William picked up his microphone and shook the dust off the KDVX station flag wrapped around it. He seriously needed that drink. Just like that, he had added one more tick-mark to his father’s list of Things William Managed to Screw Up. If he couldn’t handle a simple interview, how the hell would he prove he had the grit to run the family company? His father still hadn’t forgiven the debacle William’s foray into reality television caused, and that was a decade ago.
It didn’t need to be so complicated. Move back to hometown? Check. Smooth the way to inherit family broadcasting company on upcoming thirtieth birthday? Check. Interview an uncooperative man in a rooster suit? Nope. Not in the plan.
William rolled the sleeves of his collared shirt to his elbows. His jeans were covered in dirt from lying sprawled on the ground, and his not-camera-ready stubble itched in the stale summer air. Parched breaths filled his lungs as he helped the crew pack up cameras and load bags of equipment into the news van.
“Thanks for helping out today,” said Al, the cameraman, as he collapsed a leg on the tripod. “You’re a lifesaver.”
William shrugged. Lifesaver? No. He hadn’t done anything special. Sure, the reporter scheduled for the interview hadn’t shown so he helped out when the crew was in a pinch. That was teamwork, even if it ended with a chicken on top of him.
“Hey, you see Parker yet?” William tossed the microphone into an open bag. Over an hour had come and gone since he planned to meet his oldest, best friend here. Parker was his last shot at a place to crash tonight.
The cameraman grunted and pointed toward the crowd surrounding the news van.
Parker emerged with a smirk. “That is one baked chicken.”
In his overpriced suit, Parker had to be roasting. Unlike William, no sign of sweat appeared anywhere. Always dressed his best, Parker exuded Ivy League authority as the station manager.
“About tonight.” William squirmed a bit.
“Man, I told you, out by five,” Parker said. “I hate to do it, but I have to. Your dad’s clear on this, and right nowhe’smy boss.”
“I can’t believe you’re on his side. He has his hooks in the whole town. I searched everywhere for a place to live today. I couldn’t even get a room at the Pillow Talk Motel.” William scraped a hand over his hair.
Parker held up his palms and backed away, frustration etched in the lines around his mouth. “I’m Switzerland here. Neutral. I need my job. Talk to him.”
William ground out the words, “Not happening.”
“Your call.” Parker shrugged. “See you Monday at the station.”
Over a decade of friendship, and that’s all William got. He didn’t want to add his family drama to Parker’s plate, but was it so wrong to want a little backup?
It seemed that everyone in town had received a don’t-rent-to-my-long-lost-son decree from his father. Joe Covington always got what he wanted, and now he wanted to keep tabs on his son by forcing him to move back under his roof. Hell, it wasn’t William’s fault his mother left Crestone Broadcasting to him instead of his father.
William massaged the ache in his temples as his last option drifted away. Whatever pride he had packed when he moved to Confluence vanished.
He walked the three blocks to Love’s Travel Stop where he’d left his truck. He lowered the tailgate and sat. Forget about proving to everyone he could run his mother’s company. At this point, he couldn’t even find a place to live. His only option at the moment was a two-hour commute from a hotel in the next county over, but he wouldn’t be surprised if his dad’s influence reached across the state to Denver.
Nearby, a kid messed around with rocks and a slingshot on the small grassy area bordering the convenience store. A large dog dripping slobber barked and bounded around the boy’s feet. The mutt appeared to be the unfortunate offspring of a one-night stand between Sasquatch and a grimy kitchen mop. At the release of the slingshot, he chased the rock across the patch of lawn.
Something near the gas pumps caught the mutt’s attention. His ears perked, and he barked once.
William glanced across the lot.
A pretty brunette climbed from a yellow Ford sedan and slammed the door. Her long red skirt caught when it closed. Tethered, she engaged in a mesmerizing “Flight of the Bumblebee” dance until she wrestled the fabric free.
William grinned, disappointed the cloth had surrendered. He wouldn’t have given in so easily.
She sauntered past him while pulling her long hair up into a clip, exposing the soft white skin of her neck. This woman wasn’t department store pretty, plastered with product and buffed to a shine. No, she was naturally beautiful. Her full lips tipped into an utterly kissable pout, and the way her hips swayed when she moved—mesmerizing. He followed her with his gaze until she disappeared inside the convenience store.
A golf-ball-sized rock whizzed past his fingertips to ding off his truck bed.
He glanced to the boy and raised a questioning brow.
The boy shrugged before he turned to toss rocks toward the creek.
William thumbed through his contacts on his cell phone. Surely, he knew someone with connections for an apartment, a house…even floor space for a sleeping bag. He glanced up again when the brunette came out of the convenience store. She held a massive fountain drink in one hand while she fumbled with her keys at her car door.
A loud bang echoed across the lot. Glass fell from the car window, the small pieces falling in chunks to the pavement. A scream ripped from her lungs, and she flung herself to the ground.
