Free Until I Found You by Victoria Bylin Page B

for a good cause, and Colton was definitely a good cause. Nick shoved his hands in his pockets. “So you want to be in the paper?”
    “Sure, why not?”
    “Clean up the mess and we’ll talk about it. Until then, forget it.”
    When Colton replied with a snort, Deputy Harrison crossed his thick arms over his chest. “The way I see it, Colton, you have a choice. I can arrest you for vandalism, or you can repaint the bathroom.”
    A glimmer of something—maybe fear—softened the hard lines around Colton’s mouth. Confusion seemed to mix with the rebellion, as if he were wondering how he’d gotten into this mess.
    Having been in a few messes of his own, Nick could relate. Hoping Harrison would be kind, he threw out an idea. “If Colton agrees to paint the bathroom, can he pick the color?”
    The deputy’s mouth lifted with the hint of a smile, but he wisely tamped it down. “He can paint it pink for all I care.”
    Nick and Harrison both turned to Colton, his chin jutting as if daring them to change their minds. “Any color?”
    “Any color but black,” the deputy replied. “We have safety concerns with lighting.”
    “Okay, I’ll do it.” A mischievous gleam lit up Colton’s dark eyes, leaving the adults to wonder what atrocious color he’d choose.
    Mindy gave Nick a half smile, her shoulders sagging with relief as she turned to the deputy. “We’ll be here Friday. That’s my next day off.”
    Nick made a mental note to stop by the park and maybe lend a hand. He could imagine what color Colton would pick—hot pink or egg yolk yellow, maybe purple—but who cared what color the men’s room was? Nick was stifling a grin when his phone signaled a message. Hoping to hear from his agent, he stole a glance and saw a text from Kate. Pls call ofc. Prblm w snow park story .
    He didn’t expect Kate to be at the Clarion, and the SnowPark story had legs, as journalists said. With pictures, it would fill page three. If the story fell through, they’d have a massive hole to fill. After telling Colton he’d show up on Friday, Nick headed for the newspaper office, where Leona’s Subaru was parked under a pine. As he climbed out of the truck, the office door swung wide, and Maggie came out with her purse in hand.
    “What’s up?” he called to her.
    Her mouth split into a mile-wide grin. “Greg got the promotion.”
    “Excellent!” Nick was friends with her husband and knew what the job meant to him. “So you’re moving to Phoenix.”
    “I’m going to miss this place,” she said wistfully. “But December fifteenth is my last day. I just told Kate, and tonight I’ll visit Leona.”
    “It’ll be rough for them.” With Leona out of commission, the Clarion desperately needed an editor-in-chief, someone who knew the business, Meadows, and the quirks of the software program. Then there was the personality angle. The paper depended on advertising, which depended on good community relations.
    Maggie jiggled her keys. “I have a meeting at school, but I’ll be back in an hour.”
    “What about the Snow Park?”
    “Kate will fill you in.” Maggie glanced at the window to Leona’s office, where Kate was seated at the desk with the phone to her ear. “I feel just terrible about the timing. I hope you can give her some extra help. She’s going to need it.”
    “Of course.” Working with Kate would test his pledge to the max, but what else could he do?
    Maggie departed with a wave, leaving Nick to walk alone into the office. Typically he called a greeting and made himself at home. Today he felt like a guest—or maybe he wanted to be a guest, which struck him as cowardly. Soft footsteps tapped in the hall. Kate must have heard the door chime, and without Eileen it was up to her to greet customers. When she saw Nick, her face lit up. “That was fast.”
    “I got the text.” Keep it businesslike, he told himself . “And I just ran into Maggie. That had to be a surprise.”
    “A bad one.” Kate shook