They spent a few more minutes discussing the house and how long Jack planned to stay.
“Only a few more days,” he said. “I see the doctor on Monday. Figure I’ll go home after that. I’ll admit, I don’t hate the celebrity treatment I’m getting here.” He laughed.
“You deserve the status,” she said with a smile. “Did Joe Monroe call?”
“Earlier this morning. He said he talked to you, too, and he’s definitely interested in writing our story. Then he said the running club was keeping him busy with all theincidents and he was going to put you all in a padded room to keep you safe.”
Steph laughed. “He told me the same thing. It has been an interesting few months.”
“I had no idea Basin County, Wyoming, was such a hot zone for criminal activity.”
“It never used to be.” Steph shrugged. “What’s that phrase about things coming in threes? This was number three, so maybe we’ll go back to being a quiet, sleepy place.”
“That’d be good for us,” Jack agreed. “Oh, you were right about The Frozen Divide. I heard back from the organizer this morning. I can roll my registration over to next year.”
“I knew they’d let you. They’re good about things like that.” She paused. “You weren’t qualified for it anyway.” She said it without heat, the way she said things that were simply true. “I knew that when I saw your name on the registration list.”
“I thought I was.” He shrugged. “I thought, how hard can it be? Wrong. Being out there, with you, showed me exactly how much I didn’t know.”
“So next year, I could help you put a plan together. If you build a solid base in advance, you’ll be ready.”
“Are you going to race next year? I thought you said this was your last year.”
Steph’s cheeks took on a light blush. “Maybe. Things...You see, I haven’t been completely honest with you.”
Here it comes, he thought.She’s decided our closeness was based only on being in a disaster together.
Jack had wondered about that, too, but he knew that wasn’t true and he’d come up with several reasons to give her if she thought it was. He was ready.
“Steph, I know what you’re going to say.”
She wrinkled her forehead. “How could you know?”
“I’ve thought the same things. About how trauma can heighten emotions and—”
Steph shook her head. “No, Jack. That’s not what I was going to say.”
“It’s not? Okay?” He smiled. “Good. I’m glad. So...what were you going to say?”
She cleared her throat. “I wanted to tell you that my blaming you for swooping in here and setting up the run was unfair.”
“Right. We talked about this. You didn’t know it was Liam financing everything.”
She glanced around the room. “I didn’t, but that’s not the point. The point is, I could put on a race of my own. I don’t have the money Liam Dixon has—obviously—but I do have money. In a few accounts. I started saving for a world-class race a few years ago. Planned to sink everything I had into it. And I wouldn’t spend the kind of money Liam’s going to spend on advertising and everything. Plenty of races start on a shoestring budget.”
“That’s true. Liam is definitely going over the top. So, you have the money and can put on a race?”
“I have the money, but I decided a couple of years ago not to use it for a race. Before you and Liam’s money ever came into the picture, I’d resigned myself to being satisfied with the fundraiser races. And not only because of the money, but because of the time.”
“The time? Involved with planning a race?”
“No, not exactly.” Steph cleared her throat. “You see...I’ve, um, the money I had for the race, I decided to use for something else.”
“So, you changed your mind about wanting to host a race?”
“Yes, but I want to tell you why. And maybe try to explain how come I was so angry at you, even though it seems pretty silly now.”
“Go ahead.”
