Ethan seemed less shaken in the morning, but by the time they parted ways after breakfast, Lily was still haunted by the fact that she’d fallen asleep and left Wookie outside the cabin and in danger. The fact that a man had been wandering near her cabin at all worried Lily. Was the saboteur escalating?

The first act—that she and Ethan knew of—had prevented Ruby from renting out the cabins on the far side of the lake, leaving only the two she and Ethan occupied available for rent. In time, that loss of revenue would cripple Ruby. However, Ethan had found the problem. He’d fixed it. The cabins, as far as she knew, were in working order.

Reporting Ruby to the Greendale Town Council also hadn’t earned the saboteur any reward. After all, Ethan had fixed that problem too, by mending the broken pipe. Lily now had running water again, for which she was very glad. Imagine how embarrassing it would be if she had to knock on Ethan’s door in the middle of the night every time she had to pee!

Though, if he kissed her like he had last night every time…

“Focus on the problem,” Lily muttered to herself. She adjusted her position on the log bench at the back of her cabin. Bench was a bit of a stretch, but she sat here for breakfast around the fire pit. It was rustic and charming, made her feel miles away from her problems at work.

However, she was now mired directly in the problems of her host. If the saboteur hadn’t solved anything by cutting pipes, what would he resort to next? What else would cause Ruby problems?

With a chill, Lily hoped the answer wasn’t setting the cabin on fire.

No, that would be foolish. It could be the fault of the person occupying the cabin, not Ruby’s. She had to think of a less lethal method for the saboteur to make problems for Ruby. If she could, she could warn Ethan in time for him to fix the problem before the Town Council was called in. After all, they might have let Ruby off with a warning, but if this sort of thing continued to happen, next they would shut down her campground as they threatened.

With a whine, Wookie nosed the phone in Lily’s hand.

“You’re right, girl. I need more information.”

For that, she had to break the rules. If word of her using her phone got back to her boss, she might be disqualified from the competition for the promotion. Rob seemed to be making every excuse not to take her or her ideas seriously.

Yes, excuses. That was what they were. She was more than qualified for that position. She had the drive. That’s why she was doing the work on this sabotage. It was good practice for when she earned that promotion and was doing work like this on a regular basis. So what if she was breaking a few rules in pursuit of the truth? That was what good reporters did. Besides this was for Ruby.

She didn’t have to tell anyone. This would stay between her and the person she trusted the most in the world. She pressed the button to turn on her phone.

When it booted up, she found her best friend’s name in her contact list and phoned her cell phone. She lifted the phone to her ear, prepared for what Tonya would say.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on radio silence for another few days?”

Bingo. Exactly as expected. But Tonya, although she loved to remind Lily of the rules—likely for her own good, given that a misstep would give Rob more ammunition against her for the promotion—had a smile in her voice.

“I need your help,” Lily said, ignoring the teasing.

“Are you hurt?” Tonya’s voice changed from laughing to serious and piercing in an instant.

“No, I’m fine. But something is going on in this campground and I need your help to make sure it stops.”

Her voice cautious, the other reporter asked, “What’s happening?”

“Someone is tampering with the cabins. The Greendale Town Council—that’s the closest town to where I am, and I’m guessing Pinecrest Lodge is within their jurisdiction—they were called in yesterday to shut down the campground on account of this tampering. The handyman here fixed the problem and it’s been swept under the rug, but I’m almost certain it’s going to start up again.”

The conviction in her voice must have swayed Tonya, because her friend asked, “What can you do?”

Lily had asked herself that question many times over the course of her life. A lot of the time, it was the precursor to her telling herself that she could do nothing. That she wasn’t good enough. Well, this time she could do something. She had a plan.

Unfortunately, she had terrible internet access and a questionable cell phone signal, if the crackling on the other line was any indication.

“I want to find out what the town bylaws are for this campground. If I know what sort of things might be brought up to the Town Council, then I might be able to predict and stop the saboteur before they do something else.”

“Are you sure?” Tonya asked, her voice small. “That sounds like it could be dangerous. You shouldn’t be doing this alone. Maybe you should alert the authorities instead.”

“Out here, the authorities are one man, and I’m betting that he’s already overworked. I don’t have the connections we have at home. But I’m not alone. Ethan is helping me, too.”

“Ethan?” Her friend’s voice deepened with interest. “Ethan who?”

Lily was doubly glad that she could answer that question. “Ethan Thomas.” Although she’d been a bit uncertain after their kiss by the lake in the heat of the moment, he seemed to genuinely like her. Telling her his last name was a step forward. He was one of those strong-but-silent types. If she had enough time, she could probably crack his tough exterior and learn more about him, little by little.

She was leaving in a couple days and wouldn’t get that time.

Stamping out that small voice, she asked her friend, “Can I count on you to help? I know you’ve probably got a lot on your plate, what with work, but if you could look up the bylaws for Greendale…”

“I’ll help,” Tonya vowed. “You know I’d do anything for you. Tell me more about this Ethan guy. Is he hot?”

Lily couldn’t help but smile to herself as she admitted, “Smoking.”

And a good kisser, too.

“Oh? Tell me more.”

“He’s the handyman here on the campground.”

“So he’s good with his hands,” Tonya joked.

Lily stuck out her tongue, even though her friend couldn’t see her. Wookie tilted her head, as if worried by Lily’s bizarre behavior. She patted her dog absently.

“You know I’m not the type to have a fling.”

“So no wining and dining out there?”

No wine, at least… “Where would I forage for wine?”

“You could find a patch of grapes and make your own,” Tonya joked.

“In the mountains?”

“Hey, I have no dating life. I have to live vicariously through yours.”

“I have no dating life, either,” Lily pointed out. Until recently, they had spent most of their free time with each other as they continued to work long past when they should have stopped to relax.

“Hence why I’m so curious! Does he have potential?”

Lily’s stomach dropped at the question. She swallowed hard and said, “He’s nice,” but left it at that.

“Just nice?”

“I’m leaving in a few days, or had you forgotten that?”

“So, not quitting your job anytime soon to become the wife of a mountain man?”

“Tonya…”

Her friend laughed. The line crackled again, warping the sound and her next words. Lily struggled to decipher them.

“I’m only teasing. I’ll get the information you requested.” Static filled the line again. “…email?”

“Yeah. Email is great.” Lily wasn’t entirely sure what her friend had said but the connection only appeared to be worsening. “Thank you,” she said quickly, hoping Tonya heard. “I appreciate it.”

Crackling. “…an hour.” With a flippant laugh, Tonya ended the conversation with, “Go have fun with your mountain man.”

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Lily stared at her phone as the signal jumped from nothing to one bar and back again, like a flickering candle flame. She powered off the phone and stuffed it into her pocket.

She had an hour to kill. Luckily, she also had a reality newspaper article to write, so she stood and clucked her tongue, calling for Wookie to follow as she went inside. She had work to do.