Page 11 of Justice Denied

Thanks for upping the ante, Dad.Ryan blew out a breath and made a mental note to have Mae schedule a massage for him before work tomorrow. Then he buckled down to prepare for the board meeting that might determine the fate of the company, his own job—and perhaps even his life.

ChapterFive

Seth hefted the free weights to his chest, sweat running into his eyes. He blinked to clear his vision as Clancy Meadows—a former Grand Prix Pennsylvania champion bodybuilder—spotted him.

“You’ve got this. Easy does it.” Clancy talked him through several reps of dead lifting four hundred pounds. “That’s enough for today.”

Seth wanted to argue for more time but instead lowered the weights to the floor in a controlled movement.

Clancy clapped him on the shoulder. “Your mind isn’t here today.”

Seth mopped the sweat from his face with a clean towel. The older man was correct in his assumption. Seth wasn’t concentrating on the workout, usually one of his favorite parts of the day. Instead of working his muscles until they ached, his mind kept drifting to a blue-eyed strawberry blonde. “Sorry about that.”

“Son, there’s no need to apologize. You’re a hard worker, but I can tell something’s bothering you.” The owner of God’s Body Gym grinned. “I bet it’s your young lady, am I right?”

Seth should never have let slip his interest in Jetta, and nothing he’d said since had convinced Clancy she was way out of his league.

Clancy nudged his shoulder. “Hey, man. I was only teasing.”

“I know.” Seth glanced around the gym where mostly men worked on toning their bodies while instrumental hymns played through the sound system. No one seemed to be waiting for Clancy’s attention, so he decided to see if the older man had any advice. “I had an unusual encounter with Jetta yesterday.”

“Ah.” Clancy placed a ten-pound weight to its proper slot on the rack.

His roommates would have pounced on his statement with rapid-fire questions, but Clancy’s noncommittal response loosened Seth’s tongue.

“Her dog needed help.” Seth relayed the info about what happened to Bingley and the raccoon as succinctly as possible.

“You’re worried someone’s targeting her.”

Seth hadn’t breathed a word of his suspicions, but Clancy must have picked up on his concern. “It definitely didn’t seem random.”

Clancy cocked his head. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I checked her yard and found some bits of ground beef by the back fence, which I cleaned up.”

“That’s a good start.”

The older man’s direct gaze made Seth think he’d missed a question on a quiz he’d forgotten to study for, but he didn’t know what else the man wanted him to do.

“I was married once.”

“You were?” Seth had been going to the gym for nearly three years and had thought he and Clancy were friends, but he’d never known this bit of the other man’s history.

“I was. She died much too young. Never wanted to try my luck again, she was that special.”

“Oh.” Seth cleared his throat as he took in the sheen of moisture in the older man’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“I am too, that you never met my Raylene.” Clancy swiped a tear from his cheek without apology. “But she told me something I never forgot—that a kindness done is one a woman always remembers. Seems to me, you did your young lady a kindness more than once these past months.”

Seth mulled that over, hope beating to life in his heart. Maybe Jetta was waiting for him to move their relationship beyond friendship. “That may be, but that doesn’t mean she’s amenable to going out with me.”

“My advice?”

Seth nodded while Clancy gathered some dirty towels left beside the bench press machine before continuing. “Don’t overthink it. If she’s special enough to catch your attention, then she’s worth putting yourself out there to let her know that.”

Seth absently rubbed a towel over his shoulders as the older man left to answer another patron’s question. Jetta had responded to his text about his backyard find with a thumbs-up emoji. Maybe he should have looked around the house as well to make sure it was safe for Bingley. He checked the time. If he hustled, he could do that before he showered and headed to his next assignment photographing the unveiling of a new eco-friendly mixed-use building with residential and retail offerings.

After parking in his driveway, he noted Jetta’s vehicle wasn’t in its usual spot in front of the garage. She probably had left already to stop by Emily’s before getting Bingley from the vet. He hustled over and started with the back of the house. Nothing out of the ordinary around the foundation. He moved to the sides, then tackled the front. A piece of paper wedged behind one of the potted mums sitting to the right of the door snagged his attention.

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