,” said Sara, waving her hand. “I’m just pleased I found Happy when I did. I have a Beagle too, you know.”
Rob’s eyes lit up. “Do you now? What’s his name?”
“It’s a girl. Coco,” said Sara. “She looks a lot like your Happy, actually.”
At the mention of his name, Happy barked again. Then he ran to the top of the steps leading down to the beach, looked back towards Sara and whined.
Rob laughed. “I think he wants to join you on the beach. Much more fun than sitting here under the table, hoping for scraps.”
“I can take him for a walk with me, if you like?” Sara offered. “I’ll drop him off here on my way back. Then you can have your lunch in peace,” she said with a grin. “I know what it can be like to have a Beagle hassling you for food.”
“Well… if you’re sure…?”
Sara nodded. “I’d offer to take Sleepy too, but I’m not sure I could handle him!”
Rob glanced back at the Great Dane and chuckled. “Don’t worry, I think Sleepy’s quite happy here getting fussed over instead of sloggin’ across the beach. But Happy would love it.”
Happy barked again excitedly, then scampered down the narrow steps ahead of Sara as they went down to the beach. Waving to Rob, Sara started walking towards the water with the Beagle at her heels. She took off her flip-flops when she reached the wet sand and they walked along the edge of the sea, wading through the foaming water. Happy trotted eagerly ahead, nose down, sniffing busily, occasionally stopping to investigate something on the sand. Sara followed, keeping her eyes on the dog and trying not to think too much.
It was so beautiful, with the sea a vibrant shade of blue-green today and the white crests of the waves fanning out in a flowing pattern. A strong breeze blew her hair away from her face and she closed her eyes, savouring the salty smell of the ocean. At least I had the chance to experience this magical place, thought Sara, opening her eyes again. She would never forget her stay at Summer Beach.
Happy suddenly barked and took off down the beach.
“Happy? Happy! Where are you going?”
Sara started running after him. Happy was her responsibility now and she couldn’t let him get lost again! Her bare feet kicked against the wet sand as she increased her pace, trying to catch the Beagle. For a dog who had been lying at death’s door just a week ago, he sure was fast! Sara was soon panting with effort as she tried to keep up.
“HAPPY!” she yelled. “Come back!”
She was relieved to see that the dog seemed to be slowing down. Well, no wonder. They had almost reached the opposite end of the beach, where the towering cliffs met the ocean. Sara slowed down too, gasping as she clutched the stitch in her side. Then her heart jerked as she saw Happy run up to a tall figure coming in the opposite direction.
Craig.
He reached down and patted the Beagle, who squirmed happily around his knees. Then he straightened and walked slowly over to her. Sara could feel her heart thumping in her chest, her breath coming in short gasps. It was just the running, she told herself. She was out of shape. But she knew it was more than that. It was this man and the way his deep blue eyes looked into hers.
“G’day,” he said.
“Hi,” said Sara faintly. She was suddenly reminded of the first time they had met on the beach. Craig was in jeans today, not shorts, and his T-shirt was a plain, white one, but he looked just as gorgeous. The sun glinted on his hair and highlighted the tanned strength of his arms.
She wished she hadn’t run into him again, while at the same time she was so happy that she had one last chance to see him before she left. She had never felt so confused in her life.
“I saw you on the beach,” said Craig at last, breaking the silence. “From my window.” He indicated the top of the cliffs.
Sara swallowed. “I… I was just taking a last walk before I left for the airport.”
He gave her a crooked smile. “I was coming to find you anyway. It’s a good thing I caught you here—saved me a trip to the airport.”
Sara took a step back. “Craig—”
“No, wait, Sara—hear me out.” He raised a hand, palm out. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I know what you said on Thursday and I know you’re right in some respects. It’s not going to be easy and there are going to be a lot of challenges… but I’m not willing to give up on us.”
“Craig—” Sara tried again but he ignored her and kept on talking.
“You said that you can’t imagine being in my life because of my TV career, right?” said Craig. “Okay, how about this. Would you consider being with me if I wasn’t a celebrity?”
Sara stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean if I quit the show. Pulled out. Cancelled all my sponsorship deals.”
“You would do that for me?” Sara whispered.
Craig stepped closer, so that their bodies were almost touching. He lowered his head until his lips were just a few inches away from hers. “I would do anything for you.”
Sara stared up into his eyes. She couldn’t believe what he was saying. He would do all that for her? She felt a burst of happiness flood through her. With a laugh, she flung her arms around his neck and felt him pull her close.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Then his lips were on hers and he was kissing her with a hungry passion that made her breathless and dizzy with longing. Sara lost all track of time. There was nothing but Craig and the feel of his arms around her, the roar of the ocean, the rasp of the sand between her toes, and the cry of the seagulls in the sky above them…
But slowly, slowly, reality returned to Sara’s mind. No, she thought. This is wrong.
“Wait…” She pulled away from Craig. “No, no… this is wrong.”
Craig stiffened. “What do you mean?”
Sara thought again of Sleepy the Great Dane surrounded by the crowd of admirers and heard Rob’s voice in her head: “…nothin’ in life is perfect, right? Sleepy is one of the best things that’s happened to us. Just can’t imagine life without him now. So I guess it’s a small price to pay to have him in our lives.”
She took a deep breath. “I mean, you can’t give up your TV career for me. It’s wrong. It’s an important part of your life—an important part of who you are. It’s not right for me to expect that of you.”
“Sara, I—”
“Wait, hear me out.” She put a finger up to his lips, smiling. “I have a better idea. What do you say to me moving to Summer Beach?”
Something flared in Craig’s eyes. His hands gripped her tighter. “Here? But I thought you said you couldn’t deal with living in the celebrity spotlight—”
“I know I said that,” said Sara. “But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking too, Craig. Even though I didn’t want to think about it, even though I kept telling myself that I was being stupid… I kept going over what you said to me on Thursday. You’re right. What we’ve got… it’s special and worth fighting for. And if that includes me moving across the Pacific… well…” She looked at the beautiful beach around them and laughed. “I can think of worse places to live.”
She reached up and gently brushed a lock of hair away from his forehead. “And I want to support you. The TV career is part of your life… so I’ll learn to make it part of mine too.” She stood up on tiptoe and touched her lips to his. “I love you.”
“Sara…” Craig groaned and crushed her to him.
This time the kiss was achingly tender and deliciously sweet. Sara wanted Craig to keep kissing her and never stop, but a sharp bark at their ankles finally made them break apart, laughing.
“Oh God, I just remembered,” said Sara, breaking away from Craig. “Happy’s owners are probably going to be wondering where I am! They’re having lunch at the Laughing Kookaburra and I told them I was only going for a quick walk. I’d better take him back.”
“We can start walking back,” said Craig, lacing his fingers through hers and heading towards the café in the distance. “I’m surprised you came so far up the beach, actually. When I saw you from my window, I thought I’d have to really run across the beach in time to reach you. I couldn’t believe it when I saw you near the base of the cliffs.”
“It was Happy,” Sara explained. “He just took off and I had to chase him. He practically led me right to you.”
She saw Craig smile to himself, then reach down and pat the Beagle. “Good job, mate.”
“What are you praising him for?” asked Sara curiously.
“Oh, nothing,” said Craig with a grin. “Just for being a man’s best friend.”
THE END
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Want to read Ellie’s story?
Here’s the beginning of
Playing to Win (Summer Beach Vets #2):
CHAPTER 1
There was going to be hell to pay if she was late again. Ellie made a face at her reflection in the mirror as she hastily scraped her long, brown hair back into a bun and secured it at the nape of her neck. No time for proper make-up this morning, she decided. Just a dab of concealer and a couple of jabs with the eyeliner pencil, then she was out of the bathroom and running into the kitchen, doing up the buttons of her shirt on the way.
No time for breakfast either, thought Ellie ruefully, as she gulped down a few mouthfuls of instant coffee. If she left now, she might still make the meeting on time. And this was a key one. The biggest presentation to their foreign investors since she had started working at Summer Beach Resort five months ago. She had to be at the top of her game.
Especially after what had happened at the board meeting last week. Ellie groaned silently as she thought of it again. The second-hand Toyota she had bought when she first arrived in Australia had been creaking along, but she had mostly ignored the groans and splutters, until last Tuesday morning when it had gone into engine failure. After fifteen minutes of mechanical CPR—mostly in the form of colourful threats while she frantically turned the ignition and pumped the gas pedal—Ellie had finally managed to resuscitate the car. But she had been nearly an hour late by the time she finally got to the meeting and it had been absolutely humiliating.
Ellie had given up a lot to get this job—including leaving her home in L.A. and moving across the Pacific Ocean to a new life in this little Australian seaside town. It was the biggest step up in her career so far and maintaining her professional image was everything. Besides, Ellie thought grimly, she never failed. All through high school and college, she had always been the best, always made sure that she played to win.
She glanced around for her laptop. It was still on the little table in the kitchen, where she had been working on her presentation last night. Putting her coffee cup down next to it, Ellie bent down to yank the power cord out of the wall socket. As she straightened, however, her elbow knocked the cup and hot coffee sloshed over the laptop keyboard.
“No!” Ellie gasped. She snatched up a tea towel and mopped the keyboard frantically, then picked up the whole laptop and turned it upside down, shaking it as drops of coffee rained down from the keyboard.
It was just for a second… she was sure the coffee hadn’t seeped in… it would be fine… it had to be fine… Ellie pleaded silently as she returned the laptop to the table and wiped it again with the tea towel. Then, holding her breath, she pressed the power button with her finger.
Nothing happened.
She tried again, pressing harder.
The screen stayed stubbornly dark and silent.
“No…” Ellie cried, jabbing her finger harder on the button. “No! No! No!”
It was no use. The laptop was dead. Ellie looked around wildly. What was she going to do? How was she going to give her presentation?
The USB flash drive. Ellie felt a wave of relief wash over her. She had saved a back-up copy of the presentation on a flash drive last night. Thank God. She could just borrow a laptop when she got to the resort and plug the flash drive in—run her presentation from there.
Quickly, she ran to her handbag and checked—the flash drive was still there in the little side pocket. Smiling, she slung the bag over her shoulder, slipped on her heels, then left the house. She got into her car parked on the side of the street. The engine groaned and whined as she turned the ignition, then spluttered into silence.
“No, no… don’t do this to me…” Ellie muttered as she tried again.
More groaning and whining. A growl that sounded hopeful for a minute. Then a choking sound that was followed by a very definite last gasp.
Ellie flung open the door and ran around to the front of the car, pulling the hood up and staring at the tangle of grey metal inside despairingly. She had no idea what any of those coils and tubes did, but people were always fiddling under the hood when a car had problems, right? Maybe if she just poked around, she would miraculously find a way to jump-start the engine?
She was so busy peering under the hood that she didn’t notice the boy until he was standing right next to her.
“Whatcha doing, miss?”
Ellie jumped and smacked her head on the raised hood.
“Ow!” She rubbed the top of her head and turned to look at the boy. He was about nine, skinny, with fair hair and a smattering of freckles across his nose. And he was accompanied by a large chocolate Labrador who jumped up eagerly on Ellie, wagging his tail.
“Argh!” Ellie cried as the dog put his paws on her pristine white shirt.
“Down, Milo!” said the boy. “Down! Bad boy!” He grabbed the dog’s collar and dragged him off Ellie, but not before Milo’s paws had left brown streaks on her shirt.
This can’t be happening to me, thought Ellie wildly as she looked down at herself. This was her last clean shirt that was ready to wear. She had slacked on the laundry this week and there was a pile of ironing waiting for her in the spare bedroom.
“I’m so sorry, miss! I’ve been trying to teach him not to jump up, but Milo doesn’t always listen.”
Ellie was about to answer him sharply, but something in the boy’s face stopped her. Some lost expression in his eyes, a certain vulnerability in that young chin. She swallowed her irritation and said, as calmly as she could, “Uh… it’s okay. I’ll put my jacket on over it.” She turned back to the open hood and smacked her hand against it in frustration. “Not that it’ll matter if I can’t get to the meeting on time.”
“Why don’t you call a spanner monkey, miss?”
“A what?” Ellie gaped at him. In the five months since she had arrived in Summer Beach, she had picked up quite a bit of Australian slang, but she still seemed to be flummoxed by some new bizarre expression every week.
“It’s a man who fixes cars,” explained the boy. “My dad says they come and help you if your car won’t run.”
He was right. She should have called the roadside assistance helpline right away. But knowing the usual wait times until a mechanic arrived, Ellie had been hoping that she could somehow revive the car herself. She sighed and looked at the confusing tangle of metal under the hood again. It seemed like she had no choice this time.
Going back to the driver’s seat, she reached inside the car for her handbag. As she
pulled it out, the strap caught on the steering wheel and the entire bag flipped over, tipping its contents out onto the side of the road.
“Shit!” Ellie squatted down next to the pile on the ground. She glanced at the boy guiltily. “Sorry, forget I said that.”
“My mum says bad words like that sometimes,” said the boy, grinning. “Then she says more bad words when she realises that I was listening.”
Ellie found herself grinning back, in spite of the situation. She said, “I’m Ellie. What’s your name?”
“Will,” said the boy. “And this is my dog, Milo.” He pointed at the chocolate Labrador who was busily sniffing amongst Ellie’s things.
“Yeah, we met,” said Ellie dryly, trying to shove the dog’s big brown head away as she started scooping up the spilled items and returning them to her handbag. “Hey, stop that!”
Milo had picked up her leather organiser and was chewing it enthusiastically. Ellie wrestled with him and finally managed to pull it out of his jaws. She stuffed it into her bag and turned back to find that the Labrador was now trying to eat her lipstick.
“Bad boy, Milo!” shouted Will. “Drop it!”
Ellie screwed up her face as she stuck her fingers into the Labrador’s slobbery mouth and extracted her lipstick. She looked down at the silver tube, now covered in slimy dog drool. Great.
“Sorry,” said Will sheepishly. “Milo eats everything. The vet says Labradors are like that.”
“Well… just hang on to him, okay?” said Ellie in exasperation as she finished picking up all the spilled items.
She extracted her cell phone and quickly called the roadside assistance helpline, her heart sinking as she heard their estimated response time. Then she called the resort and told her assistant about the situation, hoping that there was some way the meeting could be delayed. Fiona promised to do everything she could.
