Page 63 of Lost and Found Cowboy

He gave her a questioning look but then forged on. “So, I took a liberty and did something this afternoon, and I wanted to tell you about it.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Did it involve beating up my ex-husband?”

“I wish,” Mack said. “But no, it’s nothing that sinister.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“I noticed a burnt-out light bulb in your office at the shop, so I stopped at the hardware store on my way in to pick up a new package of them. And I saw they had one of those security camera setups on sale—the kind you hook to an app on your phone—so I picked it up for you.” He held his hand up to her protest. “I’m pretty sure I can counter all your objections, and also, I already set it up this afternoon. There were only four cameras that came with it, and I strategically placed three of them in the lobby and one in your office.”

She let out a sigh. “I appreciate the thought, but one, you shouldn’t have spent that kind of money on me, and two, the shop might belong to Lyle after this weekend.”

“Count it as an early birthday present. And even if The Turd, which, by the way, is what I’ve decided to call him from now on, does get his hands on the shop, it might not be for weeks, and I’d just feel better knowing the cameras are there.”

“I’ve looked into security cameras before but decided against them because this is Woodland Hills and everyone watches outfor each other,andbecause they all needed some kind of paid subscription for them to be online.”

“Oh…well…this one came with a free introductory period,” he said with a shrug, but didn’t meet her eye, which made her wonder if he hadn’t footed the bill for that expense too. “Just let me show you how it works. Please?”

She guessed it couldn’t hurt. And he’d already spent the money, so might as well take advantage of the service, even if it was short-lived. Maybe Mack could move the system out to the ranch to watch the cows after the shop was gone.

“Fine.”

“I set it up on my phone this afternoon,” he told her. “Just to make sure it worked, and to accept the terms of the…um…introductory period…but once we get it all set up on your phone, I can disable it on mine.”

He showed her how to find the app on her phone and set the notifications to alert her if someone was in the store. “It’s motion-sensored,” he said. “So, hopefully you won’t get any notifications when the shop is closed. But you can also open the app and take a live look around at any time.”

She had to admit, it was a pretty neat system. She didn’t deem herself very technologically savvy, but it seemed easy enough that even she could understand how to work it.

“Thank you,” she told him. “This was really thoughtful. And it would be a great idea if I were keeping the shop.”

“There’s something else.”

“Ohhh-kay.”

“These aren’t the only cameras I set up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I got the idea from Dodge the other night when he was showing us the moo monitors. We had an extra wildlife camera, so I set it up in the alley behind your shop the next morning.”

It took her a minute, but then she realized what he was saying. “Did it catch Lyle on camera setting the fire?”

Mack sighed. “Not as well as I’d hoped it would. You can see someone back there, and it looks like they are pouring something on the ground. But the person is wearing a hoodie pulled up over their head, and the picture is pretty grainy. I wanted you to look at it and see if you could see anything distinguishing that could tie it to Lyle, then we could give it to Knox.”

She pulled in a breath. “Okay, so I love the way you were trying to catch the culprit behind the break-in, and the footagecouldhelp prove it wasn’t me if Lyle decides to pursue this idea that I’m a bad mom…”

“Which is garbage.”

“Thank you. But my point is, Lyle is already pissed off about me talking to the cops…”

“That’s his problem.”

She sighed. “But that’s the thing. He has a way of makinghisproblems,myproblems.” She sighed again, this one even heavier than the first. “Which leads me to what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Okay.”

“So, first I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me the past week. You have been there for me like no one, other than my sister, ever has. And I love seeing you and hanging out with you—honestly, I never get tired of being with you—but still, I think we need to cool things off.”

Mack cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not sure how the first things you said—about me being there for you and how you love hanging out with me—correlate with that last thing you just said.”

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