“Light check! We want late afternoon sunshine,
dammit, not blazing midday!”
Paul drummed his fingers in frustration as Alex and
Allie’s doubles assumed their places again. Things had been going
so well, he was starting to get spoiled by every flawlessly performed
scene. It made each occasional retake just that more exasperating.
And the sultry tropical heat was smothering, even inside the shaded
forest where cast and crew were hiding from the blazing sun. It
was a seven-day wonder that no one had collapsed from heat exhaustion
yet!
“Okay, let’s try it again, from the top. Take
four!”
Across the island, Set Two was being dismantled and
moved to the island’s rocky northern tip, where several critical scenes
would be shot over the next week. Set One was already in its new
location, the sheer eastern cliffs, where Tommy’s evil character, Bryce
Spender, was even now stalking MacAllister and Conners across the vast
steep, rocky slopes.
In a few days, Set Three would be moved up the
mountainside to film sequences inside the island’s mysterious upper
cave. But for now, the cameras were still focused on the long
expanse of beach that stretched south from the raft’s landing site.
Kayla might have secretly wished to cross the
mountain and watch Alex and Alicia outwit Tommy’s treacherous villain,
but she was sensible enough to know her own limitations. The
weatherbeaten ski lift ended a hundred feet beneath the rounded summit.
She was getting better at maneuvering around on her sturdy wooden
crutches. But there was no way she could clamber that extra
distance yet.
Besides, watching their extras fill in long-distance
and fast action shots was fascinating in its own way.
Nearby, Brigit was using Paul’s copy of the
Obsession script like a fan to cool her flushed cheeks. Kayla
edged close enough to benefit from the faint breeze. “Once they’re
done with this scene, what’s next?” she murmured in a soft undertone.
“Not sure,” Brigit whispered back. “They keep
doing everything out of sequence. I can’t make sense of it.”
Allie had already warned them to expect chaos in the
filming chronology. It did make sense, Kayla conceded, to tape all
the scenes in one area before changing locations, so the crews and
equipment didn’t have to move back and forth unnecessarily. But
she wasn’t sure she’d ever get used to watching scenes from chapters
six, nineteen, and twenty-four being shot in rapid succession. How
did the actors ever keep it all straight?
Paul overheard their quiet whispers, and helpfully
scribbled a number on his faded slate board. Brigit obediently
turned to the proper page, and studied it for a moment. “Oh good,”
she grinned up at Kayla. “Soon as they’re done filmin’ at Set One,
we get to watch Mac pull off his shirt an’ climb up a coconut tree!”
Despite herself, Kayla’s pulse quickened at the
thought. She’d especially enjoyed writing that particular scene.
After all, Troy MacAllister had a truly spectacular body. How
could any red-blooded woman not want to see him half-naked, even
for just a few thrilling moments?
But it was one thing to envision herself watching
with bated breath in a darkened theater, and quite another to really
see him stripping down for the camera!
Brigit had no problem discerning her thoughts, and
softly chuckled. “Down, girl!” she teased. “He’ll be here
soon enough.”
Soon enough was even faster than she’d
expected. Somewhere behind them, the ski lift was already rumbling
into motion, carrying down the first load of dusty, thirsty cameramen.
Kayla tried not to notice how Alex came down last, and seemed reluctant
to join them until Allie caught his arm and virtually dragged him over.
Was it just her imagination, or had he been
avoiding her ever since the morning Jimbo had given her these
magnificent crutches? She could still feel, even now, the wiry
strength of his arms and the amazingly gentle way he’d held her, after
she’d exhausted herself in the clearing.
Maybe that brief intimacy had repulsed him even more.
She couldn’t help sighing at the thought. It wasn’t like she’d
meant to collapse, and she certainly hadn’t demanded that he catch
her! That had been his decision--and if he couldn’t handle
touching a cripple, he’d just have to get over it.
She wasn’t a cripple anymore, though. Every
day, she was getting stronger, more sure of her balance. Every
morning, she was venturing further along the beach using her crutches
and Jimbo’s brilliant sand-shoes. Every evening, she was wading
deeper into the foaming surf. Someday soon, she’d be able to
splash around and swim with the others.
Someday soon, she’d be able to lay her crutches aside
and walk normally!
She was so immersed in her own thoughts that she’d
lost track of the filming. Paul’s relieved “Cut!” caught
her by surprise. Blinking, she turned to watch Renee deftly
retouch Alex’s and Tommy’s makeup. The prop man laid out a thick
coil of coarse rope while both actors spent a few moments studying
scripts, preparing for their bitter face-off.
She remembered the long hours she’d agonized over
this scene, trying to decide if Bryce Spencer should actually get the
drop on Mac. It was a key pivotal point--their performance here,
in particular, had to be ultra-convincing, or the movie would fail.
Even Allie held her breath as the cameras began
rolling, and Bryce’s brutish henchman lashed Mac’s muscular arms
together with rope. The two agents, one-time friends until Bryce
had unexpectedly turned traitor during season four, exchanged vicious
barbs and threats with practiced ease. Watching them, Kayla felt
utterly convinced that they were deadly enemies.
“Cut!” Paul broke the palpable tension,
and she managed to draw a steady breath again. Of course it was
only acting--inspired acting, to be sure--but they weren’t really
about to beat each other senseless!
So why was her heart pounding, as if she’d run five
miles through cold molasses?
Tommy sauntered into the shade for a bottle of cool
water, and winked at her. “Had you fooled, didn’t we?” he teased.
“Don’t break out the first-aid kit just yet, the best is still to come.”
Kayla wryly shook her head. “I thought we were
going to need the paramedics and a SWAT team! Good thing Brigit’s
here to patch you up again!”
“Ah, yes, the love o’ me life!” Tommy gently
tugged one of Brigit’s wild curls as he passed, then bent down to plant
a playful kiss on her freckled cheek. “Marry me, Brigit darlin,’
an’ we’ll run away an’ have six lovely kids between us!”
His exaggerated brogue made Brigit laugh.
“Ye’re a wicked one, Tommy Anders!” she declared, matching him with
ease. “’Tis no wonder ye’ve broken every heart in the county!
But not mine, me fine lad! I’m onta ye, so I am!”
“Ah, crushed again!” Melodramatically he
clenched a fist over his heart, then sighed and turned toward Kayla with
another saucy wink. “An’ what of you, my fine lovely lady?
Will ye take a turn with this lonely lad tonight, when the stars fill
the sky with magic?”
“No.” Alex’s curt interjection startled them
both. “She walks enough with you, Anders. Let someone else
have a turn.”
Tommy whirled around, blinking in surprise.
He’d never heard Alex sound so fierce unless the cameras were rolling.
Surely he wasn’t really jealous! What in the world was happening
here?
Well, if it was a fight he wanted, Tommy knew just
how to play his part. Scowling, he dropped his light-hearted
banter and jammed both fists on his lean hips. “I think that’s up
to Kayla, don’t you, Mac? Or is that your clumsy way of
asking to join her some fine night? Maybe saying ‘please’ is too
polite for a rude, insensitive bastard like you!”
The entire crew froze in place, staring in disbelief
as the two men glared at each other. Panic surged through Kayla
until she found the wit to shake her head in disgust. “Save your
childish sniping for the camera,” she ordered, glowering at each of them
in turn. “I’ll walk out with whomever I choose.”
“Oh, bravo!” Allie’s soft clapping broke the
strained tableau. “Well done, Kayla! I’ve been waiting years
to put those two so neatly in their place!”
Alex aimed a venomous scowl at his co-star that
should have melted solid steel, and stalked away. Tommy blinked a
few times, then slowly shook his head. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he
murmured so softly that only Brigit could hear him. “He’s fallen
in love with her!”
Paul was already rushing after Alex, trying to
salvage the afternoon’s filming. Allie wryly shook her head, then
tossed an arm around Kayla’s trembling shoulders. “Forget about
him,” she advised. “He’s slime. Let’s go drown our sorrows
in a bottle of beer, and bash him behind his back until he’s broken,
bleeding, and on fire!”
• • • • • •
“I simply cannot believe he said anything so
immature!” Kayla muttered, glaring out the window. The beer was
warm, the chips were stale, and she felt like burying her face in her
arms and bawling. Or maybe pounding on something until her
knuckles bled, she wasn’t quite sure which. “It’s no big secret
that I gross him out, but Tommy didn’t deserve that kind of treatment!”
Allie and Brigit exchanged meaningful glances.
Then Allie slowly shook her head. “I don’t think ‘grossed out’ is
quite accurate, sweetie. Nervous, maybe. The question is,
why?”
“Because he still thinks I’m a cripple!”
Kayla’s voice was bitter as she took another deep gulp, and slammed her
bottle on the rickety table. “Because he can’t see past this
damned wheelchair!”
Brigit considered that as she sipped her own beer.
Then she shook her head. “Maybe that was true once, darlin.’
But I’d say he’s been seein’ more an’ more these last few weeks.
Truth is, I think it’s yourself that’s scarin’ him!”
“Me!” Kayla blinked in surprise.
“How could I be doing that? He’ll hardly look at me, even
when he does deign to grace us with his presence! And when he does... Damn it, I know there’s more to him than Mac’s clever
wisecracks! Why can’t he ever just be himself?”
“It was Mac that you came here to see.”
Brigit’s shrewd observation only rankled more because
it was true. She’d been excited about the filming itself, but it
was Troy MacAllister’s character who had stirred her heart and
enthusiasm.
Now that she was actually here, though, and had spied
those brief tantalizing glimpses of the real man behind the heartthrob
idol...
“It’s not enough,” Kayla muttered, looking away.
“Not anymore. Dammit, Brigit, I need...”
Sighing, she tipped her bottle back, and drained the
last bitter dregs. She’d always been able to tell Brigit anything,
and Allie had become like a sister to her. Why couldn’t she
explain why she felt so restless, so dissatisfied? “I don’t even
know anymore. Maybe we should just go home.”
“No.” Allie firmly shook her head, and laid a
comforting hand over Kayla’s. “You belong here, no matter how
childishly he’s behaving. He’ll snap out of it, even if Jerry has
to wallop him with a camera strut.”
Then she sighed with exasperation. “Why can’t
you see what’s happening right in front of your nose? Haven’t you
ever watched children on a playground?”
A poignant vision of her precious little Sean
suddenly rose before Kayla’s eyes. If he’d survived that awful
crash, he’d have been turning ten next week. She would have been
tossing him baseballs, patching up his scraped knees, soothing his
ruffled feelings after fights with the local bully.
Kayla blinked back hot tears, and fought to swallow
the lump in her throat. “I took Sean to the playground at least
three times every week,” she whispered. “I’ve seen enough
playgrounds to last a lifetime.”
Allie had forgotten about her son, and the guilt
showed plainly in her apologetic expression. She was rarely at a
loss for words--but she knew when she’d stumbled into a minefield.
Helplessly she cast an appealing glance at Brigit.
“It’s like this, darlin’,” the freckled redhead
interjected, quickly glossing over that uncomfortable moment. “Mac
knows what happened to you, an’ how hearin’ his voice pulled you out of
that coma. That was bound to scare him a bit, just on general
principles. Then here you are, beautiful an’ eager for life, with
so much love to give, an’ so much joy to share! You’re not like
anyone else he’s ever known, so he has no idea how to respond.”
“Plus he’s painfully shy away from the camera,” Allie
confided with a heavy sigh. “There’s no reason for it--but that’s
how he is. And he’s convinced you wouldn’t like the ‘real’ him.
So he pulls on Mac’s persona. With Mac as a shield, he can cope
with any uncomfortable situation.”
“Aye, an’ a good job he does of it, too,” Brigit
sagely nodded. “But then you add Tommy into the mix.”
“Tommy?” Kayla’s head snapped from one to the
other as she struggled to follow their whimsical logic. “What’s
Tommy got to do with anything?”
Brigit rolled her eyes in exasperation. God
knew she loved the girl, but she could be so blind at the most amazing
times! “Tommy,” she elaborated, “is young, an’ cute, an’ the
world’s biggest flirt. An’ he likes you, Kayla! Your
wheelchair doesn’t bother him at all! So here’s Mac sittin’ on the
sidelines, already insecure, watchin’ another man flirtin’ with the
woman who’s been keepin’ him up nights. And she’s laughin’ at his
jokes, an’ havin’ the time of her life.
“Don’t you get it, mauvereen? He’s
jealous!”
Kayla stared at them both in stunned silence, then
burst into laughter. “Brigit, he doesn’t even like me!
Why should he care who spends time with me? He was just still
projecting from the argument with Tommy’s character, and they got
carried away.”
“Then tell me why...”
Before Brigit could continue, Charlie suddenly burst
through their flimsy door. “Miz Brigit! Miz Brigit! Dale
slipped comin’ off the ski lift, and I think his leg’s broke! You
gotta come quick! He’s hurt real bad!”
Male-bashing was instantly forgotten. Eyes
wide, Brigit lunged to her feet and raced outside. Allie was only
a few steps behind.
“Charlie!” Kayla’s urgent shout stopped the boy
before he could dash back toward the beach. “Where’s Dr. Bob?
And where does he keep the medical supplies?”
Charlie’s face was white as he stumbled to a
halt, and clutched the railing for balance. “He’s across the
island, at Set Two! Jimbo hollered for him on the radio, but it’s
gonna take ’em time to get back here.”
She might not be able to reach the lift herself, but
she could still help. Kayla snatched her crutches off the floor,
and lurched out of her wheelchair. The door slammed behind her as
she hop-skipped with reckless speed down the sloping ramp. “You
did the right thing, calling for Brigit.”
“I did?”
The ashen teenager looked so terrified that she
wanted to smile. “Of course you did. She brought me back to
life, she can certainly deal with a simple broken leg. Now let’s
go see what supplies Dr. Bob keeps on hand for emergencies.”
Her studied nonchalance helped the boy relax.
“They’re over in the food shed,” he volunteered, pointing across the
wide encampment. “I ain’t sure what-all he’s got, though.”
“Then let’s go take a look.” Kayla started down
the ramp with more determination than finesse. “Jimbo! Give
me a ride over to the food shed!”
The big black man was anxiously heating water in a
big blackened kettle. At her imperious command, a wide grin split
his face. “Yes, ma’am! Anythin’ you say!”
She knew they made a bizarre sight, with her clinging
to Jimbo’s wide back like a burr while Charlie trotted behind them
holding her crutches. But she didn’t care. This was a crisis
situation. Pride and dignity were a small price to pay for helping
Dale.
Fortunately the medical supplies were neatly stored
in one corner of the large shed. She tucked the crutches back
under her arms, then grabbed the bulky plastic bag Bob had meticulously
labeled ‘plaster cast kit.’
“Catch, Charlie! And these, too!” She
tossed a garden-variety pack of antibiotics and painkillers at him.
“Brigit will need to immobilize Dale’s leg before she tries moving him.
These will help.”
“They already got a way to bring him back here,”
Jimbo told her, when she began searching for a portable stretcher.
“Jamieson took Miz Brigit to the ski lift in his ATV.”
“Good. Charlie, can you run these supplies out
to her?” Kayla urged. “By the time Dr. Bob gets there, Dale should
be sedated, and ready to transport.”
“Yes, ma’am!” The boy’s stark terror was fading
beneath Kayla’s easy confidence. “I’m the fastest runner, everyone
says so.”
“This is your chance to prove it,” Jimbo rumbled.
“Now git!”
Sand flew as Charlie dashed away, clutching his
precious burdens.
“Now what, Miz Kayla?” the big man wanted to know.
“I put some water to boil, just in case they need it. Anythin’
else I can do?”
Kayla only had the vaguest idea of how to treat a
broken bone herself; she’d been cruising on adrenaline and common sense.
“Get back on the radio, let Brigit and Jamieson know that medical
supplies are on the way. Otherwise, I don’t think so. We
just have to wait for them to come back.”
Jimbo carried her back across the sandy clearing, and
deposited her at one of the scarred picnic tables. “I bet with
everythin’ else goin’ on, you ain’t had no lunch,” he chided. “Eat
somethin’ now, while I burn up the airwaves.” And he slid a plate
heaping with franks and beans in front of her. “It ain’t
fancy--but it’ll tide you over ’til dinner.”
Kayla’s mind whirled in troubled circles while she
picked listlessly at her food. Things had been going so well for
so long--and now two things had gone wrong in the same day. She
knew that the second one wasn’t her fault, and couldn’t really see how
she was responsible for the first one. But maybe her luck was
changing for the worse. Maybe she really should go home
again.
Paul and Jerry were sure to blame her for Alex and
Tommy’s fight. Was it her fault? Had she done
something to provoke Alex into such a blind fury?
Jerry’s bitter voice rasped through the radio’s
bursts of static. Dale’s break was a bad one. He’d be
spending the next several days stuck in a hospital bed.
She groaned. What else could go wrong?
Don’t ask, you might get an answer, she warned
herself. Jerry will probably insist that you fly back with him.
Jimbo grimly headed for the communications shed to
summon a MedEvac chopper from the Fiji mainland. Sighing, she left
her plate virtually untouched, and wrestled the crutches back under her
arms.
“I’d better go pack,” she murmured to the empty
clearing, and awkwardly began hobbling toward her tiny hut.
It had been a fun three months. She’d never
forget all the marvelous things she’d seen, learned, and experienced
here. But now, like it or not, it was time to return to reality.
