Know Your Heart: A New Zealand - Tracey Alvarez Page 0,3
been warned about the conditions in New Zealand’s Far North. Gorgeous blue skies one day, torrential, sub-tropical rainstorm the next, and up here in the hills above Bounty Bay, the weather changed even faster.
Nate reached her side, angling the umbrella over her head. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s meant to be a surprise visit.” She had to raise her voice above the pitter-patter of rain on nylon.
“Come on then, let’s get out of the rain. You already look like a drowned rat.” He slammed shut her car door and she followed him onto the deck.
She stopped to pet Java, since the dog was canny enough to stay under cover. He swiped his tongue along her wrist—at least he seemed pleased to see her.
Nate led her to the sheltered back door and toed off his giant gumboots, gesturing for her to go inside. “Drew and Lauren are away at a school camp for the week. They’ll be happy to see you when they get home—Drew, especially. He still talks about playing Superman and Catwoman with you.”
Sav smiled, peeling off her boots in the pretty, brick-and-wood-lined kitchen-dining room. “Your boy’s a five-year-old heart-breaker in the making.”
In bare feet, she moved farther into the room and crouched beside the fireplace, warming her hands in front of the crackling flames.
“Wait there,” Nate ordered and moved through the brick archway that led to the large family room.
Footsteps thudded overhead and then came the sound of drawers opening and closing. Sav let the fire’s warmth soothe the ropes of tension encircling her muscles, a small smile teasing her mouth as she remembered Lauren’s recollection of her first meeting with Nate.
Sav opened her eyes. Nate had returned to the room with a dark-green towel and a hoodie with a university logo draped over his arm.
“Aren’t you a little long in the tooth for that?” She nodded toward the sweatshirt.
He arched an eyebrow. “Someone stole the original ten years ago.” He handed over the towel and threw the hoodie on the couch arm. “It’s a loaner.”
“That’s what you think.”
Nate sprawled on one of the couches, propping up his feet on the coffee table. She roughly dried her hair and then lowered the towel from her face, giving the smears of mascara on the fluffy pile a guilty grimace.
Sav stood, unbuttoning her shirt. “Eyes left.”
Nate turned his face to the window where Java sat with his nose fogging up the glass. “Your vehicle I heard going past before?”
“Yeah. I’d planned on staying at my house for a while.”
“A while? But you were—oh. Oh, yeah. Sorry, Savvy. The movie.”
She stripped off cold, wet silk and tugged the baggy sweatshirt on over her head. The soft, brushed fleece against her skin had a sedative effect, dampening the sting of Nate’s reminder.
“One of those things, it goes with the job. The powers that be always have the final say. But the director has pulled some strings with a buddy who’s a casting director for a new sitcom.”
“And High Rollers? You’ll just dump it?”
She hid her fingers up inside the long sleeves of Nate’s sweatshirt, dropping her gaze. “My character is currently in a coma after a dramatic car crash in the season finale. The writers can kill her off, no problem.” A dry ache in her throat made her swallow compulsively. “High Rollers has been good to me, but the show won’t give me a chance to get back onto the big screen.”
“Whereas, this new Hollywood production might be a stepping stone. Hopefully resulting in another Golden Globe nomination?”
She nodded, and her smile felt constructed of razor wire. “A starring role in this sitcom could change everything. It’s been seven years since the best supporting actress nomination. Seven years is a lifetime in Hollywood.” Pushing up the sweatshirt sleeves, she tucked her feet under her on the couch. “That’s why I’m here. Two months to get myself sorted and prepare for the audition.”
“Ah.” Nate scratched his neck and gave her a wry smile. “Only Glen’s in your house, and I’m concluding from your expression that his body is currently in an unmarked grave somewhere in the bush.”
“If I wasn’t convinced your mother could psychically hear me cussing and would turn up with a bar of soap in her handbag, I’d tell you exactly what I think of your friend.”
“What happened?” Nate picked up one of the colorful throw rugs on the edge of the couch and tossed it over.
Sav wrapped it around her knees and briefly told him of the conversation, judiciously