Page 15 of Making a Mountain Man

I was lost. “What does it matter who writes it? The end result is the same.”

“Avoiding this article is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. You know what I mean? The ship is going down one way or another,” Henry said.

I glanced towards Bill, Franny and Agnes who were all nodding in agreement. “Henry, I have no idea what that means.”

He moved up the steps and put a hand on my shoulder, a gesture I would have killed for my own father to do. “Having someone you care about write the article might be the lifeboat you need. The ship sinks but you survive the sinking. See?”

”I just want a chance,” Jill said. “Let me come up with a way to tell your story that doesn’t turn you into public enemy number one. A way that lets you stay here and hopefully a way that letsyou forgive me for the shit storm I’ve stirred up.”

How could she possibly write the story in a way where I don’t come off as a sexist piece of shit? No media outlet had done it so far, although I doubted they had actually tried. I had nothing to lose. I wasn’t sure I had anything to gain at this point either. “Okay, do what you can.”

“Uh, uh, uh,” Agnes said, putting a hand on Jill’s arm. “Wewill do whatwecan. You’re not in this alone, Wesley. We can all put our heads together and come up with a way to keep you here where you belong.”

Chapter 13

Jill

Just as I managed to get my heart out of my throat, my cell rang.

Anthony.

“What?” I held the phone between my shoulder and my ear as I started setting up my notes and laptop at Wesley’s kitchen table.

“I just had an interesting meeting with Heather.”

“Yeah, I know. Don’t touch thecock guystory.”

He scoffed. “Artistic freedom. Freedom of speech. The less you want me on this story, the more I think I’m going to dig up something good.”

I really didn’t have the patience for this. I shifted the phone to my other ear as I opened my laptop and hit the power button. “No conspiracy, take off the tinfoil hat. Just write about something else.”

“I will not be silenced. I know you andHeather are friends. Is she cherry picking the good stories for you? Is that it? Give me one good reason why my next headline shouldn’t beCorruption at the Springwood Press.”

“Oh my god, Anthony, I don’t have time for this. It isn’t a conspiracy. No one is against you. I slept with thecock guy,okay.”

He was silent for a beat. “Wait, what?”

“Yes, we were friends as kids. I went to interview him. We reconnected. We laughed, we reminisced, he saw me naked. Now I don’t want his life to blow up because I want to be a part of it.”

I glance up to find five sets of eyes watching me, but I only meet one.

Wesley.

Whether he forgave me for this whole shit storm or not, I didn’t know. First, I needed to clean up the mess I’d made, or sort of made. Once he knew his life wasn’t in danger of blowing up, then we could see if there was more to explore. God, I hoped there was.

“Uh, okay. I guess that–”

I hung up before Anthony could finish his ramblings. I needed to think.

Wesley’s wifi was slow but I didn’t want to go home or back to the office to get this started. Wesley had been isolated from everyone, both as a kid of divorced parents and again as an adult. This whole war room needed to stay where it was. Franny busied herself making tea and the men found their way out to the porch. After reviewing what I had, my eyes hit on a note I’d made on the first day the article was assigned:

Question: Does the punishment fit the crime?

I’d said something similar to Heather in her office.

That was it.

Wesley had become the face of a problem bigger than himself. He became a scapegoat for every man who had ever made a sexist comment or sent dick pics on a dating site. He didn’t deserve it.

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