Page 32 of The Stranger's Code

“How come?”

“Because I always felt like I was the second choice,” I admitted, the words just flowing through me. “It was hard, Cam, growing up as a Stratton, but being the second born son. My father wasn’t a kind man, never easy to get along with. But it felt like he reserved a certain amount of scorn just for me. I think he thought he was building character, trying to toughen me up for the world. But all it did was make me feel… unsafe.”

I took a deep breath before I went on. “I tried to work my way around it. Kind of became the jokester in my family, always charming, always on. It was the only thing I knew how to do, the only way I could defuse some of the pain he chucked onto me. But when I had the chance to create Big Sky, I knew it needed to succeed. I couldn’t let every awful thing he said about me be right. I needed to prove myself to him, needed to earn my last name.”

“Levi…” Cameron squeezed my hand, tight. “That was way too much to put on you. You were just a kid.”

“I know.” I shrugged. “Doesn’t change much. That drive is still inside me, pushing me on. I don’t know how to get rid of it. I… don’t know if I ever will.”

“Maybe you don’t need to get rid of it. You just need to tame it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Instead of letting it drive you with the negative, let it drive you with the positive.” Cameron smiled. “You deserve to be successful because you worked hard for it, Levi. That’s why you strive for it. Because you know you can do it, not because of anything your dad said to you.”

“I can try that, yeah.” I tossed the idea around in my head. “I can’t promise it’ll stick, though.”

“Then, we’ll keep trying different things, until we find something that sticks.”

“Thank you, Cam.” My voice was quiet. “For being here. For listening to me.”

“I’ll always be there for you, Levi. Whenever you need me to be.”

* * *

Holy shit.

I’d logged into my work email a few minutes ago to find rows and rows of emails. There were emails from interested, potential clients, emails from people asking if I taught safety classes for outdoor explorers, and a few more emails from admirers saying they’d seen photos of me on the website and wanted to have my number on handin case of emergency.

It was almost an overwhelming amount of attention, a new problem arising as I realized I might need to hire someone to help out in the office to keep everything straight. Still, I was grateful for the influx of potential new business, and even if the attention didn’t stay at the same height, it was going to be a nice boost for Big Sky in the interim.

Maybe even enough to get us into the black for the very first time.

“Is Teddy secretly a marketing genius?” Shane stepped into my office, a puzzled look on his face. “I’m usually so good at reading people. Did I get him wrong?”

“I think Teddy’s whole thing is being unreadable,” I joked, before I motioned for Shane to come look at my computer. “Seriously, though. I can’t believe his video is getting Big Sky so much attention.”

“I saw and I’ve seen,” Shane replied. “You should make hay while the sun is shining. I could help you put together a course if you want. Something people can sign up for online, either take in person or stream it.”

“You’d help me with that?”

“I’d help you with anything. You know that.”

“Right.” I smirked. “Up to and including my personal, romantic relationships.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Please. You expect me to believe that Teddy hatched that plan on his own?”

“I just said that he was a marketing genius. Is it so hard to believe that he’s just agenius, in general?”

“You’re the smartest person I know, Shane,” I replied. “But one day, I’m going to catch you red-handed.”

“No. You won’t.” Shane’s tone was matter of fact. He grinned over at me. “And I’m happy things are working out with you and Cameron. It would’ve been a shame if things had turned out differently.”

“And? What about you?”

“What about me?”

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