Chapter 30
of a better way to frighten the life out of me.” Evie raised her head from where it had been plastered against Adam’s chest ever since he’d stepped out of the emergency vehicle, a survival blanket draped over his shoulders. The rain had stopped and steam was already rising from the bushes and trees, the rainwater evaporating as quickly as it had fallen.
Adam had several bandages around his arm for cuts received from the broken window, and had a strip of white gauze around his waist where the rope had burned his skin. Jeff and Caz had already been taken to hospital. Jeff had lost a lot of blood and Caz had been in severe shock.
It had taken the rangers some time to reach them. After Evie had towed him and Caz out of the water, she’d then helped to lift Caz onto the back seat, along with Jeff who’d done his best to hug his wife’s shaking body. Adam had then driven back to the campground away from the flood, while Evie had called in their new location on the satellite phone.
“I thought I’d lost you,” she said now. “You extremely brave, extremely stupid man.”
Having given their statements to the rangers, Adam and Evie then packed away their tent and belongings, their hands shaking, their limbs weak from shock and exertion. By the time they got into the truck to follow the rangers to Bert’s Waterfall Resort, a hotel not far from where they had camped, it was dusk. They’d been advised by medics to stay in a populated place until certain they weren’t displaying any signs of other injuries or shock, so Barry, one of the rangers, said he’d arrange with the resort owners for them to stay the night there.
“You’ll get a hero’s welcome,” Barry had said. “You might get the local newspaper wanting to interview you, but I’ll keep them at bay for today. You’ve had enough excitement.”
Adam drove steadily behind Barry now, the unease at any media attention adding to the aches thumping his bruised body. He’d tried to persuade Evie that they should drive back to Darwin, but it was too far and she’d wanted him to rest.
They pulled into the resort.
“Must be a flashy place,” Evie commented, indicating the new shiny four-wheel drives that occupied the parking spaces next to the entrance. It was far busier than either of them had expected it to be. “Is that a news crew over there?”
Adam glanced over at the van with the satellite dish and antenna on the roof and went cold. There were actually three different news vans, and now his spine tingled as he drove past a conclave of high-end SUVs and off-roaders.
The ranger’s vehicle stopped in front of them. Barry got out and walked to Adam’s window. “Looks like it’s been a slow news day today, mate. We don’t often get this much coverage over an incident like this. I’m sorry there’s not much I can do but park up out of sight over there at the back of the resort if you need a moment first.”
Adam needed more than a moment. He knew what this meant.
“Do you think we’ll be on the news?” Evie was saying, not looking very pleased with the attention either. Her eyes were glassy with stress and relief. “Maybe we can slip in the back?”
Adam reversed the truck so that he could access the darker, emptier side of the resort as Barry had instructed. When he parked, Evie turned to get out but he caught her hand.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said.
He knew who those SUVs belonged to.
Evie's head spun. She pushed Adam away and marched toward the lights of the resort. He wasn’t making any sense.
“Evie, listen to me!” He pulled her into the bushes, caging her against a tree with his arms and repeated what he’d just told her, as if his words would make more sense the second time around. “My real name is Michael. Michael Adams. I’m a pro-swimmer. Retired. I’ve won medals. I model underwear and watches and whatever else my agent throws at me. I’m—”
He was talking too fast, looking afraid and unlike himself. He’d lied about his name, about who he was. He’d been lying to her all this time. The ground came away beneath Evie’s feet. Any second now she’d fall through and land on something sharp and painful.
Michael Adams.
The name sounded familiar. Evie had always known he had something to tell her but never this—this she simply could not understand. But the heavy, dull ache in her chest told her she’d been missing something—something huge, something obvious—the whole time she’d been with him.
She pushed him away.
“Evie, listen to me.”
“You’re not Adam.”
“I’m still Adam, damn it. I’m still the Adam you love.”
Her head pounded with the rush of blood. She was drowning in it. “Why did you lie to me?”
“I was lying to everyone! I wanted a break from that life. God, Evie, I’ve wanted to tell you. I swear. I just didn’t know how, but I was going to this morning. We were meant to hike to the waterfall.”
Evie was going to be sick, and Adam—Michael—looked just as pained as she felt. The noise from the bar suddenly got louder, as if someone had opened the door, enabling the excitement to seep out into the night. Why had everyone gathered here? Why so many TV cameras and photographers?
She stared at him, finally managing to speak against the constriction in her throat. “There’s something more than you being called Michael, isn’t there? More than you being a professional swimmer?”
“Yes.”
Adam was trying to hold onto her. Trying to tether her by taking her hands in his, but she wouldn’t let him. “Please, Evie. We can’t talk here . . . I need to explain it to you properly.”
“Your wallet was never stolen, was it?” If he had an agent . . . if he modeled . . . “You must have lots of money.”
“Yes, fuck it, I do. But it doesn’t mean anything to me.”
He pressed a kiss on her forehead, but she froze under the bare realization that she’d fallen in love with a lie. His stubble was rough on her skin as he apologized, saying something about making it all up to her, but all she could think about were his lies, his bloody lies, and how she’d fallen for them. She was such a fool.
And there was more to come. She could sense it in the way he kept his lips pressed to her forehead, in the way he drew breath to speak, but didn’t.
Her stomach curdled, thick with nausea. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t want to know. “What is it?”
“I’m married.”
“Damn right, he’s married!” A woman’s voice. Evie glanced up past Adam’s pain-stricken face. A woman stood on the path, tall and stunning, bright lights flashing behind her.
“He’s married to me.”