Mitch smiled at her, then looked back out at Oliver. He mumbled something that Kayla couldn’t quite hear.
She leaned towards him. “Did you say two million?”
“No,” he said, looking behind them as though to double check no one was there.
“Oh good, I was about to die. That would be insane.”
He cleared his throat. “I said two billion.”
Kayla’s jaw dropped open. For once, she was at a loss for words. She hadn’t noticed that Oliver was standing in front of her, patiently waiting for her to notice that he dropped his ball between her feet. Looking at him made her feel dizzy, so she sat down.
“Are you okay?” Mitch rushed to gently grab her arm, thinking that she was falling.
“I’m fine, I just needed to take a seat.”
Oliver playfully nosed the ball towards her. She absentmindedly picked it up and rolled it a few feet away. Oliver gleefully took off after it.
Mitch sat down next to her. “Really, are you feeling okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shock you with that.”
She waved a hand. “No, I’m sorry, I’ve never met a billionaire before and I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around that number.”
He laughed. “I’m not a billionaire. Like I told my dad, I’m not taking any of that money.”
“Why not?” sputtered Kayla. “I mean – he said it was for you.”
“Yeah, and it was stolen from hard working people. I don’t want it. I have no need for it.”
He got up and wrestled the ball away from Oliver. She watched him for a few minutes, trying to absorb what she’d just heard.
It wasn’t just the money that shocked her – she’d assumed all along that he was rich from whatever crimes he’d committed to get into witness protection. But she never imagined he was that rich.
Or that he was so…moral. And that he’d never committed a crime at all. She’d written him off after he insulted her; he’d made assumptions about her intelligence and she made assumptions about his character.
And now…now she didn’t know what to think.
Chapter 15
Oliver ran over to Mitch, taunting him with the tennis ball. Every time that Mitch went to grab the it, Oliver would run off triumphantly. After this happened two or three times, Kayla reappeared.
“I think he’s done playing by the rules of fetch,” she said.
“I think you’re right.”
Kayla turned to him. “So am I allowed to ask you any more questions about this billion dollars that you don’t want, or is that off-limits?”
He knew that he should never have mentioned it. He didn’t know what got into him. It wasn’t that he was bragging or anything; he found it all quite embarrassing. But he felt like if there was anyone in the world that he could trust with this information, it was Kayla. It felt freeing to get it out in the open.
“It’s not off-limits,” he replied. “There’s just nothing else to say about it.”
She crossed her arms. “Well, I’ve been thinking about it, and I have some things to say.”
Mitch resisted smiling. He didn’t want to encourage her. “Oh really?”
“I had a hard time understanding what that number means. Two billion. I had to wrap my head around it.”
“Uh huh.”
“A billion is one thousand millions, right?”
Mitch had to think for a moment. “Yeah, it is.”
“Okay.” Kayla clapped her hands together. “That means you could pick one thousand charities and give them each one million dollars, and you would still have the other billion dollars left over.”
He knew where she was going with this, and he did not want to have this discussion. “Yeah, except that money is not mine and I’m never going to accept it. So I have zero billion dollars.”
“But you could accept it! You could do so much good with it.”
Mitch shook his head. How could she ever understand? How would she ever know how much hurt and shame his father brought into the world to get that money?
“It’s not that simple. I wish I could explain it to you, but I can’t.”
She stared at him, jaw clenched. “I wish that I could explain to you what a waste it is. What’s going to happen to all of that money? Is it just going to end up in some government fund?”
“What do you have against the government?” he said with a laugh, trying to lighten the mood.
Kayla wasn’t having it. “Nothing. But do you really believe whatever random thing happens to seized money would be better than what you could do with it?”
He covered his eyes with his hand. “I don’t know, Kayla. I’ve always been running from my dad and his schemes and his money. I didn’t want it before, and I don’t want it now. I just want to have my own life.”
“As an insurance salesman?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, if that’s normal. That’s what I want.”
Kayla stared at him, and he was afraid that she might start yelling. Instead, she called Oliver over and reattached his leash. “Alright Ollie, you look pretty tired. Let’s get you back home.”
They didn’t have far to walk back to the ranch; Kayla didn’t mention another word about the money. Mitch was relieved because he didn’t know what else to say. When he first told her about it, a small part of him hoped that she would agree with him about not taking it. That was foolish.
Kayla offered to drive him back home, but first he wanted to reattach the chair leg. It only took him about ten minutes, and then she drove him back to his house.
The whole time she chatted pleasantly about ideas that she had for the fundraiser and how exciting it was that a news station agreed to cover the story. Mitch agreed with her and thought she did excellent work on the whole thing. He was cautiously optimistic about the fundraiser’s success at first, but more and more he was impressed by how skilled and dedicated Kayla was.
They made plans to meet again in a few days to do a tour of Yellowstone National Park. Kayla said that she’d been dying to go ever since she arrived in Cody. Mitch also wanted to go, but in a more abstract way. Knowing that he would be living in Cody for the rest of his life, he didn’t feel as much of a rush to do things. He knew that was silly and that he should seize the day, so he was glad that Kayla was always thinking ahead and planning experiences.
Though he managed to make some new friends at the square dance, he didn’t have any other social events planned until the trip with Kayla. He was forced to focus on his insurance work. He got through all the training and was technically supposed to start selling insurance. It was time for him to start taking phone calls for people who had questions and needed a local consult.
He still hadn’t signed up for any shifts, though, and since he worked on commission, this would soon become a problem.
He decided that there was one thing that he needed to do before he fully committed to his new career: find the truth about George.
He spent almost a full day looking into George’s past. Although he knew a guy through his dad who could do it much more quickly, he was unable to contact him. The Marshals were clear that he could not contact anyone that he used to know for any reason.
After a bit of internet detective work, though, Mitch was able to trace a few of the ranches where George worked over the past few years. Mitch made calls and sent emails; he even had a picture of George from the New Morning Ranch website to send along with his inquiries.
When it was time for his trip to Yellowstone with Kayla, all but one of the ranches responded with information. He wasn’t surprised by what he found, but he was worried how Kayla would take the news.
He drove to pick her up at the ranch early that morning.
“What? No Oliver today?” he asked as she hopped into his truck.
“No,” she sighed. “But luckily Isabelle said that she could check in on him today, so I have a dog sitter. I don’t have to worry about him; I think Yellowstone would be a bit dangerous for him.”
<
br /> “I don’t think he’d appreciate the other tourists,” said Mitch.
“Definitely not.”
Mitch gave her an update about the fundraiser. Although she was disappointed that they hadn’t made much progress, she was hopeful that the spot on the local news would change things. “This may be all it takes to get national attention for our cause.”
He weighed his next words carefully. “I don’t mean this in a bad way, but what if it doesn’t?”
Kayla sighed. “I know what you mean, I’m not offended. If that’s the case, I’m prepared for it. I have six more ideas that we can try.”
Mitch smiled. She definitely wasn’t someone who gave up easily. As much as he admired that, it made what he was about to tell her that much more difficult.
“I’ve got something to show you,” he said. “There’s a folder in the glove box that I want you to look through.”
“Oh,” she said, opening the glove box. “A secret folder, how exciting! Is it going to self-destruct when I’m done with it?”
“No, it won’t.” Mitch realized he was holding his breath. Exciting wasn’t the word he would’ve used. He was half afraid that once she saw what was inside, she’d tell him to turn around. Or that she’d demand to get out of the car.
She flipped through the pages, reading quietly. Her hand darted to cover her mouth, but still she said nothing. Mitch waited anxiously, his eyes darting between her and the road ahead of them.
After about five minutes, she finally spoke. “It’s all true? George has scammed people all over the country?”
Mitch nodded. “It is. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry! What are we going to do about this? He’s been traveling around the country and getting away with pyramid schemes for years!”
Mitch felt a weight lift off of his chest. She wasn’t angry!
“I know,” he said, “it’s awful. It seems like he targets older folks, too. And even after he left some of the locations, he convinced people to wire him money. Some people lost their entire savings.”
“He told me that he traveled to experience the world! That snake! Look at all of these stories!”
“I know. Once the police catch on, he skips town.”
Kayla whipped her phone out of her pocket. “This is unbelievable! I’m calling Isabelle right now.”
“Wait,” said Mitch. “If you do that and they kick him out, he’s just going to get away with it again and start over in some new town.”
Kayla sighed. “I guess you’re right, but what else are we supposed to do?”
Mitch smiled. “I’m glad to see that you’re on board, because that’s going to make it much easier.”
“Oh,” Kayla replied, eyes lighting up, “can we, like, steal his car or something?”
“What?” Mitch laughed. “If we steal his – no, that’s not what I was thinking. More like we could pass along a little tip to the FBI. He is a wanted man, after all.”
Kayla got so excited that she struck him in the shoulder. “Genius!”
He let out a sarcastic “ow.”
“Eek, I’m sorry!” She gingerly rubbed the spot that she just smacked. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
“It’s all right. Do you want to give Agent Simmons a call before we get to Yellowstone?”
Kayla solemnly put her hand over her heart. “I would be honored.”
Mitch kept his eyes on the road. He was relieved that she didn’t try to defend George. The evidence was pretty clear, but Mitch didn’t know how deep Kayla’s friendship with George actually went. He could tell that she had a bit of a crush on him. Clearly, though, whatever she felt for him was not enough to make her defend his terrible actions.
It seemed that his luck was turning around, but he reminded himself that he couldn’t get too attached to her. The trial was only a few short weeks away, and after that, Kayla would be out of his life forever.
Yet somehow, despite knowing this to be a fact, he found it impossible to stay away from her. It seemed that she had him fully ensnared in her charms.
For once in his life, he decided not to worry about every little thing, and instead enjoy his friendship with this extraordinary woman while it lasted.
Chapter 16
Their trip to Yellowstone was amazing. Kayla felt like she was on an alien planet; everything looked so strange and beautiful.
Exploring the park left her drained, though. That night, she only had the strength to take Oliver on a walk, feed him his dinner, and go to bed. When she awoke the next morning, her entire body felt sore. All this time she thought that she was getting pretty fit by taking Oliver for long walks and hikes, but apparently it was no match for running around Yellowstone Park for a day.
Despite her soreness, Kayla was on a mission. She could not believe that Mitch had access to billions of dollars and thought it was better to leave it lying around to be seized! It’s not like she was telling him to accept the money and buy a jet or a private island. Though who was she kidding? He could probably buy a small country with that money.
All she needed him to understand was that he could do so much good with it and potentially undo some of the damage that his father inflicted on the world. He could donate millions upon millions of dollars to charities, or even start his own charity. This money could help people for years after both he and his father were long gone. Kayla planned to tell this to him when she went over later to watch the news broadcast about the Singers.
Despite being dedicated to her mission, there were a few things that she had to do first. After getting up and taking Oliver for a walk, she met up with Isabelle to help her with the horses – something she’d promised to do ages ago when she heard that Isabelle would be short handed for the day.
She was glad that she didn’t forget, because Isabelle was all aflutter with news of going to the movies with her crush Corey. Kayla pressed for details, but Isabelle was a bit shy.
“I’m sure it all sounds lame to you,” bemoaned Isabelle.
“What? Why would you say that?”
Isabelle sighed. “I just can’t imagine how different everything is for you in the city. I’m sure that these all seem like little girl problems.”
Kayla laughed as she lifted a saddle from a pony. “You’d be surprised how lame my life is. I haven’t gone to the movies with a guy in years. Actually, I haven’t gone anywhere with a guy in ages.”
Isabelle gave her a mischievous smile.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Kayla.
Isabelle shrugged. “I mean, you were out with Mitch all day yesterday. I would say that he definitely counts as a guy. A pretty cute guy.”
Kayla rolled her eyes. “Believe me, he did not think that it was a date. And neither did I. We are just two people exploring one of this nation’s amazing national parks.”
“You sound like a brochure,” Isabelle shouted from the back of the barn.
“That’s what I’m doing here, isn’t it? Turning myself into a brochure!”
Kayla wolfed down lunch as quickly as she could before taking Oliver for a nice long walk to tire him out; she needed to carry out the next part of her mission in peace. It worked like a charm, and he went right to his crate and settled in for a nap. She gave him a treat and told him to be a good boy while she was away. Luckily for her, his good boy incidents now far outweighed his naughty incidents. The crate was a huge help, and he didn’t seem to mind it now that he understood there was no negotiation about going inside.
She had to go to the library to use a computer, because she didn’t want Mitch to see that she was going to search “Marty Brash” online. Also, she wondered if searching Marty’s name would trigger some sort of alert and the bad guys would immediately know where she was. That seemed like something out of the movies, though, and she figured that she couldn’t be the only person in the country to know the man’s name.
After about two hours of research, she learned more about the crimes that Marty orchestrated.
Most exciting to her were the online support groups formed by people who lost their pensions or were scammed out of money in some other way. The ones nearby weren’t directly related to Marty, but they were close enough.
This was exactly what Mitch needed to see: the impact of these scams on real people. She printed a few things out before rushing back to the cabin to pick up Oliver.
She made it to Mitch’s place just in time. John and Vera were already there, and Mitch made several bowls of popcorn for everyone to enjoy.
“I would’ve gone with buffalo chicken dip for this sort of party myself,” she told him as she accepted a small bowl of popcorn. “But this is nice too.”
He gave her a smile that told her he wasn’t going to take the bait of arguing with her. “I wouldn’t want to subject these nice people to my terrible cooking.”
Kayla had never been so excited to watch the news. First, there was a story about some burglaries in Jackson Hole. Next was something about a mountain lion – it didn’t catch Kayla’s interest – and then a story about the price of a school lunch. Finally, towards the end, a glorious five minute spot aired that was dedicated entirely to the Singers.
It mainly highlighted footage of the aftermath of the tornado and fundraiser that Kayla set up. The last shot was of John and Vera holding hands as they gazed onto the field where their home used to be.
“It’s hard to believe it’s all gone,” said John to the reporter. “But people like our friend Kayla really give us hope.”
A hot feeling ran through Kayla’s body. To her horror, a picture of her from the square dance appeared on screen. She couldn’t hear what was being said on the program because her mind was in such a panic.
“There you are,” chimed a voice in her head. “You and your dumb non-witness protected face plastered over hundreds, if not thousands, of TVs at this second.”
The story ended. Kayla sat there stunned. She didn’t want to look at Mitch. He was probably shooting daggers with his eyes.
Doctor's Date with a Billionaire Page 11