Second Time Around (21 page)

“Yeah, I’ve got you covered.” Leonora checked the contents of her purse with her free hand. “Do you want to go higher?”

Not liking the thought of having to explain to Alec if she lost the bet, Halley shook her head. Leonora patted her on the shoulder with the fistful of notes.

“Okay then. I’ll look after the girls. Off you go.”

Halley sucked in a breath then strode off as confidently as she could in Riker’s direction.

“Let’s make this interesting,” she heard Leonora say to Miranda behind her. “How much have you got?”

As Halley closed in on Riker she realised that several people around him had cameras and one of them even had a microphone. He had obviously just wrapped up an interview, something that Leonora must have known about given her haste to get to this point in the park.

She’d kill Leonora later.

Feeling a little less certain, Halley slowed her pace, unsure of what to do. If Riker didn’t remember her she’d be embarrassed beyond belief.

And poorer.

Just get it over and done with
, she told herself.
If this doesn’t go as planned
y
ou’ll be able to laugh about it in five years… okay maybe twenty…

Halley threw a practised smile at Miranda over her shoulder which was wasted because Miranda was busy emptying the contents of her wallet into Leonora’s hands.

No pressure.

Psyching herself up, Halley sucked in a deep breath and pressed determinedly forward. Riker was only a couple of metres away. He had stood up to answer a question thrown to him by someone in the crowd. Halley intended to walk up to him but someone recording the conversation on a smartphone cut in front of her and blocked her view of Riker.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Leonora clutching a wad of notes and Miranda standing beside her with her hands on her hips, waiting. The smug look on Miranda’s face gave Halley the impetus she needed to press past the man with the smartphone.

And there he was. Riker Sell in the flesh, his trademark shaggy, golden blonde hair from his early twenties now replaced with a sleeker style that made Halley want to thread her fingers through it and muss it up. He had tiny laugh lines at the corners of his blue eyes which Halley thought stopped him from looking too perfect which was a good thing. He now looked a bit more lived in.

One thing hadn’t changed though. He still sported the can’t-be-bothered-with-a-razor look. Riker had told her that as a teenager he had only needed to shave once a week for school and afterwards didn’t see any reason to change his habits.

She stood there while Riker answered another question, waiting for her chance. Another glance over her shoulder showed that Miranda was striding in her direction, leaving Leonora trying to push Cassie’s chair and carry Lily’s capsule at the same time. Leonora was doing a good job of making it look as awkward as it was, veering off into the grass on the side of the footpath more than once.

Halley turned her gaze back to Riker. Even after so many years she could tell that he’d had enough. When his smile was genuine he had a small mole high on his cheek that would move when he stopped smiling to speak. At the moment his grin looked amiable enough but the small mole high on his cheek never moved when he answered questions. It was a small thing but it gave her the courage to interrupt.

Halley sucked her stomach in tighter, leaned forward and brushed the side of her finger against his cheek. Riker’s expression morphed into disbelief when he turned to chastise her for touching him.

“I can make time for us,” she told him huskily, freezing whatever response he had been about to make.

Before her eyes Riker became the mercenary.

“You’d better start now Princess; I need all the time in the world.”

They were lines from the movie and just like he did then he lunged forward and grabbed her. Riker dipped her over one arm and re-enacted their onscreen kiss, sending the people around them into a frenzy.

When Riker tested his tongue at the seam of her lips Halley squeezed his arm in warning. He pulled his mouth free of hers and whispered “You can’t blame a guy for trying kid” before reluctantly setting her upright. They found the lenses of numerous cameras and smartphones on them.

Then the questions began.

Above the crowd Leonora heard Halley ask for the time and Riker answer. Leonora looked on gleefully as Miranda stomped back towards her. It was obvious that Miranda didn’t like being bested. Unfortunately for her Leonora wasn’t above rubbing it in.

“I guess Alec traded up when he married a movie star,” she said innocently as she fanned herself with the money as Miranda stalked past.

Hours later Halley sat on the train with Lily’s capsule on the seat beside her and Cassie on her lap. She was feeling a little overwhelmed by the day she’d had.

Riker had joined them for lunch and it had been amusing to see the usually efficient Leonora so star struck that she’d put sugar in her coffee three times before tasting it.

While catching up with what the other had been doing, Riker had been astounded to learn that Halley was now a mother to five children. When he’d told her that she certainly didn’t look it she’d had to confess that only one of them was biologically hers. Riker had waved the excuse off; reminding her that he was the fourth of seven children and knew the hard work came after they were born.

His comment had been such an ego boost that if Halley’s day hadn’t already been made by putting Miranda in her place it had been now.

Then Riker had slumped in his seat.

“I suppose that if you’re busy with your family you won’t be interested in doing the sequel to
Escape from Razxif
,” he said forlornly.

“But I was written out of the story.” Halley frowned as she used the straw to stir her strawberry thickshake.

Riker shook his head.

“No. When the script was changed for the third part of the trilogy the director told the script writers to set the plot up for a sequel to be done in the future. Remember how the Time-Sifting Princess asked to be taken to a particular temple after she had been poisoned?” Halley nodded.

“When you vanished in that last scene it was assumed you had died but you had actually transported yourself to the future where there was an antidote. When I was approached to see whether I would be interested in resurrecting my role as the mercenary the script writers were finagling the reason your character didn’t immediately return after recovering.” Riker gave her a look of admiration. “You impressed a lot of people who were prepared to wait until you were free from the clutches of you-know-who.”

“Who? Lord Voldemort?” Leonora asked eagerly, lapping up the entire conversation.

“She might well have been,” Riker said darkly before Halley could say anything.

Halley placed a hand on Leonora’s arm. “I’ll explain later.” Then she turned to face Riker.

“No one has come looking for me to ask if I’m interested in the movie.” As much as she was flattered by the thought of being asked to be in the sequel Halley knew not to get too excited. Despite what Riker thought the producers could have another actress in mind for her role.

“I know they’ve had trouble finding you. They even looked up you-know-who a month ago and she told them you had died; not that anyone believed it,” Riker added hastily.

Halley could well imagine Chantelle lying, especially after learning that the Monet she had taken from the house wasn’t real. It would just be like her to do something so spiteful even though she had taken a hefty commission on the house when it had sold.

Riker glanced at Halley’s ring finger. “Perhaps it should have occurred to us that you’d got married and left the country.”

“There could also be another reason no one has come knocking.” Halley folded her napkin and set it on her plate. “Perhaps they want another actress for my role.” She shrugged. “It has been thirteen years after all.”

Riker shook his head. During the making of the trilogy he had become close to Halley despite their seven year age difference. She had been the little sister he’d never had. Almost. His feelings for her during the filming of the last movie had been anything but platonic. Since he didn’t feel that it was right to come onto someone so much younger than him he’d poured all his emotions into their scenes. He still found it ironic that he’d earned his first Oscar without having to act.

“I told them I’d only be interested if you were the leading lady.” Riker gave her a cheeky grin. “I wanted to spend time with my Princess now that she was all grown up.”

“Now that you’ve seen me do you still want me?” Halley felt a fool for asking but she wanted to know.

Riker gave her the once over.

“Oh yeah.”

Across the table Leonora snatched the linen napkin from Cassie’s hands and started fanning herself with it.

That evening Halley was pureeing a portion of their dinner for Cassie to have when Alec arrived home. He had been in a meeting when they had returned from lunch so she hadn’t had the opportunity to tell him about her extraordinary afternoon.

With a smile on her face she looked up as Alec marched across the room towards her. Instead of giving her a quick kiss while she worked as was his habit he dumped his briefcase and folded coat on the breakfast bar and stayed put with the breakfast bar a barrier between them. He looked upset.

“How was your day?” she asked, thinking that she must be imagining things.

“I don’t think it was as interesting as yours.”

His terse comment made Halley frown. After last night she thought they would be closer but he seemed to be freezing her out. Setting the puree on the counter she came out from behind the kitchen island.

“Alec? What’s wrong?”

Instead of answering Alec grabbed the TV remote from the coffee table and changed the channel to the news.

“Hey!” Casey protested.

“Daddy!” Em complained.

Corey was about to add his voice to the chorus but saw the look on Alec’s face and changed his mind.

“I’m going to do my homework upstairs,” he said and got off the couch.

“You told me you’d done it,” Halley called in exasperation after his retreating form.

From the door to the hallway Corey stopped and spun around.

“I lied.”

“There’s a lot of that going around,” Alec muttered as he changed the channel again.

Halley knew the barbed comment was intended for her but she couldn’t imagine why.

“Casey, would you please feed Cassie? I need to talk with Uncle Alec.”

Em got off the floor where she had been sprawled out in front of the TV.

“Can I do it?” she asked.

“Sure. Thanks for offering. Her food’s on the bench.” Halley forced a smile for Em, irritated that Casey hadn’t budged from his position on the floor beside her. “In that case Casey, you can go and entertain Lily. Be careful, she’s just been fed.”

“Oh man,” Casey complained but Halley was relieved to see that he got up and headed in the direction of the dining area where Lily was smiling from her bouncinette.

“Now what’s going on?” she demanded softly so that the children wouldn’t overhear.

“I had a visit from Miranda this afternoon.” As he spoke Alec kept one eye on the TV.

“I hope you told her she couldn’t have her money back.”

Just as he was about to ask Halley what she was talking about the item he had been waiting for came on. “Watch this,” he said tersely, changing the subject while making a mental note to ask about the money later… if he was still talking to her.

Halley’s eyes flicked to the TV. Oblivious to the voice over, she recognised herself standing beside Riker in the park amongst the crowd of reporters and bystanders. Seconds later she touched his cheek and after their lines he had her in his arms, passionately kissing her as far as the world could tell.

“Rumours abound that Riker Sell has signed on to make
Return to Razxif
, the sequel to the
Escape from Razxif
trilogy,” the commentator said. “If this reunion with Halley Baker who played the Time-Sifting Princess is anything to go by the sequel’s going to be hot and will give viewers another chance to enjoy the amazing chemistry emanating from this celebrity couple.”

When Alec switched the TV off Halley was a little shocked to see that Riker had yet to bring her upright. The stage kiss hadn’t seemed to take that long at the time.

“Anything you want to tell me about?” Alec said acidly. “Or should I just wait and see it on the news?”

Halley knew that it looked bad.

“It’s not what you think,” she murmured, well aware of Casey and Em’s little ears flapping to hear her response.

“Then why were you referred to by your maiden name?” Alec demanded, his harsh voice lashing Halley. “Now that you’ve got another option you’ve decided to take it?”

“I’ve never thought of you as an option,” Halley retorted hotly, forgetting to keep her voice down. She flung her arm out to gesture to the screen. “And I never talked to any reporter. Riker’s interview was already over when that happened and he refused to answer any questions after that. Someone must have recognised the lines from the movie, looked me up in the film’s credits and assumed I went by my maiden name.”

“You gave them a good show. It’s no wonder they looked you up,” Alec said in disgust.

“Alec, it wasn’t real,” Halley gritted out.

“That’s not what Miranda said.”

“What?” For a moment Halley was taken aback. Then she rallied. “Come on Alec. Who are you going to believe? The wife who cheated on you or the wife you have now?”

“From where I’m standing I don’t see the difference.”

Halley felt his words like a slap across the face.

“You can’t mean that.” She almost whispered the words in disbelief.

“You were filmed swapping enough spit to fill a paddling pool.” Alec’s hands fisted at his sides. “That is something I don’t want to hear about my wife doing, let alone have the whole country seeing it too.”

He unclenched his hands.

“Don’t worry about any dinner for me. For some reason I don’t feel hungry.”

With that he strode out the doorway leading to the hall.

“Alec!” Halley shouted after him. “It wasn’t real. I kept my mouth closed the entire time. If you don’t believe what happened ask Leonora. She was there!”

Her eyes remained fixed on the empty doorway but Alec didn’t return.

“How dare he walk out before I’ve had my say,” Halley muttered under her breath, hands on her hips. She angrily turned around and saw the children watching her. Casey was looking at her wide-eyed and Em looked upset.

“Are you going to get a divorce?” Casey asked warily.

“No, no, no.” Halley shook her head adamantly. “Your Uncle Alec was just helping me rehearse some lines, you know…” She reached for something remotely plausible “For a screen test.”

“What’s a screen test?” Em asked, willing to be convinced that everything was fine.

Halley perched on the back of the couch so she could face the children now seated at the dining table.

“It’s where you perform a scene for people who decide whether they want you in their movie or not.”

“Are you going to be in a movie?” Em asked with growing excitement.

“Um, maybe.” It was something she had wanted to discuss with Alec but after his performance she didn’t think he would be willing to talk about it anytime soon. Halley smiled brightly at the children, keen to change the subject. “Thank you both for helping out. Now how about you both go and wash your hands for dinner?”

“Can you take Lily? She’s getting heavy.”

Halley stood up to take Lily from Casey and belatedly noticed that he was wearing his yellow school raincoat.

“Why have you got that on?” She was sure he hadn’t been wearing it earlier.

“It’s my invention,” Casey told her earnestly. He turned around to reveal a wet, white trail dripping from his shoulder. “It protects me from Lily’s chuck.”

“Great idea,” Halley told him, bemused. Casey beamed. “Now how about you follow me into the kitchen so I can sponge it clean?” She caught Em’s eye. “Would you please call Corey down to dinner?”

“COREY! DINNER!” Em bellowed at the top of her lungs without moving from where she sat.

“Em, I meant for you to go and fetch him, not yell loud enough for the neighbours on the corner to hear. I could’ve done that,” Halley gently chided as she picked up a sponge and started wiping at Casey’s raincoat.

They heard thumps on the stairs then Corey appeared in the doorway.

“Did someone say dinner?” he asked eagerly.

“He heard me,” Em pointed out with a shrug.

Upstairs, Alec stalked into his bedroom to discover that all his clothing boxes had been replaced with the furniture from Halley’s room.

“I don’t believe it,” he muttered, yanking open a drawer from the tallboy. Inside his clothes had been neatly folded. He slammed the drawer shut sending the photo of Halley and Krystal on top of the tallboy rocking then pulled out another. This one revealed Halley’s tops folded into little rectangles and sorted by colour.

“She should’ve asked first.” Even as he said it Alec knew that he was being unreasonable. He’d wanted her in his room and in his bed since he’d known her. After last night if she hadn’t brought her things across he would have done it for her… at least he would have before Miranda had been in to see him.

What a fun visit that had been and Miranda hadn’t even brought up Em once. Instead she had tried to persuade him to let her father buy him and Rufus out and when he had pointedly told her that he wasn’t interested she had coyly raised the hem of her skirt high on her thigh and told him that she was offering other benefits.

He had disdainfully told her that he wasn’t interested but she had persisted even after he had reminded her that he was married. Disgusted, Alec had added that even if he hadn’t been married he wouldn’t touch her because who knew where she’d been.

That was when Miranda had become nasty and told him that she had seen his new slut of a wife making out with another man in the park. Alec had laughed, knowing that Halley was out with Leonora. Instead of taking the hint that he wouldn’t believe anything she had to say, Miranda had taken delight in informing him that the other man was Riker Sell and with all the cameras around it would be on the news. She had finished with a swipe at his masculinity then had stormed out.

With their history Alec wouldn’t have normally even remotely entertained the thought that Miranda had been telling the truth. However she had come up with the one name that had made him wonder if there had been something to what she had said. The thought had niggled at him all afternoon until he had finally caved and searched on his laptop for news about Riker Sell.

Upon learning that Riker was currently in Sydney he began to feel vaguely uneasy. Then he had come across an interview that had only been posted a couple of hours earlier. Thinking to have the matter settled for once and for all he’d called it up and watched.

As Riker had droned on about what he was up to Alec had begun to relax. Miranda had been making trouble. He had been about to return to the spread sheets he’d been working on when Halley had appeared beside Riker onscreen. The rest of the clip had been identical to what he had shown Halley on the news.

Reminded of his wife’s betrayal, Alec gave the drawer a vicious shove shut. The framed photo on top toppled off the tallboy. It hit a perfume bottle on the adjacent dresser on its way down and when it finally hit the ground Alec heard a crack and winced.

As angry as he felt towards Halley he still felt enough empathy for her to pick the frame up to check that the glass had not sliced the photo. Halley seemed to have worshipped her older sister and he was not vindictive enough to want to ruin one of the last links Halley had with her.

Shards of glass fell out as he turned the frame over but enough remained that Alec decided to take the back off the frame to remove the rest. He set the frame glass side down on the tallboy and used a key to prise up the metal tabs that kept the backing in place. Instead of finding the photo straight underneath the backing he found a thin school notebook that appeared to be missing half its pages. When he hooked it out of the frame a debit card fell out from amongst the pages. Curious as to what he had found, Alec scooped up the card and sat on the end of the bed to investigate his discovery.

It didn’t take him long to work out. On the cover of the notebook well rounded letters formed the words ‘Halley Baker, savings’. He opened the book, saw the first date and raised his eyebrows. If he wasn’t mistaken he had found the entries for Halley’s missing bank account.