“No.” Reid looked at Colin, his no-nonsense boss expression in place. “Do you have time to do a deeper dive?”
“Maybe.” Colin frowned. “After I finish the basic background on the latest class to sign up.”
“How long will that take?” Micha tried not to come across as demanding, but Colin’s narrowed eyes said he’d failed.
“If all goes well, Wednesday morning.”
“That’s two days.”
“You were always a math genius.” Ryan Maddox, the youngest of the three brothers who owned the business and was a frequent joker, cocked a grin.
“You’ll just have to keep an eye out for now,” Reid said.
“Like I said, I doubt it’s a hardship.” Colin chuckled.
Micha didn’t want to respond to that, so he didn’t.
“What about the guys in the class?” Ryan asked. “They seem legit?”
Micha nodded. “Jamal’s got some issues.” He shared about the website issue.
“He’s wrong,” Reid said. “Each session type spells out the meals and prep or lack thereof.”
“I don’t think it will help to point that out,” Micha said. “He copped an attitude with me and will likely claim you changed the site after I told you about it.”
“Still, I’ll have a word with him,” Reid said. “See if we can work it out and not get a one-star review online.”
Ryan shook his head. “I hate online reviews. We do our best all the time. Do we mess up at times? Yeah. But we fix the mistakes if we can.”
“Don’t worry,” Reid said. “I’ll handle it.”
Russ leaned back, his sheriff’s badge pinned to his belt. “Which is why we’re thankful for you.”
“At least some of the time,” Ryan added.
They all laughed, and the tension that had grown thick in the air fled the room.
The brothers owned the company together, but Reid was the day-to-day boss. He’d served as an FBI agent, but then his wife died of cancer, and he’d moved back home to Shadow Lake from Portland to spend more time with his daughter Jessie. He also wanted her to be closer to family.
That’s when he took over the former family resort and started the business with his brothers, and Micha was glad he did. Micha had served as a Marine weapons expert with Russ before Russ left to pursue a law enforcement career. Micha hung in with the Marines, moving into special investigations, but he’d needed to get back home to care for his sister Tristin and her daughter, and an outdoor job like this one was perfect for him. At least until he figured things out in life.
Ha! Thirty-two years old and still trying to adult to the level that was needed. His parents wouldn’t be proud of his waffling in life if they’d lived to see it.
“You hear me, Micha?” Reid asked.
Micha shook his head. “Sorry. Got distracted.”
“I asked if there was anything you need for tomorrow on your expedition into the wilderness with the group?”
“I’m good. Nothing out of the ordinary. At least I don’t think there will be.”
“You think that way, then you need to plan for something to happen.” Ryan laughed.
“He’s right,” Dev said. “Slippery slope and all of that.”
They were probably right, and he should be thinking of all eventualities, but his brain was consumed with Kari and her secret.
The team moved on, hashing through the schedule for the week. They rotated through leading this basic week to keep from burning out on the mundane and then plugged in areas that fit their backgrounds.
