It was time to get back into the swing of things. I’d been in a holding pattern for too long. Kevin left yesterday and it was time to get back to work. I truly appreciated how cool Landon had been with everything, but I was ready to hit a bag. Well, I wanted to, but my hands were a little sore. I wasn’t used to bare-knuckle fighting.

I had sent Jenna a text last night, knowing she didn’t want to see me or talk to me. The point had been made and I wasn’t going to push it, but I did still need her to watch Abby if she was willing. Thankfully, she was.

I grabbed Abby’s backpack. “Let’s go,” I hollered at her from the living room.

She skipped down the hallway, excited to spend time with Jenna. At least one of us was going to get to see her still. For now. I knew it was only a matter of time before she stopped babysitting. I wasn’t paying her enough to make up for the job she lost at the diner.

Abby bounced over to her house, knocking on the door with excitement.

“Hi, Abby!” Jenna said with a friendly smile before she looked at me.

She stuck her hand out for the backpack.

“Thank you for watching her.”

She shrugged. “I told you I would. I don’t know for how much longer, so you will need to start looking for a daycare.”

I nodded. “I know. I can pay you more.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m not a charity case. I’ll watch her, and you can pay me for the hours I’m babysitting. I don’t want your money.”

“It isn’t like that,” I protested.

She glared at me over the top of Abby’s head. Abby walked inside, leaving me and Jenna alone in the doorway of her house. There was a horrible awkwardness that had me shifting from one foot to another. I didn’t know what to say, but I didn’t want to leave.

“I should go in,” she muttered, breaking the tense silence.

“Jenna, wait. Please? Have dinner with me?” I blurted out, as much to my surprise as hers.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m happy to watch Abby, but that’s the extent of this relationship. I’d rather we kept this professional.”

I wasn’t going to lie; it felt like a knife to the heart. I had been so close to telling her how I felt, and I knew she had been willing to listen. It was Aaron’s fault I didn’t get the chance. I wanted to beat the shit out of him all over again.

Letting out a long breath, I collected myself. “Okay, I understand. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

I felt like I was dragging my knuckles along the ground as I headed for my Tahoe. It hurt. I couldn’t ask her to change how she felt. She made her point and I wasn’t going to try and force her to want me. When I arrived at the gym, Landon pulled me into his office.

“I know you weren’t expecting a second client for today’s session, but there’s a young man who is very eager to meet you and hopefully train with you. He said he was from the Boston area and knows of you. He practically begged me to let him take the session today. I talked with Devin and he was cool with the newbie crashing his party.”

My heart lurched as I immediately assumed it was someone tied to Frank. They wanted revenge. It figured I cut off the head of the snake only to have another grow in its place. Would I ever be free of him? I was going to have to run, again. I didn’t have it in me to take another man’s life. I would be haunted for the rest of my life as it was. I was going to take Jenna’s advice and get out of town. Hell, I’d get out of the country if it meant protecting my daughter and avoiding confrontation.

I nodded my head, shrugging with nonchalance. “Sounds good. We’ll see what he’s about.”

“Oh, and something else,” he said, with a grin on his face.

I was almost afraid to ask. “What’s that?”

“Come with me,” he said, leading me through the gym to a side door I had assumed opened into alley. I was leery of him, alleyways and anybody claiming to be from Boston. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I assumed this was it. I prayed it would be quick.

He opened the door and flipped on a light. It was a large empty building that shared a wall with the gym. I looked around, waiting for someone to jump out of the shadows and shoot me.

“What’s this?” I asked hesitantly.

“This is where our new ring is going in!”

I turned to look at him with surprise. “What ring?”

He grinned. “I wasn’t aware how popular this whole fighting thing is. I’ve had a lot of interest since word got around we had a real MMA guy in town willing to do some training. I also have an old boxer who wants to train as well. This is a whole new untapped market here in Beatrice and I want to get in on it on the ground floor.”

“Wow. That’s awesome,” I said, impressed, but feeling a little guilty. I wasn’t sure I wanted to stick around all that long. I didn’t want the man to invest a lot of time and money into a venture that I had no business seeing through for the long-haul.

“It is awesome. I’ve been thinking about leasing this space for a while. I made a couple of calls and got the keys yesterday.”

“Congratulations, Landon. That is really exciting news.”

We turned and headed out into the main gym area where he quickly introduced me to the new guy that had sought me out. My radar was up as I looked him over. I didn’t know him, and he was fairly young, I was guessing barely eighteen. He’d lived in Beatrice for a few years now. I was going to take his story at face value. He seemed legit. He wasn’t here to rough me up or threaten revenge for taking out a notoriously bad human being.

We got right to work. Having two of them to train against each other was actually very helpful. After a solid two-hour workout, they were ready to hit the showers.

“Colton,” Landon called my name.

I turned to see him standing next to the sheriff and felt a fresh wave of apprehension. I strode toward him, doing my best to look innocent of whatever crime I was being accused of. I half-expected to be questioned about the bodies in Lincoln.

“What can I do for you?” I asked.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?”

“Go ahead and take my office,” Landon said, gesturing for the door.

This wasn’t going to be good. Privacy was never needed to give good news.

I stood in the room, not interested in sitting down. I wouldn’t say a word without a lawyer present, which meant I’d be dragged back to the station.

“I had a couple witnesses come forward,” he started.

I nodded my head, seeing where things were going. Small town folks protected each other. Aaron and his father seemed to be the men running the place and had probably conjured up a series of witnesses from out of thin air. I was sure I was about to be dragged to jail for starting a fight.

“And?” I said, immediately on the defensive.

“And, one of them saw everything from start to finish. She could also hear the conversation. She was outside on the other side of that alley fence. She watched the whole thing unfold and supported your version. Because of her testimony and another eyewitness that saw the fight, I’ve charged Aaron and his buddies with assault.”

“Oh,” I mumbled, caught completely off-guard.

He grinned. “I thought you’d want to know that they’re a little angry. I’m throwing in a few extra charges just for shits and giggles. I’m sure Frank will hire some high-priced attorney and get the majority of the charges thrown out, but it’s going to cost him. As it turns out, Daddio has some legal problems of his own.”

“Really? What kind of problems?”

The sheriff was smiling. “Oh, fraud, tax theft and a litany of other allegations. Those weren’t brought on by me. Apparently, he’s been on the Fed's radar for some time now. He’s been skating by and covering his ass, but it looks like he’s about to lose everything. Including that diner, which is a damn shame, I really did enjoy the BLTs.”

I chuckled. “I’ll miss it as well, but if it truly does get shut down, I doubt it will be long before someone else snatches it up and reopens the doors.”

“I hope so. I just wanted to let you know in case Frank has tried to threaten or harass you. I know him, and he is infamous for doing just that.”

I shook my head. “I haven’t heard a word from him.”

“Good. There’s a lot of people that were getting really tired of those boys. I certainly can’t comment on what you did, but I think it’s safe to say you aren’t going to have to worry about anyone seeking any kind of retaliation.”

I laughed. “Good. That did cross my mind. Jenna is very concerned about that, which is why it went on for so long. I don’t want to cause any trouble. I came to this town to raise my daughter and live a nice peaceful life. I promise you this will be the last time you and I have to meet like this.”

The sheriff laughed again. “Maybe. I hope so. Take care and if you start getting anonymous notes of thanks, take it all in stride. Sometimes things need a little shaking up.”

He walked out the door, giving me a brief moment to process everything he had said. Landon came in and clapped me on the shoulder. “Good job, kid.”

I laughed. “Does everyone know?”

Landon was shaking his head. “You’ve never lived in a small town before have you? We can spread gossip faster than a wildfire can eat up a hundred-acre cornfield.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Well, I was happy to do the public service. I just hope things can settle down. I hadn’t really intended on making a name for myself. I want to be low-key.”

“Sure, sure, kid. We’ll keep it on the down-low,” he said.

I laughed at his use of those words. The phrase didn’t come naturally to him and sounded ridiculous coming out of his mouth.

“Alright then, I think I’m going to hit the weights and then call it a day unless you need something else from me?”

He shook his head. “Nope, but I think you better be ready to be working a lot more. Once I get that ring up and the boys and girls around here get wind of what’s going on in there, they’re going to want in on the action.”

“I look forward to it,” I announced.

I left his office and for the first time in a long while I felt like things were looking up. Things were settling into place and I had a real sense of belonging all of a sudden. I liked the majority of the people I had met here and could see myself hanging out with most of them.

Now, there was only one little detail of my life I needed to get ironed out. It was going to be the most challenging wrinkle I had ever faced, but I was determined to smooth things over. I could be very persuasive and persistent when necessary.