39. Into the Fire
39
INTO THE FIRE
Ford
Mara looked like she was on the verge of losing it, her body vibrating with barely restrained fury as she stalked toward the smirking asshole standing next to a black Camaro. I hurried to catch up, dread twisting in my gut. This wasn’t just about her anger—it was about Doug. I knew what he’d done to her before, the damage he’d caused, and the last thing I wanted was for her to unravel because of him. Especially not in front of a news crew. Doug wasn’t just a jerk—he was dangerous to her in ways that went beyond what the camera could catch.
I glanced at the news crew setting up just a few feet away. If Mara lost control, this whole scene could turn into a disaster of epic proportions.
“Mara.” I darted around her, inserting myself between her and her infamous ex. “You need to calm down. This is a delicate situation.”
“Calm down? Calm down?” She leveled a furious gaze at me. “You do not get to tell me to calm down. I’m in this situation because of you. You and Chris Pitt!”
I held up my hands in surrender, realizing just how deeply I’d messed up. This wasn’t just about calming her down—it was about salvaging what was left of her trust in me. “Bad choice of words.” I glanced at the news crew again, my stomach tightening. “I just want you to notice the news crew watching us. You need to consider whether you want everything you’re about to say broadcast on the evening news.”
That seemed to stop her cold, but the hurt in her eyes cut deeper than I’d expected. This wasn’t just about today—it was about the pressure I’d added to her life without even realizing it.
Mayor Scarlet Smith’s bright, airy voice called out, “Doug Aspin. As I live and breathe.”
I whirled to see her stroll up to the man, a predatory grin on her face.
“I never expected you to set foot in my fair city again,” she said.
“This is a public street.” A smarmy grin slid across Doug’s face. He glanced at Mara and gave a self-satisfied smirk. “I want my news crew to get the shop owner on camera.”
Scarlet’s heels gave an authoritative click as she stepped between him and Mara. “Am I right in recalling there’s still an outstanding bench warrant for your arrest?”
His eyes widened.
“Ah, I see you remember that. I thought it would be neighborly of me to point out that the police chief is right over there handling crowd management.”
Doug’s face paled. He took a step back, edging toward his car. “I—I just remembered?—”
“That you have somewhere else to be?” Scarlet blinked at him. “How fortuitous.”
Doug climbed into his car, backed out of the alley, and slowly, cautiously, drove away.
Mara moved to stand with the mayor. She crossed her arms and bumped shoulders with Scarlet. “Thanks. I think you saved me from making a fool of myself.”
“I think he wanted to get under your skin,” I commented. “Maybe start something he could get on camera.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Scarlet said.
Mara scowled, her body stiff with tension, and then stormed back into the store, ignoring me completely. I watched her go, frustration bubbling under my skin. She was still angry, and I didn’t blame her. The worst part? I wasn’t sure if I could fix this. No matter what I said, I’d dragged her into the very spotlight she wanted to avoid, and now everything was unraveling.
The last thing I ever wanted was to give Doug a way to hurt her again, but that’s exactly what I’d done today. I needed to do something about that guy before he did any more damage.
I glanced at the reporter pinning a microphone to her lapel. She looked harried. At least this was something I could handle. I was pretty good at this part of the entertainment business.
“Hello.” I held out my hand.
The reporter’s frustration disappeared as she flashed a smile and shook my hand. She cocked her head to one side. “You’re Ford Ross, right?”
“I am. I came here with Chris Pitt today. I want to make sure everything goes smoothly. And you’re…?”
“Mindy. Mindy Trevor. I’m new with W-ZZZ.”
“That might work in your favor. I take it you aren’t the reporter who did the piece on this store six months ago?”
She hesitated as she thought. “No. That must have been Harry.”
I moved closer as I lowered my voice so that only she could hear me. “Well, Harry got a lot of facts wrong in his story. I’m sure you’ll understand why I’m worried about slander.”
Mindy’s face pinched in a combination of worry and affront. “I assure you I have no intention of slandering you or Chris Pitt.”
I kept my gaze fixed on hers, searching for any deceit. “Does that apply to the store owner as well?”
“Of course. I’m not sure what you heard?—”
“I heard that a slanderous report caused this business financial harm. I want your promise that nothing like that will happen again before I let you speak to Chris.”
“I promise. It’s not like that. I’m not doing investigative journalism. Just a bit of celebrity gossip about a star visiting a small town, that’s all.”
I scrutinized her, but she kept her cool.
I decided to take her at her word. After all, publicity was the entire reason Chris had made that tweet. “If Chris agrees to a quick interview, I’ll try to clear it with the shop owner. But just so we’re clear—she has the final say. She didn’t ask for this media circus, and I’m not about to make things worse for her.”
The woman’s eyes glowed with satisfaction, but I wasn’t even sure if I was doing the right thing anymore. This entire situation had spiraled, and I had to face the fact that I’d dragged Mara into a mess she never asked for. “Thank you,” she said, but my mind was already on what I’d say to Mara later.
After giving her one last look of warning, I headed back toward Mara’s shop.
Conner stood outside the entrance, only letting in a few people at a time as others left.
“Thanks for being here,” I told him.
Conner shrugged. “Mara said come. I came. I know she’d do the same for me. We always do what we can to support each other. She hosted a Magic the Gathering event upstairs in my restaurant a few months ago, and it was a huge success.”
A black Lincoln MKT pulled into a space that opened up. The intimidating man who climbed out wore a dark suit and sunglasses.
“Matty’s here,” I said. “Chris’s bodyguard. He looks furious. Chris ditched him before he made that tweet and set off this chain of events.”
Conner smirked. “I can’t say as I blame the guy. This is a hell of a scene.”
Matty came to a stop directly in front of us, his imposing form blocking out the sun. “This your circus?” he asked in an intimidating, gravelly voice that would stop a heartbeat.
I lifted my hands in surrender. “What can I say? Chris does what he wants.”
Matty gave an irritated grunt of agreement. “That’s the problem.” He pushed past us like a steamroller and entered the store.
“This might be a circus, but Scarlet’s doing a great job as ringmaster,” Conner commented as the bulldozer did his thing and headed toward Chris.
“Scarlet got rid of Doug pretty easily,” I commented.
Conner smirked. “I heard the whole thing. Priceless.”
“She looks like she’s in her element.”
“Dealing with all this stuff?” Conner nodded proudly. “Of course, she is. She’s the mayor, after all, and she’s damned good at her job. Don’t tell her I said that though.” He watched her, frowning. “She’s a big fish for this little pond.”
“Do you think she has bigger political aspirations? State? National?”
“Hard to say.” Conner’s expression shuttered, and he stopped watching her. “She knows what it takes since she worked on her uncle’s campaigns. Talk about a circus. This is nothing compared to that. She’d be under a microscope.”
As another group exited the store and headed for a car, I spotted something seriously wrong. “Why isn’t anyone carrying packages?”
“I guess they only came for autographs,” Conner said with a frown.
I turned for the door. “That defeats the purpose of having him here. I need to talk to Chris.”
Inside, I scanned the room. Lots of people were browsing the shelves. Some were even reading comics while they waited, but Courtney stood slouched behind the register, a sour expression on her face, not ringing up purchases.
When I approached Chris, Matty stood like a boulder in my path, pointedly ignoring me. The man could hold a grudge.
I squeezed past him and spoke to Chris, who gave a curt nod, then stood and addressed the crowd.
“Hey, everyone. Thanks for coming today. I wanted to take a moment to thank the owner of Ghost of a Chance, Mara Stellar, for letting us take over her store today. I doubt her regular customers can even get through the door right now with that long line. Join me in a round of applause for her.”
The crowd clapped and cheered. Someone shouted, “Great store!”
“It is a great store. I’m glad you said so,” Chris said. “I’ve noticed a lot of you are enjoying her comic books, and even reading them as you stand in line. That’s great, as long as you buy them. You’d make me happy if you’d show your appreciation by making a purchase here today. Yinz can do that, right?”
The crowd chuckled at Chris’s use of the Pittsburghese word as another round of applause erupted. Within moments, nearly every person in line prominently clutched a comic or some other item.
As Courtney rang up a purchase a few moments later, Mara joined me. She shot Chris a confounded expression. “I can’t believe he did that for me. That was really cool of him.”
“It’s the whole reason he came here today—to give your store a boost. He’s a good guy.”
Chris posed for yet another photo. The woman next to him looked euphoric as she wrapped her arm around his toned waist.
“You’re right.” She sounded surprised. “He’s nothing like what I’d expected.”
“Want help restocking the shelves?”
She looked startled when she noticed how empty they were. “That was fast. I got it covered, though. Keep an eye on things out here.”
I nodded, and she headed back to her storeroom.
I checked in with Courtney as she rang up another sale.
“Anything I can do to help?” I asked.
“Tell Mara we’re running low on bags,” Courtney said.
Gertrude smiled at the twenty-something man as she bagged his purchase. “You’re Tiffany’s son, right? Tell her Gertrude says hi. I hope you stop back again soon.” Then she gave the next woman in line a broad smile. “Hi there. I haven’t seen you around before. Are you new to the area?”
“No. I live across the river in Moon. My daughter saw Chris’s tweet and practically dragged me here.”
“We’re glad to have you,” Gertrude said. “Now that you know we’re here, you’ll have to come back.”
The twelve-year-old flipping through her new comic book glanced up at this. “Can we, Mom? This place is cool.”
A few minutes later, Mara carried out an armload of collectible items to replace the ones she’d sold. She set out a Wonder Woman figurine, and a woman in her forties immediately snatched it off the display stand.
“I love this,” a woman said, her voice bright with excitement. “Wonder Woman is my favorite.” She lifted her sparkly rainbow-colored rhinestone necklace styled as a Wonder Woman emblem.
“Me too.” Mara held up her cuff-style bracelet with the “W” design and grinned. “We regularly have unique pieces of jewelry. I have some new items arriving on Thursday. You should come back.”
The woman’s eyes widened as she handed her credit card to Courtney. “I will.”
“You’re making a killing,” I said to Mara.
“True, and thank you, but I'm still irritated with you.” She set a new collectible statue on the shelf to replace the one the woman had just bought.
“I understand completely. Let me apologize to you tonight over dinner and a bottle of wine.”
She shot me a sidelong look. “At least you know how to grovel.” She hesitated, then relented and said, “Okay, it’s a date.”
An hour later, Chris glanced at his watch, said something to Matty, and then waved me over.
“I need to wrap this up,” Chris said. “Can you tell your guy at the door to make sure no one else lines up?”
“Got it.” I headed outside to talk to Conner and was relieved to see there were only a handful of people waiting. I passed on the message.
Conner nodded. “No problem. I’ll squeeze this group inside and turn away any newcomers.”
Back inside, I flipped the sign to “closed,” then noted all the empty spots on the shelves and in the front window. Mara was kneeling as she scraped a piece of gum off the floor.
I dropped down next to her. “Chris is leaving soon.”
She sent me a thankful look. “Maybe that’s for the best. Not that he hasn’t been amazing, but my storeroom is empty. I’m out of nearly everything.” She looked exhausted.
Twenty minutes later, the last autograph-seeker left. A few latecomers stood outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of Chris.
Mara approached Chris and held out her hand for him to shake. “Thanks for doing this.”
He took it and pulled her into a hug. “You’re welcome. Anything for a friend of Ford’s. And I’m sorry I didn’t run it past you first. I got ahead of myself.”
“It all could have ended in mondo-madness,” she admitted, “but with my friends pitching in to wrangle the crowd, everything worked out. Give a girl some warning next time.”
“Will do.” Chris turned to me and flashed that million-dollar smile the camera and fans loved so much. “You’re driving me back, right? We still need to talk about that movie you want to make. Let’s talk over dinner.”
I tensed and glanced at Mara.
The smile left her eyes, but all she said was, “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
In a low voice, I murmured, “Are you sure? I promised you dinner.”
She shook her head. “I’m worn out, and I’m not exactly in my happy place right now, so maybe this is for the best.”
As we headed out the door, Matty stayed close. “I’ll follow in the limo.” Matty glowered at Chris. “Don’t try to lose me, or you’ll be looking for a new bodyguard.”
A few fans pushed closer, but Matty kept them at a distance. The reporter from W-ZZZ did her brief interview, and then Chris climbed into my passenger seat.
On the drive back, Chris didn’t notice that I was distracted, and he kept our conversation going. “It felt great to help a small business,” he said. I could tell he was still on a high from all that public adoration.
Once we were in Chris’s suite, he turned on the news and flipped channels until he found W-ZZZ.
“I’m going to shower,” Chris said, tossing me the remote as he headed into the adjoining bedroom. “Give me a shout when they mention the signing.”
Fifteen minutes later, the exterior of Ghost of a Chance appeared on the screen.
“It’s on.” I turned up the volume.
Chris hurried in, his hair still wet. The scent of lemongrass soap wafted in with him. He plopped onto the sofa next to me.
“Fans of Chris Pitt descended upon a small comic book shop in Sewickley today after the movie star tweeted he’d be there signing autographs,” a man’s voice intoned.
A customer appeared on screen, and I recognized her as a Wonder Woman fan who’d chatted with Mara. “I’m so excited. I can’t believe I met Chris Pitt in person. He’s totally hot. And so sweet.”
As the camera panned back to show the long line of fans waiting to enter the store, the male voiceover returned. “Our viewers will be heartened to witness this shop’s ‘rags to riches’ story. It was featured in our report on struggling businesses a few months ago.” Some silent footage of Mara during the months-old interview came up. She had that deer-in-the-headlights look of someone who wasn’t happy with how an interview was going. The man doing the voiceover continued. “Ghost of a Chance seems to be living up to its name as the owner pulls out all the stops in an effort to keep her store from folding. This is Harry Hamilton, with W-ZZZ TV.”
“What the hell?” Chris said. “Who’s the guy doing the voiceover? I never talked to a male reporter.”
“That’s because he wasn’t there.” My heart sank. When a woman appeared on screen for a brief instant, holding out a microphone toward Chris, I said, “She was the only reporter. Mindy Trevor.”
The camera zoomed in, cutting Mindy out of frame. Apparently, her interview wouldn’t be her big break after all. “Mara’s gonna be pissed.”
Chris scowled at the screen. “I can’t say I blame her. I’ll never do another interview with that station. I’ll have my PR person rip into them.”
I called Mara, and she answered on the second ring. “Ford? Did you see it?”
The panic in her voice hit me like a blow. “I did.”
“This is exactly what I was afraid of. Doug is behind this. I know he is. It’s totally his style. This is why I didn’t want the publicity.”
“This should’ve been great for you. With any other news station, it would’ve been. I'm so sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t stop the rumors.” The words sliced into me like a lash, but what cut the deepest was the sound of barely restrained tears in her voice. “Sorry doesn’t kill the story Doug and Harry put out—” She cut herself off. “I don’t want to argue with you over the phone. We need to talk. In person.”
The line went dead.
I stared down at her image on my phone before it disappeared and was replaced by my home screen.
We need to talk.
Those four words echoed in my mind, sinking like stones in my chest. Mara had been right—there weren’t any words more ominous than those. What I didn’t know was whether I could find the right words to make things right again—or if I’d already broken something beyond repair.