“I think that was lovely!” Vera said excitedly.
John nodded encouragingly. “And I hope you don’t mind that we snuck in some credit to you.”
“No, no,” she said a little too forcefully. “I’m just…a bit camera shy.”
Vera had a puzzled look on her face. “But you’re a journalist!”
“I am, I just prefer to stay behind the scenes,” replied Kayla. She cautioned a look at Mitch. His expression was stony and unreadable.
John and Vera thanked her again for all of her help and reminded her that even if the fundraiser didn’t work, they appreciated her efforts all the same. Kayla hugged them both and said goodbye.
After they left, Kayla knew she had to face Mitch. She found it extremely hard to do so, but there was nowhere to hide.
He broke the silence. “I think that whole segment was amazing.”
“Yeah,” she scoffed, “except that my stupid face was broadcast all over the news!”
He flinched. “You don’t have a stupid face. And yeah, that wasn’t ideal. But hopefully the guys looking for us don’t watch Jackson Hole’s local news every night.”
Kayla groaned. “They probably do. They’re probably coming here right now.”
“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Mitch said with a laugh. “We should let Perez know what happened so –”
Kayla cut him off. “No. They told me not to attract attention to myself, and being on the news is the exact opposite of keeping a low profile. They’re going to kick me out!”
“They’re not going to kick you out,” Mitch said evenly. “I won’t let them. I’ll refuse to testify.”
Kayla felt a breath catch in her throat. Was he serious? He looked serious. But Mitch almost always looked serious because he had resting scowl face.
She cleared her throat. “That’s not necessary.”
He took a step towards her. “It is. Without me, this is all a waste. I think we should tell them so they can be on the alert for any threats. And if they kick you out, I go too.”
Kayla didn’t know what to say to that, so her brain offered a lame joke. “Then you’ll need your dad’s money to hire around the clock protection with retired Navy Seals or something.”
He shrugged. “So be it.”
Kayla swallowed. Yeah. He was definitely serious. She didn’t know what to say. In the silence, she heard a faint sound. “Do you hear that?” she asked.
Mitch turned his head to listen. “I think it’s coming from the kitchen.”
They walked to the kitchen to find Oliver, triumphantly wagging his tail, tongue hanging out of his mouth as if to say, “Hey guys!” A piece of laminate flooring at least two feet long was detached from the floor. It looked like he dug at it before tugging the corner with his mouth.
Kayla slapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh no, Ollie! I shouldn’t have left you unsupervised for so long! What is this!”
Oliver’s tail slowly drifted downwards. He dropped his eyes to avoid Kayla’s glare.
She turned to Mitch. “I am so sorry, I will replace this!”
But Mitch was already down on his hands and knees, petting Oliver on the back. “That’s alright, Ollie! I wanted to pull that up myself anyway. Good job buddy!”
Oliver’s tail perked back up and he promptly flipped over, launching his paws into the air and exposing his belly for rubs.
“I really am sorry,” Kayla said.
Mitch turned to face her while still rubbing Oliver’s belly. “It’s really not a problem, the floor is total junk. Plus, we came in after he was done doing it, so even though he knew we were unhappy, he didn’t know why. There’s no point in shaming him now.” He turned back to Oliver. “He’s still a really good boy!”
Kayla didn’t know what was happening, but as she watched burly, lumberjack Mitch on the floor, comforting Oliver in a high pitched voice, something in her heart stirred.
Chapter 17
After Mitch helped Kayla craft a carefully worded email to Perez, Kayla took Oliver, got into her car, and went back to the ranch.
Mitch’s place was quiet at night, and while he liked the peace, he also liked having guests around. He didn’t mind at all about the damage to the kitchen floor. In fact, it gave him an excuse to replace the floor himself instead of waiting for the landlord to do it.
Mitch was more worried about Kayla being on the news than he let on. It didn’t seem like it would be helpful for him to freak out, though, so he kept it to himself.
None of the Marshals contacted him recently with any news about Colin. It’d be surprising if Colin were sharp enough to catch a slip up on the Jackson Hole evening news, but who knows? He could get lucky. It wasn’t worth risking Kayla’s safety to test Colin Cragin’s cleverness.
The next few days were going to be boring for Mitch. He finally signed up for some shifts as an insurance salesman. Though he didn’t feel completely comfortable with all of the aspects of it, and he didn’t want to give anyone bad advice, he felt like it was now or never. Soon Kayla would go back to Albany and he would have nothing to fill his time.
Sure, he’d made some friends, and he’d found little projects to distract him – like the deal he got on some wood that he used to craft a nice little table. It took hours to complete, and the whole time he knew he should’ve been working his real job, but it was hard to commit to the transition.
Perez responded to his email two hours after he sent it. She thanked him for making them aware of the news incident, and though they were too late to stop it, they had yet to see any suspicious activity. Mitch had the urge to call her and ask about Colin, but he decided to use Kayla’s approach and assume that if there was a problem, they would tell them. He sent Kayla a text message letting her know that he got an email that she shouldn’t be worried.
Mitch then dedicated himself to attempting to sell insurance. He managed to sell a few policies, but only because the people who called him knew exactly what they wanted. He started wondering how hard it was going to be to make his living this way. Perhaps the Marshals would allow him a slight career change. Maybe to be a plumber or something – anything other than sitting in front of this computer all day.
When Kayla asked him to take a ride with her after two days of working on insurance, he was more than willing. She could’ve asked him to shovel horse manure out of the stables for all he cared – anything to take a break. It didn’t hurt that it was Kayla asking, either.
For some reason, she insisted on picking him up and being the driver. He had the fleeting thought that her insistence was a bit odd, but he didn’t dwell on it.
An hour into their drive, he realized that he should’ve explored that feeling further. “I didn’t think we were going this far from Cody,” he said nervously.
Kayla, driving with one hand barely on the wheel, dismissed his concerns. “Listen, we couldn’t be going to a safer place.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
He wasn’t going to give up that easily. “Can I have a hint?”
She bit her lip. “I just wanted to go to a fundraiser.”
“Another one? Is it for the Singers?”
“Not exactly…” Her voice trailed off.
Now Mitch was sure that she was hiding something. “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”
Kayla shrugged. “Who knows! Enjoy the ride!”
Ten minutes later, they arrived at a fire hall. Mitch argued that they shouldn’t go inside; what if the people inside saw Kayla’s face all over the news? It seemed unwise to go barging into new places.
Kayla wasn’t having it. “Oh come on, we can just sit in the back and observe. I promise we won’t talk to anyone.”
He sighed. “When have you ever not talked to people?”
“All right, I guess I’m on my own!” She jumped from the car and walked into the fire hall without him.
He couldn’t let her walk in there
by herself, so he followed her, accepting a brochure at the door before taking a seat next to Kayla in the very last row.
“If we see anything funny,” he said in a whisper, “we’re leaving. Okay?”
She nodded solemnly. “Of course.”
A man took the podium and introduced himself as the police chief.
“I would like to personally thank you all for being here today. Our town has always stepped up to support one another, and this is no different.”
He was met with applause.
Mitch looked at Kayla. She was clapping too. Was this another one of her journalist schemes? She was really enjoying that title to the fullest.
The police chief continued. “As hard as it’s been for us to watch our friends and family members be ripped apart by their financial trouble, I’m confident that with all of the great minds we have here today, we will be able to find a solution.”
Mitch opened the brochure, looking for a hint of what this was about. It offered no clues. He shot Kayla a look, but she appeared determined to keep staring straight ahead. At this point, people from the crowd got up to tell their stories. They ranged from the very young to the very old, and everyone in between.
From what Mitch could gather, a business set up shop in this town offering advice on financial investments. The salesman provided payday loans as well as tips on how to invest in the stock market. He had glossy magazines with pictures of beautiful timeshares, too. The shop also sold expensive foods that were supposed to help with weight loss.
Mitch leaned into Kayla to quietly say, “It sounds like this was a one stop shop for being scammed.”
Kayla nodded. “It’s really stunning how aggressive the whole campaign was. From what I read online, and from what we’re hearing today, it sounds like hundreds of people lost their savings.”
Mitch rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, I’m not surprised. Once he gained their trust it was probably easy.”
“Yep,” Kayla said quietly. “That’s how it seems. Then the guy closed up shop, took all of their investments, sold their debt to collections companies, and left town. Probably to hit the next town over.”
Mitch frowned. “Tale as old as time.”
He knew what she was doing. Though this wasn’t one of his father’s schemes – it was a bit too unsophisticated for Marty’s recent criminal life – it was a shocking example of how much damage one person could do.
Kayla wanted him to see the human effects of his dad’s schemes. But he knew what the effect was, he’d seen it for years. He knew it was devastating. He knew it destroyed families. His dad was a bad guy who did bad things. It was overwhelming to see the harm and chaos that his father caused over the years. That’s why Mitch spent so many years running away from it.
“I think we better get going,” said Mitch after listening for an hour.
Kayla crossed her arms. “Why? They’re just getting started.”
“You’ve made your point,” he said. “Let’s get out of here before someone sees you.”
He watched her face as she clearly debated if she was going to worry about that. “All right,” she finally said, “let’s go.”
Once they were back on the road, Kayla started her campaign again. “Isn’t it just amazing, though? How these communities band together?”
Mitch stared out of the window. “It is. I wish them all the best.”
Kayla sighed, exasperated. “You know you could help them, right?”
“How? By doing fundraising with them?”
“Ugh!” exclaimed Kayla. “I’m trying to be subtle here, but you’re making it really hard.”
“There’s nothing subtle about it, I know what you want me to do.”
Kayla looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Okay? Then what’s your argument against it?”
He shook his head. “It’s out of the question. There’s nothing to discuss. I’m not going to accept my dad’s money, not for any reason.”
“Even to help all of those people? Don’t do it for yourself, do it for them.”
“It’s not that simple Kayla. There’s a lot of – history. And stuff. I’ll always be linked to him.”
Kayla took her hand off the steering wheel and waved it wildly in the air. “No you wouldn’t! You could stay anonymous. No one needs to know.”
“Of course they would,” he said.
She let out a huff. “Fine. If you refuse to talk about it, we can just ride back in silence.”
Mitch sighed. This wasn’t how he imagined his evening with Kayla going. Yet there they were.
She was stubborn – extremely stubborn. But she didn’t understand that this wasn’t her fight. She wouldn’t be able to convince him that accepting all that money would bring any more good into the world. Mitch didn’t want any part of it.
They drove for the next hour in silence, just as Kayla promised. When she pulled up to his house, he turned to her and felt like he had to say something.
“I’m sorry I disappointed you. I know that it doesn’t make sense to you. And I’m sorry.”
Kayla looked at him, her lips pressed in a thin line. “Goodnight Mitch.”
She wasn’t going to budge.
“Goodnight Kayla.”
He got out of the car, closed the door, and watched her drive off into the night.
Chapter 18
What a nerve he had. He’d rather not talk to her at all than talk about the billions of dollars he planned to waste? Fine!
Kayla drove home in a huff. How could he be so heartless? Those people weren’t directly affected by one of his dad’s schemes, but they may as well have been.
None of it mattered to Mitch, though. He didn’t want to help them – he didn’t want to help anyone because he was a selfish person, just like his father. Kayla couldn’t believe that she almost thought he was a nice guy. He clearly wasn’t.
She was so preoccupied that it felt like she got back to the ranch in no time. Oliver was thrilled to see her, and when she took him on a short walk around the ranch, she ran into Isabelle.
“Hey Kayla, hey Oliver. How’s it going?”
“Oh pretty good,” Kayla responded. She’d managed to calm down a bit and felt better after walking around. “How’re you doing?”
“Great! I was just about to watch the new episode of Cowboy Looking for Love in the City.”
Kayla suppressed a laugh. “Is that a real show?”
Isabelle beamed. “I know it sounds dumb, but it’s cute. Would you want to watch with me? It’s online so we can watch anytime.”
“I don’t have internet access in my cabin,” said Kayla.
Isabelle cocked her head to the side. “Yes you do. Every cabin has Wi-Fi and a private password. It would’ve all been in your welcome instructions.”
Kayla covered her eyes. “You have got to be kidding me. I’ve been going over to Mitch’s place for weeks because I didn’t think that I had access to the internet, and my phone only barely works here.”
Isabelle giggled. “You should’ve asked. So do you want to watch some cowboys or what?”
Kayla sighed. She couldn’t believe that she’d been there for so long and had no idea about the internet. “Sure, that sounds nice. Oliver’s been stuck at home all night, and I’m sure he’d love the company.”
They headed back to Kayla’s cabin. After popping some popcorn, they settled onto the couch next to Oliver.
Kayla was excited to have internet access and connected her phone to it right away. Her fight with Mitch made her feel crabby and homesick. It wouldn’t be long before she could return home, and for some reason, she really missed her regular boring life right at that moment.
She was tempted to look at some of the Facebook profiles of her friends and family; it might help her feel less alone. She couldn’t log into her account, of course, in case there was some sort of tracker on it. But what harm was there in looking?
Kayla tilted her phone out of Isabelle’s view – luckily Isabelle was pretty engr
ossed in the show. First, Kayla tried to pull up her best friend’s page; unfortunately, it was set to private and she couldn’t see anything. Almost all of her friends had private accounts. There was only one person she knew who had a public profile for sure, and that was her mom.
After typing in her mom’s name, she was able to easily find her and open her profile. Her mom’s picture was still the same as it’d been for the past two years, which was oddly comforting for some reason. Kayla scrolled down the page and saw a bunch of activity. Her heart dropped in the pit of her stomach.
“So sorry to hear, best of luck.”
“Sending prayers, love you both.”
“We made your signature tortellini salad today,” wrote Kayla’s great aunt. “Get well soon.”
Normally Kayla would laugh at a comment like that, so seemingly out of place. But right now she didn’t find any of it funny. What happened? Did someone hurt her mom? Or her dad? What was going on?
She scrolled down her mom’s Facebook page and was able to figure out that yes, something did happen, and her mom appeared to be in the hospital.
“I need to get home right away,” Kayla said out loud.
Isabelle turned to her, alarmed. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” she stood, feeling frantic. “I mean, I don’t know. It looks like my mom is in the hospital, but I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Can you call her?”
Kayla almost had to bite her tongue to keep from telling Isabelle the truth. “No, I haven’t heard from her and – I just need to go home.”
Isabelle stood up from the couch, bumping Oliver, who let out an exaggerated sigh. “It’s probably too late to fly out tonight, but the first flight usually leaves Cody at 5:30 in the morning. You could catch a flight to Denver and then get back to New York City?”
“Right.” Kayla felt like her brain wasn’t working. Her mom was hurt. Or sick? Something happened – what if she couldn’t get back in time? Did someone attack her? Here she was, running around on a silly Wild West adventure, not a care in the world. What was she thinking?
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