A Place Beyond The Horizon Ch. 08

[Aidan's marriage has been shattered by his wife's cheating. Unable to cope with the thing she did, he boarded a plane and put as much distance between them as possible. He finds himself in Australia, making new friends in Sydney, including a pair of mates on a road trip around their vast, empty continent. He's also met Kat, sharing her bed, the first time in many years that he's been with a woman who isn't his wife. Now, he's working for Mara Fey, the Hollywood A-Lister and one of the most famous women on the planet. Meanwhile, Rosa had cut off all contact with him, leaving Aidan more lonely than ever.

The background to Aidan's story can be found in Oxygen Games by oneagainst, continued here with permission.]

---

RUNNING AWAY FROM EVERYTHING

It takes an hour to build up to it, but Aidan taps the screen and starts a call with his estranged wife. Ever since leaving Kat earlier this morning, kissing her goodbye as she went to her meetings, wishing her a good flight back down to Melbourne, he's had the same thought going round and round in his head.

Mara's publicity coup, the picture of them together on the beach, the paparazzi shot, has changed everything for him. It's been a wake-up call, that he's involved with a woman for whom the rules are different. Mara lives her life in front of the lens and Aidan is having to bear the consequences of that. Hiding isn't an option anymore.

"Hi."

Aidan's pulse quickens. "Hi," he replies, "How are you?"

Instantly, he curses himself for a stupid question.

"Fine," Rosa replies, "How about you?"

Her tone is neutral, unemotional, in stark contrast to the previous call.

"I just wondered if you had time to talk?" Aidan asks.

"I've got a class booked in thirty minutes, but, yeah sure."

"Which class?"

"Milf training."

"You doing that one now? How's it going?"

"Same crowd, mostly. Few new starters. Your friend Cass brought along a friend of hers, Cynthia."

Aidan cringes inwardly at the mention of Cassie, of the memory of her in the back of his car, naked. He had been so tempted, reeling from the shock of his own wife cheating, but in the end he hadn't indulged in an-eye-for-an-eye. Instead, he'd run away.

"Good that she's bringing people in. Good for numbers."

"Oh, I think they'd prefer you to me, but they don't get a choice."

It's a subtle barb, and it stings, but Aidan navigates around it.

"And how's everyone else going?"

"Fine, they're fine, Aidan."

Silence.

Aidan summons up the nerve to ask the big question. "How're you going?"

Silence again, but then he hears her sigh.

"Same," she murmurs.

"You've been getting out."

"Sure. So, you been talking to people back here have you?"

"Yeah, like Ant," Aidan responds, working out what to say next.

For some reason, his fingers are scrolling on the phone, showing her activity feed. He hasn't meant to do it, but he can't help himself.

"And on the feeds," he continues, "You look good. You look like you're enjoying yourself."

"So do you."

It's the casual way she drops it into the conversation that catches him off-guard, even though it's the reason he had to call her.

"Yeah, looks like I'm on the socials."

"And then some. It's good to see you getting on with your life. A movie star, no less."

"I'm her personal trainer. It's a good gig."

"I bet."

"It was just random chance."

"Look, Aidan, that's fine. How you live your life has nothing to do with me. Not anymore."

Aidan's scrolling through pictures, seeing Rosa in the park, or doing a class, or having breakfast. It's the same as it always has been, the steady stream of life updates for her followers, letting people know about what's coming up in the gym, keeping up awareness. Only now, he's looking at it through a different lens, and it doesn't look much different to Mara. But, Mara's playing the same game on an epic scale.

"I still care," Aidan counters, "I'm interested in what's going on with you."

Rosa snorts. "Look, I'm at work. I gotta get on."

There is a picture of a night out. Davey's in the picture and on impulse he taps on Davey's name. The screen flicks to his feed and Aidan begins to scroll through Davey's recent posts. There's a team meeting group shot, and a picture of a bare field with a for sale sign in front of it covered over with a 'sold' sticker, then there's a picture that changes everything. It's Davey and Rosa, faces flushed with the last light of sunset, on the shore of the lake together.

Before he can get over the shock, the words are already emerging from his mouth.

"Nice shot with Davey by the lake."

There's a long pause on the line, and when he hears Rosa speak again, her voice sounds strained.

"Aidan, I told you. I'm at work, I just can't do this right now."

"Want to talk about it later?"

"I... uh... I don't think so."

There is a bitter, dark feeling bubbling up inside him, but Aidan strangles it ruthlessly.

"I guess there's nothing to say about it, is there?" he murmurs, "I guess you're moving on."

"Fuck you," Rosa hisses, "You're the one who moved on. You fucking just left me here to pick up the pieces."

Aidan can't help himself. He's fighting to keep his voice calm and level.

"Nice piece to pick up."

"Please," Rosa gasps, "Aidan, please don't. You're not being fair."

There is a muffled sound on the phone. Aidan can picture his wife, standing at the reception desk of the gym that they own together, in her activewear. He's seen her there for years, he can imagine every detail, and it's eating him alive.

Aidan can hear little sniffling noises and he realises she's crying. Fair, she said, and Aidan has an acid response ready to go, but at the sound of his wife in tears, the words die in his throat.

"I'm sorry," he says instead, "Maybe I shouldn't have called you at work. We can talk another time."

"Okay."

"Okay. See ya."

Aidan ends the call and slides the phone back into his pocket. He should have been checking Davey's feed. Of course Rosa wouldn't have published anything, she would have guessed that Aidan is watching, but Davey wouldn't care. A picture of his team, or a new piece of land his company has acquired, or his new girlfriend, it was all the same as far as Davey was concerned. It was all just sealing the deal.

Only now can Aidan put the past few days into perspective. Mara is wild and complex, Kat is lovely and kind, but neither of them really compare. He's still in love with Rosa, however futile it seems, and that acknowledgement breaks his heart.

---

Aidan has the weekend to himself. Mara is everywhere, popping up on the morning show, giving an interview to a news outlet. She even meets the mayor, who is keen to spruik a new media arts innovation hub. Aidan watches her from afar as she talks about the creative process or the need for funding in the arts or her favourite chocolate brownie recipe. There's no trace at all of the woman who pressed his hand to her throat and told him to squeeze while she came. There are no messages from her either.

He talks to Kat on Sunday, as she's out at brunch. Kat is bubbly and enthusiastic, even confessing that she went to see Mara's movie on Saturday and quite liked it. He checks on her offer of a threesome again and gets a stream of expletives back that leaves them both laughing.

He nearly calls Rosa back, but something stops him. The thought of her sleeping with his friend is harrowing, but it could be worse. Davey is a known quantity, however treacherous, and easier to cope with for that reason, rather than Rosa having gone out and found someone completely new. Aidan oscillates between wanting to inflict physical damage on him, to the sober reflection that Aidan is now separated from Rosa and she's entitled to get on with her life in the same way that Aidan's getting on with his.

Still, the thought of Davey laying his hands on Rosa's body, of Rosa looking into Davey's eyes and smiling, cuts to the bone. By Sunday night, stuck in his room, Aidan is not in a good place and he can't see a way through it. He needs to talk to someone, but he's stuck in Sydney on his own and every person he could call are all part of the issue in one way or another.

On Monday morning, he's ready early for the cab that Mara's sent to take him up the peninsula. He's keen to get to work, he's organised a good training plan and wants to put it in front of Mara. It feels like a small relief from the miseries of the weekend.

When the cab drops him off, though, he can tell that today isn't the same as previous days. He has to buzz the intercom twice before the gate latch clicks open. When Mara opens the door, she looks exhausted.

"Big weekend," Aidan observes.

"You have no concept," Mara replies, beckoning him into the house.

They go down the stairs and she wanders into the kitchen area.

"Want some juice or something?" she asks.

"I'm good. What do you want to do today?"

Mara shrugs, and replies, "I dunno. You tell me."

Aidan begins to lay out his plan, but he can tell that she's not into it. At last, he stops.

"Or maybe a rest day," he concludes.

Mara looks up and him, blinking. "What?"

"A rest day. Uh, you haven't heard anything I've said, have you?"

Mara doesn't answer him. Instead, she draws herself upright and says, "You missed the premiere."

"Yeah, I did."

"I said I'd take you."

"I know, but I, uh...."

"I know, you had other plans with other people. But, do you still want to see the movie?"

"Sure. I heard it's pretty good."

For the first time, Mara smiles. "Yeah, pretty good. Let me get changed and we can head out. Let's go see it."

She doesn't wait for his response, but trots back up the stairs to her bedroom. She hasn't mentioned Kat, or Aidan's date. She hasn't mentioned sex on the pool deck either.

After a few minutes, she comes back down the stairs in jeans and a hoodie, her hair tied back and no makeup on.

"Pickup in two minutes. We should head up," she tells him.

Aidan follows her up the stairs and out the front of the house. A cab pulls in and then they're being transported to the movie theatre. Sitting next to her in the back seat, Aidan makes conversation.

"It all looked like it went well," he says.

"Yeah, same circus, different elephants. It went pretty good."

"I saw you being interviewed."

"Uh huh. It would have been more of a challenge to not see me being interviewed. I must have talked to half of Australia in the last seventy-two hours."

Mara doesn't say anything more, and they eventually reach the movie theatre. Mara asks Aidan to grab the tickets, but as they approach the kid checking tickets he looks up and recognises her. His mouth drops open.

Mara smiles. "Ssh," she says, "It's a secret."

The head towards their seats and Mara's mood has improved, just from the encounter with the ticket checker. When they settle into their seats, she hunkers down and leans close to Aidan, discussing the trailers for upcoming features as they play on screen. Mara becomes more animated and talkative, expounding the skills of a particular actor or director, while disparaging others. Aidan listens in silence, letting her talk.

This is the real Mara, the girl who was always interested in the movies, who grew up wanting to be in movies and who had soaked up as much information as she could along the way. When her movie starts, she provides a running commentary in a soft voice, explaining character motivation and the plot twists. Normally it would infuriate Aidan, but the more he listens, the more he understands, both about the story and about the woman sitting next to him, watching herself on the big screen.

Afterwards, as they're walking out, Aidan finds himself deep in conversation with her, in stark contrast to her reticence on the way in.

"You don't mind seeing yourself on screen?" he asks, "I heard some actors hate it."

"Hah. No way, that's the best part."

"You don't feel embarrassed, watching yourself?"

"Not at all. You gotta remember that it's maybe a year of my life you're looking at up there. I know I put everything I had into it. I left nothing in the tank, so if it's a bad movie, it ain't 'cos of me."

She threads her arm through his as they walk.

"The story, that's the thing. That's the reason I do all this, not the red carpets or the interviews. I wanna tell a story that people wanna hear. It's the making of the thing that's important."

Mara laughs to herself.

"Imagine how much more I could get done if I didn't have to do the publicity circus. Dude, that would be awesome."

They've made it as far as the street. It's the main road up the spine of the peninsula, with heavy traffic in both directions. Aidan starts to look for a cab in the endless stream of cars, but Mara pulls back.

"One other thing about the circus, I gotta be in L.A. soon to do it all again. That's the thing, you hop from place to place, saying the same script to get the same column inches in a different news feed. Life just turns into a stream of hotels and airports."

Her arm is still threaded through his. With her hoodie up, in her jeans, she looks the same as everyone else; only Aidan can tell who she really is. There is something in her expression that makes him pause.

"You're planning something," Aidan observes, "What is it?"

"It's just, I never came to Australia before, y'know. I've been everywhere, but in all that time, I never came here."

"And?"

"I kinda never see any of a place. I heard they have deserts and rainforests and coral reefs. I guess I'm curious."

Aidan thinks of Hardy and Flint and their plan for an epic adventure around their home continent.

"That could take months," Aidan says.

"Yeah, I don't have months," Mara confesses, "Not even weeks. But I dunno, I wanna see the Outback, I wanna see an actual kangaroo."

Mara sighs. "I wanna have seen something of this place."

There is something tragic about the way she says it. It's not a spur-of-the-moment idea, it's deep-rooted.

"So why not go?" he asks.

Mara raises her chin, frowning at him, weighing it up. Her blue eyes bore into him.

"Would you come with me? Do a ridealong?" she asks.

In the midst of the traffic noise and the bustle, she has his full attention.

"I guess. When?"

"Now."

"Right now?"

"Yeah. Run away with me."

Aidan hesitates. Mara watches him intently.

"Okay," he says at last.

Mara's face breaks into a grin. "You serious?"

Aidan shrugs. "Such is life," he says.

---

Aidan hails a cab while Mara finds a car rental place nearby. She puts down the credit card and orders something mid-range, not too flashy, and within the hour they have stopped at her place, then at his, to pick up essentials and then they're on the road, heading west, away from the sea. Aidan is stunned by how quickly Mara has changed her plans and pulled it all together, how eager she is to be on the road.

Aidan's navigating through the early afternoon traffic, with Mara in the passenger seat. He can feel the excitement radiating from her. They have two bags in the back seat and a pack of sandwiches that Mara had insisted on making for the trip. She's fiddling with the car's sound system, trying to synch it to her phone to play what she's insisting is mandatory road trip music.

"Yeah, but what do you like?" Aidan asks, for the third time.

"I said, all kinds of stuff."

"All kinds could mean you like thrash metal as well as punk as well as opera. It could be quite broad."

Mara laughs and affects a Midwest drawl, "Or it could be that I like both Country and Western."

"Road trip rules," Aidan insists, "We each get an hour then the other person picks. That way it limits the damage."

"How about I just limit it to bands that I know personally?"

"Really? And how many would that be?"

"All," Mara replies, "All of the bands. I'm famous, remember?"

There is a beep.

"Oh yeah, baby," Mara exclaims, "Here we go."

A song begins to play.

"How about this?" she asks, "Like it?"

"It's okay, I guess."

"Fucking no, dude, it's not okay. It rules."

"Uh, why?"

"'Cos he wrote it for me."

"Bullshit."

"No bullshit. You want me to ring him up now and confirm?"

Aidan glances across at his passenger. She's holding the phone up, showing her contacts list, finger poised on an entry. Her eyes are wide and she's trying to suppress her trademark grin.

"You crack me up," Aidan says, "You really do."

"Yeah. How about you drive and I line up the tunes. Teamwork. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Yeah. I'm the boss. Now find me a goddamn kangaroo."

---

They head west, through the sprawl of Sydney and up out of the basin into the mountains, beginning to leave the traffic behind as they thread their way on a two-lane road along the ridges between deep sandstone canyons shrouded by endless marching ranks of eucalyptus trees. Hours later, they've dropped down into a rolling landscape on the far side, pointing towards the vast empty spaces of the continental interior. They pull in to refuel, with Aidan taking care of the payment so that Mara doesn't have to go in and show her face.

"Want anything?" Aidan asks.

"Yeah, water. Sparkling if they have it. And maybe we need some more snacks."

"I can get some...."

"No, dude. Just no."

"I was just...."

"Snacks. Crunchy. As in bright orange with powdered cheese flavourings and a half life of at least a thousand years. Not goddamn muesli bars. Road trip."

Aidan shakes his head as he trots across the forecourt to the counter. As instructed, he grabs a few brightly-coloured bags from the shelf and water from the fridge. He has Mara's credit card and hands it over to pay for the food and fuel but the woman behind the counter doesn't check the name on it. It's late afternoon and she has other things to do.

When he returns to the car, Mara is in the driver's seat. She points at the passenger side and Aidan reluctantly gets in.

"Whaddya get?"

"Snacks. Here. Also your sparkling water, which is the only thing remotely good for you in all of this."

"Hey, could be worse. I coulda asked for chocolate."

"Sure. So, you good to go?"

Mara frowns. "Yeah. You?"

"You don't want me to drive?"

"Dude, relax."

She starts the car and pulls out onto the highway again, not waiting for a response from Aidan.

"See, I drive good," Mara comments after a few moments.

"I wasn't saying you can't. I just thought you might be not used to it."

Mara gives him a look and then bursts into laughter.

"Wow, like I'm chauffeured everywhere all the time? Relax. I drive. I drive a lot. I even have my own car."

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant, uh, that we're still a long way from the Outback."

"It's okay. Can I tell you a little secret?"

Aidan can see there is mischief in her expression. "Yeah, of course," he replies.

"Born and raised in Kansas, Aidan. Driving flatbeds since I was twelve. Laying down four hours behind the wheel to get somewhere, it's just in the blood."

Aidan doesn't respond immediately, causing Mara to steal a glance at him as she drives.

"What?"

"I just didn't picture you as a farm girl."

"Because of the glamourous clothing, the beautiful hair, the mid-Atlantic accent?"

"I guess."

Mara smiles to herself, and when she speaks next, it's with a Midwest accent.

"This is how I talk, really. And no, never a farm girl. Daddy had a bunch of jobs, so we moved around a lot. Mom kept us fed and dressed, sometimes just barely. It's a long way from where I got to in the end."

She seems to relax, and Aidan finds himself listening to the way she says things, how slipping the accent changes the way she speaks. The words are less hurried, softer.

"You ever get back home much?" Aidan asks.