She glanced up and met his eyes. “All of you.”
Tuck wrapped his arms carefully around her back, avoiding her injuries, lowered his head and kissed her until she couldn’t tell which way was up. The kiss was full of heated passion, but also surprisingly innocent and pure.
Releasing her, he backed up a couple of steps and murmured, “I’ll miss you.”
Maryn about broke then and begged him to let her stay. “Don’t forget me,” she whispered.
“Not possible.”
She clutched her bags with trembling hands and forced herself to turn from his brown eyes that were looking so mournful and sad at her and place one foot in front of the other. Somehow she made it down all the stairs without tripping and falling. Johnson, Braxton, and Mama Porter all stood in the entryway, glaring at James, who was tapping away on his phone, acting oblivious to the under-current. Her heart softened a fraction. James always pulled out his phone when he was nervous. This was an awkward situation for him and she knew in his twisted way he did think he was rescuing her.
Mama Porter broke from the stoic group of three and rushed to her. She hugged her gently. “Darling, girl. Are you sure you can’t stay?”
Maryn nodded bravely. She felt Tuck’s eyes on her and looked up the three stories to see him next to the railing, his dark eyes so full of sadness. She lifted her fingers, kissed them, and pushed them his direction. He smiled.
Forcing herself to focus on Mama Porter, she said, “Thank you for everything, I hope to come see all of you again, some day, real soon, that is when you’re not snowed in and I don’t have to drive a snowmobile to get in here.”
“As soon as you can, dear.” Mama Porter squeezed her hand, then stepped away, wiping at her eyes with a handkerchief.
Braxton shook Maryn’s hand with all seriousness. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Howe.”
Him saying pleasure like that had her glancing up at Tuck again, but he was gone. She bit her lip to keep in the cry of pain. “Thank you, Braxton.”
“Will you promise to go to the Instacare before you fly out and then visit with your doctor at home tomorrow?”
“I will. Thank you for stitching me up.”
He nodded formally.
Johnson came next, giving her a brotherly side hug. “I’ve never seen the big guy like this,” he whispered in her ear. “Please, keep in touch and don’t make any asinine decisions.” He glared at James who had finally pocketed his phone and was watching them all warily.
“Good advice, mate,” she whispered back and squeezed his arm. He released her and James was immediately there, wrapping his arm around her back. “Ouch,” she cried out.
“Oh, sorry, I don’t know where you’re hurt at.”
“Don’t touch my lower back or left side,” she said, thinking of how perfectly Tuck had managed to touch her without hurting any of the wounds moments before.
James took her overnight bag and then held her arm and escorted her to the front door. Maryn tugged him to a stop. “Please tell them not to shoot this.”
“You can do this, Mar. Come on, I’m right here with you.” He beamed at her. “Your story is going to be the biggest hit of the year. We’ll use this video footage on all our social media and splash his name all over it, pointing them to the article you’re going to write about him. You can say whatever you like. It’s going to be amazing.” He swung the door open and sure enough there were videographers and photographers, some staff from the magazine who called out greetings to her.
Maryn gritted her teeth, forced a smile, and allowed James to escort her down the stairs. She only allowed herself to look back once. Mama Porter, Braxton, and Johnson all watched from the porch steps and if she glanced way up she could see the dark eyes of the man she’d fallen in serious like with the past three days, watching her being taken away by jerk-bait James.
ChapterTwelve
The next two weeks dragged like a kayak trying to pull a water skier through the ocean. James had taken Maryn to an Instacare in Idaho Falls before they flew out. They’d done a thorough exam including an MRI to make sure she had no damage that’d been missed, checked her sutures, and gave her some Lortab for the trip home. She’d endured the airplane ride and been thankful that the drugs made her sleepy and cut the pain enough that it was all a blur.
The next day she drove herself into the doctor because James was too busy marketing Tucker Shaffer’s story. He claimed he was fulfilling their dreams to have The Rising Star top the charts for circulation, but those weren’t her dreams anymore. She’d left a lot of her dreams in Island Park when she realized there was more to life than writing and being recognized for her writing. Tuck was what she dreamed about now.
The doctor was impressed with how well done the stitches were and gave her some cream that he promised would minimize any scarring. It was a relief a week later when the stitches were removed. The nurse helped her look at all of the markings on her back in the mirror and she was impressed with Braxton’s skills as well.
She poured herself into the article on Tucker, reliving every wonderful minute she’d spent with him as she wrote, shivering as she remembered the bear attack, smiling to herself as she thought of something sweet Tucker had said. She was having trouble sleeping at night and wished he was there to hold her. Wearing his shirt helped, but the smell faded and then she ached for him all the more.
As soon as she got a new phone she texted Tucker. He immediately texted back and the highlight of her day came when he started texting her every night. They shared funny things that had happened throughout their days and sometimes it dipped into flirtation, but neither of them approached the subject of when they’d see each other again. She missed his voice and wanted to call him, but there was a gulf between them and she knew it was her fault. She was the one who’d allowed James to take her away from him.
The article consumed her. It would’ve been twenty pages long if she had her way, but she eventually found a way to cut three-quarters of what she wrote before finally passing it off to editing. James was impatient for the final product, but she wanted to make sure she didn’t reveal anything that would hurt Tuck or his friends.
Many hours were spent looking through the pictures Johnson had emailed to her. He’d done a great job capturing the exact poses and locations she’d requested. Less time could’ve been taken selecting the best shots for the article, but Maryn found herself sighing and drooling over picture after picture of Tucker. He’d been extremely attractive when she first met him, but the longer she’d spent with him the more his appeal grew. She studied the strong planes of his face, his longish dark hair, those intriguing brown eyes, and those lips she wished she could feel on hers again, for so long that she feared she would grow cross-eyed. If only she could see him again in person.