“Now Ollie, I’d really like to give you this treat, but you will have to come over here and take it from my hand.”
Oliver was stubborn. He sat and stared, whimpering and whining as if Mitch was asking him to do something impossible. Though Oliver had grown more comfortable with Mitch, as soon as something was asked of him, he grew suspicious.
It took him ten minutes to get close enough to finally snatch the treat out of Mitch’s hand. Once he had it, he felt comfortable enough to let Mitch pet him.
It took so long for Kayla to complete the video and website that by the end, Oliver was even giving Mitch paw on command. Kayla uploaded everything onto the fundraising site, hoping that it would take off on its own.
It didn’t.
She was a bit stumped with what to do next.
Mitch had some suggestions. “We could try sending it to some of the nearby news stations?”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Kayla replied with a groan.
Mitch frowned. “You are the journalist, I thought you would’ve thought of that already.”
She ignored his sassy comment and sent out twenty emails with a link to the fundraiser. She also posted the video on YouTube, because why not? She knew that they would need some luck for this to catch on, and she planned to find more places to post it that week.
When Kayla got back to her cabin that night, she was wiped out. She considered skipping dinner and eating some trail mix, but right around dinnertime there was a knock at her door.
She opened the door just a crack to see who it was. Oliver was not pleased at all – he stood behind her and barked.
“George!” Kayla said, an excited flutter running through her stomach. “How’s it going?”
“You tell me,” he said. “We missed you on two trail rides and one river rafting expedition. Did you get sick of us already?”
So he noticed that she wasn’t around? And missed her, apparently?
“No, of course not. I’ve just been spending a lot of time working on a fundraiser for the Singers.”
“I’m glad to hear you’re dedicated to their cause, because I was hoping you’d want to go to the square dance tomorrow night.”
Kayla giggled. Not her coolest moment, but she needed to act like she didn’t know about the square dance so he wouldn’t realize that she was giggling from excitement. “A real life square dance?”
George laughed. “Yes, a real life square dance. The churches try to have at least one a year. There’ll be food, raffles…I think the proceeds this year go to the Singers.”
“Then I definitely can’t miss it,” said Kayla. “Except…I don’t know how long Ollie can be left home alone.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. I’ll see you there at seven?”
Kayla smiled. Even if she could only go for an hour, she’d make sure it was when George was there. “Sure. See you then.”
She closed the door and turned to Oliver. “Listen Buddy, you’re going to have to go in your crate tomorrow for a couple of hours. And you can’t whine and cry like I’m torturing you by keeping you from eating all of the chairs and all of the bread. Okay?”
He wagged his tail. He could tell that she was asking something of him, he just didn’t know what. He ran into the other room to fetch a tennis ball, because that was always a good guess.
The morning before the square dance, Kayla went over to Mitch’s place to check if she got any emails back about the fundraiser. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single response.
“Try not to worry yet,” said Mitch. “It’s Friday, people get backed up with their emails. I think we’ll hear something by Monday.”
“I hope so,” she said.
After that, she took Oliver on a two hour hike. They took a few breaks here and there – Kayla made sure to bring water for them both – and a few times they came upon a nice field for her to throw a tennis ball at Oliver’s request.
When Oliver tired of chasing the ball, he hunkered down next to Kayla, rolling over so he laid pressed up against her thigh. She loved feeling his weight cuddled up against her like that; it made her want to sit and pet him for the rest of the day.
When they got back to the cabin, Oliver was exhausted, just as she hoped he’d be. He didn’t put up a fight getting into his crate, and he fell asleep almost as soon as he laid his head down. She quietly took a shower and got ready for the dance, and when she was done, he was still sleeping peacefully. Kayla tried her best to quietly close the door to the crate, but he opened his eyes and looked at her.
Caught!
“Listen Ollie, I need to go out for a little bit. But I’ll give you a treat and you can just nap until I get back, okay?”
He looked at her, then down at the treat that she slipped into the crate. Instead of eating it, he rested his head on top of it.
That was one of his quirks – he wouldn’t eat any treats until she got back home. She wasn’t sure if it was some sort of a protest on his part, or if he wanted to save it for the celebration he always threw whenever she came through the door.
Every time she got home, even if she was only gone for ten minutes, he acted like it was the best moment of his life: running around, grabbing toys, rolling onto his back to show his belly. Kayla loved that he did it, and she celebrated too, saying his name in a high pitched voice and telling him what a good boy he was. From the outside, they’d both look like loons. But that was one of the best parts of having a dog – they got to be loons together.
She slipped out of the cabin and stood outside the door for a minute. Satisfied that she didn’t hear Ollie whining or barking, she left for the square dance.
The first person she ran into when she got there was Mary, the head of the church fundraising committee. They chatted and Kayla told her about her own attempts to fundraise, and Mary promised to tell everyone about the website.
After Mary took her around to meet other members of the church, Kayla put in for a few raffle tickets and grabbed a bottle of water. She found Isabelle and joined her for some excited chatter.
Kayla kept an eye out for George, but so far he was a no-show. She didn’t want to ask Isabelle about him, because she didn’t want Isabelle to know that she was looking forward to seeing him.
As it turned out, Isabelle had her eye on a guy herself. “I’m sure he’s not as sophisticated as all the guys you meet in New York City, but he’s pretty nice.”
“You should ask him to dance!” said Kayla, giving her a nudge.
Isabelle shook her head. “I could never do that.”
“Come on, of course you could. I bet he’s more scared of you than you are of him.”
Isabelle smiled. “It doesn’t matter, you’re not going to get me to go over there asking anyone to dance.”
“Suit yourself,” Kayla said with a shrug.
“Is that what you do in New York?” asked Isabelle.
Kayla laughed. Poor Isabelle thought that she was some sort of worldly New Yorker, when in truth, she practically lived in the country herself. Isabelle was so fascinated by it all, though.
“To be honest, not really. I spend too much time working to meet any guys.”
“You’re so confident, though. You can probably just go up to any guy and ask him to dance.”
At that moment, Kayla caught sight of George across the room. Her stomach dropped. “Not exactly any guy,” Kayla responded.
Before she could motion for George to come over, Mitch stepped into their circle.
“Hi Isabelle, hi Kayla.”
Kayla said hello without losing sight of George out of the corner of her eye. She must’ve missed Mitch earlier since he blended into the sea of cowboy hats.
“Nice hat,” she said with a smirk. “I left mine at home.”
He sighed. “John made me buy it. Do I look completely ridiculous?”
“No, I’m just messing with you,” she said with a laugh. She debated getting a hat of her own, of course, but felt like too much of a phony. In truth,
Mitch looked good in his hat. Actually, he looked really good.
“Alright,” Mitch said, “in that case, would you do me the honor of reserving the next dance for me?”
Isabelle blushed and turned towards Kayla, excitement brimming in her eyes.
Kayla lost sight of George. It seemed like he’d left the room just as quickly as he came in.
“Sure, why not.”
Mitch offered his hand and Kayla accepted.
“Let’s go cowboy.”
She decided that she should stop thinking about how cute Mitch looked in that hat and instead focus on what moves were being called out. They got in place and the music started. It was an upbeat tune and everyone joined hands. Kayla tried to keep from giggling.
They kept up with the group pretty well until they heard, “Swing your partner high and low!”
They were on their own for that. They didn’t have any good moves, and inevitably as they came together, bumped foreheads.
“Sorry!” said Mitch. “I was trying to look down at my feet.”
“Me too,” laughed Kayla.
Mitch shot her a smile then tried to spin her. Kayla didn’t get the message in time and instead elbowed him in the face. “I’m so sorry!”
He laughed and shook his head. “It’s okay. Let’s try that again.”
This time Kayla kept her elbows to herself. He spun her once, twice, three times. She was going to protest if he went for another spin – she was starting to get dizzy – but luckily he didn’t. When she stopped, she fell into him.
Time froze for a moment. She was woozier than she realized and when she tried to stop, she collided with his chest. He didn’t budge – his chest felt as solid as a tree.
No! Not good! Do not touch his big muscular chest!
She tried to pull away in a hurry, only to slip and have a hand brush his bicep. He moved to catch her.
What in the world! Didn’t the U.S. Marshals know that insurance salesmen aren’t supposed to be all burly and strong? Didn’t they realize that he smelled like fresh Irish Spring soap and wood? Like a lumberjack, or a lumberjack candle, and it was a dead giveaway that he wasn’t a salesman of any sort?
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She gathered her thoughts and straightened out before snatching the hat off of his head.
“No, I’m very dizzy from being spun around too much, and just for that I get to keep this.” She placed it atop her own head.
“It looks better on you anyway,” he said.
The song ended. The seriousness of his tone caught her off guard. Maybe Vera was right? Maybe Mitch did like her.
That didn’t make any sense, though; she was sure that he hated her because he was always so surly around her and made comments about how dumb he thought she was. And now he was going to think she was even sillier because she fell all over him like she was in a ridiculous I Love Lucy skit.
She cleared her throat. “Thank you for the lovely dance. I’ve decided to give this back to you, because you have terrible hat hair.”
He put it back on and tipped it in an exaggerated way. “Thank you kindly ma’am.”
She responded with an overstated curtsy and walked back to Isabelle. Her heart was thundering in her chest for some reason. Maybe it was from the dancing.
Yeah, it must’ve been from the dancing.
Chapter 13
For a moment, he stood and watched Kayla walk away. As worried as he’d been about making a fool of himself on the dance floor, dancing with Kayla was surprisingly fun. The past few days working on the fundraiser with her were fun, too.
When he worked up the courage to ask her to dance, she didn’t seem to understand that it was more than an act of friendship. It wasn’t in her realm of possibility that he could be romantically interested in her.
Maybe it was better that way.
George made an entrance at the far side of the room. Almost as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared, slipping out of one of the back doors. He still hadn’t said hello to Kayla, and it clearly bothered her. Mitch watched as she fixed her hair and shifted her weight, glancing in the direction of George’s disappearance.
As much as it bothered Mitch, Kayla clearly liked George, and her every action showed it. Everything about her was out in the open. She said what she thought, and she meant what she said. Sure, sometimes that led to her saying some mildly offensive things, but at least she was honest. Kayla wore her heart on her sleeve. Her affection for George was no different.
And why wouldn’t she like him? George was a charming guy. It annoyed Mitch, but it was true. Was he jealous of him? Or was he right to be suspicious of that charm?
It was possible that George put on an act for a simple reason, like getting better tips as a tour guide. It seemed plausible, but it still didn’t quite satisfy Mitch. There was just something about him that was so disingenuous, so fake, that he couldn’t get over it. That line about men being like horses in the field was really something, but he made other cringeworthy comments all the time.
Mitch ran into Vera and they chatted for a bit about the fundraiser. He pulled up the website on his phone to show her how nicely Kayla pulled it all together.
Vera was absolutely tickled. “That Kayla is something else, isn’t she?”
“Yes,” he said quickly. He didn’t want Vera getting involved in making it obvious that he found Kayla…interesting? No, that wasn’t right. It made her sound like a science project.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you liked her,” said Vera.
Mitch instinctively looked around to make sure that Kayla wasn’t nearby. “Well, you know, I respect her very much, and I appreciate what she’s doing –”
Vera laughed. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”
Mitch doubted that. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“I know this will sound strange, but I would love some milk.”
Mitch nodded. “Coming right up.”
He went to stand in line at the drink table. Hopefully they had milk – it was an odd request, but he would do anything to avoid discussing how he felt about Kayla. When he said that he respected her, that was true.
And of course he liked her. She was very likable. Everyone liked Kayla. What wasn’t to like?
He didn’t need Vera wedging that into conversation in some misguided attempt to make them fall in love.
Mitch had to be careful. Kayla returned to her real life in a few weeks, and he could never contact her again. It was best not to grow too attached. Yet at the same time, he couldn’t imagine being in Cody without her.
He brought a child-size carton of milk over to Vera and asked her if he could do anything else.
“I’m just fine young man, why don’t you ask some of the young ladies to dance?”
He smiled. “I will.”
He made his way over to Isabelle and Kayla. Kayla seemed to be trying to convince Isabelle to ask a guy to dance.
“He’s not gonna notice you if you just stand here in the corner,” argued Kayla.
Isabelle looked absolutely tortured. “You don’t know that.”
Kayla sighed. “Listen, at least dance with someone else so that he can see you and get a little jealous.”
Isabelle frowned. “I don’t know.”
Mitch offered his hand. “I think my terrible dancing skills could be of use here.”
Kayla raised an eyebrow at him. “I didn’t expect you to be this enthusiastic of a square dancer.”
He shrugged. “Anything in the service of love.”
Kayla snorted with laughter and Isabelle took his hand. They made their way to the dance floor to get ready for the next song, one that Isabelle told him was a classic: She’ll be Coming ‘Round the Mountain.
“How are we supposed to dance with this?” asked Mitch.
“You’ll see!”
They joined hands with the group and marched in a circle. Then a couple of things happened that Mitch wasn’t ready fo
r – when it came time to partner off, he spun the wrong way and found himself lined up with another man from the group. They both laughed it off and tried to catch up with their partners.
In his old life, he would’ve been too embarrassed to dance in public or do anything that made him uncomfortable. But somehow, Mitch was very different from Jason. He was in a new place with total strangers and surprisingly, he felt more like himself. It made him feel like he had the chance to become the man he wanted to be, and not just a man running from his father’s mistakes.
When the song finished, Isabelle shook his hand and gave him a grateful smile. “You’re not half bad,” she said.
“I’ll take it.”
She started walking back towards Kayla. Mitch was going to follow until he saw John talking to George. For some reason, it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He watched as John followed George out of the room.
Mitch didn’t know what compelled him to do this, but he followed them. He did it in a sneaky way. Maybe he was inspired by how cool the FBI agents were in catching his dad, but something inside of him told him that this was the answer to the bad feeling that George gave him. He was able to follow them undetected into the church basement.
To his surprise, there were about fifteen people milling about. John took a seat in the back, and George went to the front of the room. Mitch watched through a crack in the door.
“Thank you all so much for coming here today,” said George. “I am so excited to get you involved in this investment opportunity.”
Mitch’s stomach dropped. All he could see was the back of George’s head and the smiling faces of several of the kindly church members. How did George get them all here? And how was it possible that a wrangler would have an “investment opportunity” for them?
Mitch listened to George’s impassioned speech, complete with graphs and charts that promised to double the required $3,000 initial investment in six weeks. He was trying to make himself seem like an up-and-coming businessman, talking about some sort of internet venture that he knew these older folks would not question.
Doctor's Date with a Billionaire Page 9