Wild Action (22 page)

“They were perfect,” Nick said, appearing beside her as the Marx brothers started off through the woods.

“For all the good it did us.” She looked at Jay again. “You know, he isn’t going to say a word to us before he leaves. He’s just going to keep on sulking—probably forever.”

“Carly? Nick?” Goodie called. “That was terrific,” he said, hurrying over to them. “But I thought I’d better check on something with you. Jay wants Royce to shoot some video footage of him with Attila before we leave. I mean, he’d stay outside the fence,
so there’s no problem with the two of them going along to his field, is there?”

She was tempted to say that yes, there was a problem with it, simply on general principle.

But before she could say a word, Nick said, “Just remind Jay not to yell.”

“Oh, he’s clear on that after all this time.” Goodie looked over at Jay and Royce and called, “It’s fine.”

As the two men started off, Goodie fell into step with Carly and Nick. “I’m still working on Jay. So, hopefully, before we take off, he’ll stop being such an ass.”

Carly nodded, but at this point she wasn’t holding out much hope. And she wished Goodie had gone with Jay and Royce. He walked far too slowly for her liking. She wanted to get back to the house as fast as she could, because the thought of a good, therapeutic cry held a lot of appeal.

When they finally emerged from the trees, they could see Royce and Jay in the distance. They were already by Attila’s field, Royce with his eye to the camcorder’s viewfinder.

For half a second, Carly didn’t realize anything was wrong. Then she took in the big picture and her heart began to pound.

Kyle and Brock were inside the field, standing frozen—about a hundred feet from Attila. And he was staring straight at them.

“Oh, jeez!” Nick whispered.

“There won’t be any problem as long as they don’t yell or run,” she whispered back. “But hurry. I’ll go into the field. You get to Jay so he doesn’t do anything stupid, then talk the boys slowly over to the fence.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Goodie said. Then he looked toward the field again and saw the boys.

“Run!” he shouted. “Boys! Run and climb the fence!”

Panic threatening to overwhelm her, Carly took off on the dead run, Nick beside her. But inside the field, the boys began to run, too.

Attila lowered his head and flattened his ears back.

“Attila!
Sit!”
she screamed.

But she was far too far away to make him listen. He pawed the ground once, then charged.

“Jay!” she shouted, her heart pounding even harder. “Jay, scream at him! Distract him!”

For a fraction of a second. Jay hesitated. Then he screamed, “Attila! What the hell are you doing! Stop! Stop right now! You’re a horrible bear. I’ll cut all your scenes if you don’t stop!”

Attila skidded to a halt and stood glaring in Jay’s direction.

“Keep it up!” Nick shouted as they ran on. “Yell some more!”

Jay began screaming again.

Attila snorted. Then he growled. And then he charged at Jay.

“Attila!
Stop!”
Carly shouted, her lungs burning.
“Stop!”

This time she was close enough to be heard. And, miraculously, the bear slowed his pace. Then he stopped.

On the far side of the field, the boys were climbing the fence.

“Good boy, Attila!” Carly called, the utter terror
that had filled her draining away. “Good boy!” Totally out of breath, she slowed to a walk.

Nick jogged the rest of the way, and by the time she reached the fence he was standing with one hand on Kyle’s shoulder, the other on Brock’s, and was talking with Jay and Royce.

Jay said something to the other men, then turned to the boys. “Whatever possessed you to go into that field?”

Kyle and Brock looked at each other nervously, then Kyle said, “We were sayin’ goodbye to all the animals. But when we got to the field we couldn’t see Attila.”

“We thought you musta taken him somewhere,” Brock said, looking at Nick. “And we climbed the fence ‘cuz we wanted to wade in the pond. But then, when we were walking across the field, Attila came out of that thing.” Bryce pointed at the hibernation ‘cave.’”

“We’d
never
have climbed the fence if we knew he was in there,” Kyle added.

“Well, you’re just lucky Jay was so fast off the mark,” Nick said. “By thinking to yell the way he did, he saved your lives.”

Carly glanced at him, wondering if he hadn’t heard her tell Jay to start yelling.

He met her gaze and held it. For a second, she didn’t know what message he was trying to give her. Then it dawned on her. If they made Jay look good, maybe he’d do the same for them.

“You’re a first-class hero, Jay,” she said.

“Boy, you sure are,” Goodie agreed, finally reaching the rest of them. He was puffing so hard that his words were barely audible.

“What did you get on video?” Nick asked Royce.

“I’m not sure, exactly. I just kept rolling. But there’s got to be some of everything—Attila charging, the boys running, some of Jay. And the audio of his yelling, of course.”

“What a publicity angle, eh, Jay?” Nick said. “Once you edit that, it’ll make a terrific promo piece for the movie.”

Goodie gleefully clapped his hands. “It will, you know. Hell, Jay, I’ll bet we can get you on ‘Oprah’ with it. And maybe even a segment on ’Sixty Minutes.’”

“Siskel and Ebert might use it, too,” Carly put in. “It’ll just be such a great bit of docudrama—a movie director risking his life to save a couple of child stars.”

Jay eyed her for a moment, looking as if he couldn’t quite believe what was happening. “I didn’t
exactly
risk my life,” he said slowly.

“Oh, Jay, don’t be so modest. You don’t expect us to believe you forgot that isn’t an electrified fence, do you? Why, we all know that if Attila hadn’t stopped, he’d have been right on top of you.”

Jay went pale. Then his color began to return, and the way he puffed up his chest almost made her laugh out loud.

“No, you’re right, Carly. Of course I didn’t forget. But what sort of man
wouldn’t
risk his life to save two wonderful boys like Brock and Kyle?

“Royce?” he added. “Is there any footage left on that video?”

“A little.”

“Good, because I want you to shoot an ending for the docudrama right now, while we’re all still looking
a little the worse for wear. Everyone except Brock and Kyle clear the eyeline.”

When Carly, Nick and Goodie moved back, Jay dropped to one knee and gave the boys a warm smile. “Kids, when I say, ‘Action,’ you run over and give me a big hug for the camera.

“Okay, Royce, roll the film…and action!”

The boys raced over and flung their arms around Jay. He gave them each a hard hug, then turned his gaze toward the camcorder—and darned if he hadn’t managed to produce a few tears.

He gazed in Royce’s direction for a long second, then slowly wiped his eyes.

“Cut!” he said a moment later. “Good scene, kids.”

Pushing himself up from the ground, he strode over to where Carly and Nick were standing. Resting one hand on each of their arms, he said, “Well, I’ve got to give credit where it’s due. The idea of a docudrama was positively inspired. I don’t know how to thank you.”

Goodie cleared his throat. “They’d probably figure your recommending them to other directors would be a good way.”

“Well, that goes without saying;” Jay said, positively beaming at them. “And the next time
I
need animals for a film, we’ll be working together again.”

Carly smiled at him, thinking, “Never in a million years.”

W
HEN
C
ARLY AND
N
ICK
got back to the house, Dylan was still there.

“I was just on my way home,” he told them. “All
the animals have been fed, I cleaned the aviary and I gave the dogs their treats.

“So…I was kind of wondering. Now that the filming’s finished, will you be needing me anymore? I mean, even once I’m back at school I could still work on the weekends. And maybe a couple of hours after school most days.”

Nick nodded. “There’ll definitely be lots of work for you.”

“Hey, great! And if there’s a
real
lot, Jonathan said to tell you he’s available, too. He really got a kick out of baby-sitting Attila.”

Carly barely heard Dylan’s words. Nick’s were still echoing in her mind—causing a chill to settle around her heart. Nick knew that she and Gus had managed with just the two of them. So if he was intending to stay on, they wouldn’t really need help.

Did that mean…

Almost afraid to be alone with him, to hear what he was going to say, she ushered Dylan out and waved goodbye. Then, her heart thudding, she turned to Nick.

When he smiled at her, she tried to imagine what it would be like if she couldn’t see him smile every day—and decided it would be unbearable.

“Didn’t I tell you we shouldn’t worry about something that might not happen?” he said. “Jay’s so damn happy with us…Carly? Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “When you told Dylan there’d definitely be lots of work for him…”

“Uh-huh?”

She gave an anxious little shrug. “Well, I wondered if that meant you’d decided to go ahead with
your plans. To go back to Edmonton and start up your agency.”

“Hey,” he murmured, stepping closer and putting his arms around her waist. “The agency was my dream for a long time, but being with you has become far more important. Besides, I’ve worked with partners for years. I’d probably miss the company if I was on my own. Whereas, if I stayed on as a partner in Wild Action, I’d have you for company. Assuming that plan’s okay with you.”

“Oh, Nick, it’s so much
more
than just okay. But you’re sure you’d be happy here? Working with the animals?”

“I’d be happy doing just about anything with you. And I’ve gotten pretty fond of the animals.”

The last whisper of anxiety faded from her heart “But if you’re staying,” she murmured, “why do you think there’ll be so much work for Dylan?”

Nick smiled again. “Because I figure you and I will be spending a lot of time doing other things.”

“Oh? What other things?” she teased.

“Well, just for starters…” He cradled the sides of her face in his hands and proceeded to demonstrate.

“You know what?” she whispered when their kiss ended.

“What?”

“I think we’ll be keeping Jonathan employed, too.”