Complete Without You (ONC 2022)

Epilogue - Finding the Tiger

After four months of travelling together through Western and South Australia, we'd taken a ferry to Tasmania to find Tiger's relatives. We'd encountered wombats at Cradle Mountain, met echidnas in our campground, and heard the sinister growls and laughs of the Tasmanian devils, but still no Tasmanian Tigers.

We relaxed on a blanket on the deserted stretch of Friendly Beaches, a short walk from our basic but cozy campsite. The ocean's perfect mix of cerulean and turquoise belonged on a postcard. I leaned into Tiger's shoulder as his fingers brushed against mine. We had this unspoken signal: a gentle leg nudge meant I wanted to snuggle. If he nudged me back, it was okay, and without it, I'd keep my distance.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"How beautiful this is and how much I enjoy travelling with you. What about you?"

"It's been two months since I thought about my ex or felt worthless." He'd hardly mentioned her after he'd dived into the asexuality research hole in Broome, but he'd get forlorn looks occasionally after talking to his family or on those long drives. 

I smiled. "Same here. Ever since we left Western Australia."

He grinned and massaged my back in the way I liked. "What does that mean for us?"

My tongue sat heavy in my mouth. I'd dreamed about our future, but dreams were safe. Until now, we'd been close friends who both had feelings for each other but didn't act on them romantically. Crossing that line with Tiger was risking everything we'd built together, although we'd both wanted it and saw eye to eye on what had hurt us in past relationships.

My heart raced, and I took a deep breath as his hands stilled. There was no one in the world I wanted to be with more than Neil. I could do this. "What do you want it to mean?"

Tiger's eyes flickered from my lips to meet my gaze. "That we consider a romantic relationship."

I beamed and fought the feeling in my stomach like the floor was about to drop out beneath me. "And what would you want from a romantic relationship?"

"To hold you, to fall asleep and wake up next to you, to kiss you."

I was ready to melt, and it had nothing to do with the spring sun. "I want all of that too."

Neil's smile was bright enough to guide ships in the dead of night. "So what do we do?"

"You start by kissing me, and only stop when you're sick of it."

He cradled my jaw and stroked my cheek. "Can this be our signal?"

My stomach flipped, even though it shouldn't have surprised me he'd want to kiss me more than once if his feelings were anything like mine. "Yes," I whispered before his lips pressed against mine. A wave of euphoria travelled through my upper body.

He was tender and sweet at first, with a slow and steady rhythm. As he threaded his fingers in my hair, he drew me closer. I leaned into him, trying to erase any space between us as if that would crush any lingering emotional distance. He didn't tense or pull away, just kept kissing me as our energies flowed together like the nearby ocean's waves.

We were both out of breath when we pulled apart. Our grins were longer than this white sand beach.

"Was that okay?" I asked, in case his body language was out of synch with his feelings.

"No." His teeth gleamed in the sunlight. "It was incredible."

I used our signal to sneak in another long kiss before relaxing into his arms. Seabirds pecked at bunches of rust-coloured seaweed exposed in the lower tide. "Pied-oystercatchers," Neil whispered in my ear when I stared at them. His warm breath tickled my cheek. I loved it when he told me things like that as if he wanted me immersed in his world. 

Further down the coast, a brown dot ambled along the sand and grasses. I pointed it out to him, and he squinted at it before squeezing my hand. We scrambled to our feet, Neil clutching his camera bag, and hurried toward the animal. It looked too big and chunky to be a Tasmanian Tiger, which was deceptively more dog-sized, but wombats and wallabies frequented the area. 

As we grew closer to the beach grazer, the stocky, chestnut-furred marsupial was busy munching on beach grass. The wind blowing in our faces masked our approach.

"Come on." Neil tugged on my arm as we pressed ourselves in the sand. My heart's rhythm didn't slow as I lay next to him while he photographed the wombat. Soon it headed in the opposite direction, offering a glance at its long feet.

"Disappointed it wasn't a tiger?" I teased.

He placed his camera in its bag and pulled me closer. "You are my tiger, Sadie. You gave me hope when I had none and are this amazing person I didn't realize existed, so you're better than a tiger."

My heart was working overtime with Neil's sweetness today. "You're absolutely right. I'm a goanna, and we are way cooler—not just because of our blood temperature."

He chuckled and brushed a sandy hand over my jaw. "You're perfect." 

My chest swelled with emotion. "So are you." 

After I leaned in to kiss him, I could have sworn something rustled in the grasses nearby. When I opened my eyes a flash of browny-orange disappeared into the bushes. I pulled away.

"Neil, there's something near the tree."

His head snapped toward the bush. "A tiger?"

"Very possible."

"I knew I was keeping you around for a reason," he teased.

"After that beautiful line about me being your tiger." I pushed him playfully, but he bounced up a second later. 

"I can both believe you're the best part of my life and be excited about a once-in-a-lifetime sighting."

We ran over, searching for a retreating form and tracks in the sand. We only found a few prints circling the bush, too small and round for a wallaby or wombat. They were likely dog tracks, but to us, they'd always prove that a Tasmanian Tiger lurked somewhere, surviving despite the challenges it faced.

Photo credit for the Thylacine/Tasmanian Tiger to 'The Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office'. It is a cropped version of an 1869 print by Harriet Scott accessible here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tasmanianarchiveandheritageoffice/51312247728/ 

The goanna photo credit goes to Mark Stoop from Unsplash. 

***

I couldn't resist giving these two their happy ending, and Tasmania seemed like the perfect place for them. It's another corner of Australia that has a special place in my heart.

After I finished the first draft, I thought it might be fun for Sadie and Neil to create their own bucket list to wrap up the book. Check out 'Tiger and Goanna's Top Adventures of Western Australia' to see what they're doing a year after they met. 

Thanks again for all your incredible support, encouragement, and the time you've afforded this story, especially since many of you are busy writing your own wonderfully impressive entries. Sometimes there's a story trapped inside of us that needs to be set free. For me, this one was one of those stories, so it means a lot that you've read it.