I ruffled through my purse in an attempt to find my pepper spray, but it wasn’t there. Realizing what had happened, I wanted to kick myself. I’d gone on a walk through my parents’ neighborhood, and I’d taken the pepper spray with me. When I returned to their house, I set it on a shelf by the door instead of putting it back in my purse.
Without another thought, I ran in the direction of my car, wanting to get away from him. Something about that guy scared the dickens out of me.
“Kayla, stop!” He jogged after me and even though I was running pretty fast, he caught up and grabbed my arm, spinning me around.
“Let me go!” I shrugged out of his grasp, feeling almost hysterical.
He released me and stepped back, appearing shocked. “Why are you acting like this? I would never hurt you.”
“Look, I told you I don’t want to go out with you again. Just please… Leave me alone.”
He held his hands up in the air and took another step back. “I thought the problem was that you had an overeager bodyguard, but it’s true. You think I’m some kind of psycho or something.”
“No, I don’t think that…” Yes, I did, but I wouldn’t say it out loud and make things worse.
“Fine. You don’t want to see me again… I get it. Thought we had a connection but guess I was wrong.” The corners of his mouth drooped down. “Don’t look so freaked out. I’m not going to do anything. You won’t be hearing from me again.” With that, he turned around and walked away, and I was left gaping after him.
He was actually leaving. Which meant… he probably wasn’t the psycho I thought he was. Perhaps I’d misjudged him. If he’d wanted to hurt me, he could have, but he’d just walked away. And there was one other important thing… He didn’t have a scar right above his jaw, and the guy who attacked me did.
My feet were a little unsteady as I walked the remaining distance to my car. I took the Tylenol and pulled out of the parking lot. At least Leo hadn’t done anything threatening besides run after me. Thank you, Lord, for protecting me. I’m glad he didn’t push the issue.
Once I arrived at the studio, I put my phone on silent mode so I wouldn’t be disturbed, and, thankfully, all traces of my headache vanished. I was able to perk up and forget about the incident with Leo. Sheryl and Mark gave me a tour and talked about their plans for future episodes, giving more detailed information this time around. All during that time, I sensed God’s hand on me. I sensed His favor. I didn’t know what the outcome would be, but I trusted Him with my life and knew His will was perfect, however it turned out.
“We’d like to be completely upfront and honest with you,” Mark said. “We narrowed it down to you and Tyler Grant.”
I quickly sucked in a breath. “Wow. Tyler Grant.” There was no way I could compete against a man of his popularity. He was a country singer whose songs had already reached the top forty several times, and I was a nobody. Why were they even considering me?
Sheryl cleared her throat. “But we recently found out he won’t be available during part of the filming, and we must get started right away so we don’t lose our additional funding.”
Oh. That was why they were still considering me. “I see.”
“In the end, we decided that we wanted to offer the job to both of you. If you accept, you’ll host the show when Tyler’s not available, and when he is, you’ll both have a part to play.”
I nodded eagerly, feeling relieved they still wanted me. Plus, working with Tyler Grant would be amazing. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine a better scenario than this.
They talked me through the schedule of shows and what would be required, along with the dates I would have to travel. We discussed logistics for about forty minutes and then Mark smiled.
“So, what do you say? Do you still want the job?”
“Yes!” I squealed without a moment’s hesitation. I was so excited I wanted to jump up and down, but I restrained myself so I didn’t appear like an overeager teenager. Initially, the idea of hosting Country Star didn’t appear to be the right path, but now… Now it felt like the only path. The best one. I couldn’t wait to get started.
“Wonderful,” Sheryl said. “Let’s pull out the paperwork.”
We finished an hour and a half later, and when I turned off silent mode on my phone, I saw there was a missed call from Detective Marlow and a voicemail. My heart thumped in my chest as I played it back.
Good morning, Miss Keller. This is Detective Marlow. I wanted to give you a heads up that I spoke with Victor Moore, and we finally got to the bottom of why he gave a false alibi. Turns out he was hiding his involvement in illegal dog fighting in the Mojave Desert that particular night. Multiple witnesses can vouch that he was there, and he was able to show me a photo with a time stamp. As far as Robert Sunder, I haven’t gotten a hold of him yet. He hasn’t been to work all week, and he’s not answering his phone. Doesn’t appear that he’s been home either, but we’ll catch up to him one way or another. Call me if you have any questions.
My stomach clenched. The fact that Robert was nowhere to be found meant he knew something was up, and that wasn’t good. I needed to stay away from that man. And then Victor… He’d been involved in illegal dog fighting? No wonder his dog had been a menace. Victor
