Silence settled in the room that had recently filled with laughter. The five women sat, each to their own thoughts of the sadness of what all is lost when someone dies.

Jillian reached down, placing her hand on Katelyn’s shoulder in a show of sympathy. After a moment, she said, “So what’s got you thinking of a change now?”

Clearing her throat, Katelyn said, “I’ve been thinking of doing something else with my life. Something that helps other people, but will also pay the bills. Well, part time, at least, so I can still work in the pub.”

“Has something presented itself to you?” Tori asked, her eyes wide with interest.

“In a round-about way, yes.” Seeing the curious expressions around her, she smiled and said, “Well, the first part will sound weird but hang with me, okay?” Gaining their nods of agreement, she began, “Recently someone in town was telling me that they thought their husband was straying and—” Seeing their wide eyes, she threw up her hands and said, “Confidentiality, ladies. I won’t say who.”

“Spoilsport,” Jillian joked. “Okay, go on.”

“Anyway, I said I’d do a little checking and just did some simple things, like following him.” Shrugging, she said, “So far, I’ve come up with nothing, but I found that I really liked the idea of helping someone and doing some investigating. And, it just so happens that Gareth Harrison has a position open. It’s for a receptionist, but it sounds like a receptionist, secretary, bookkeeper, and who knows what else. He also wants someone who is interested in the investigation business.”

“And you would know this, how?” Jillian asked, cocking one eyebrow, her lips barely curving.

“Uh…well, I talked to him.”

“Talked to him?” Jillian prodded, her eyes now twinkling.

Katelyn could tell her best friend was sniffing out a story and she looked toward the ceiling in embarrassment. “Okay, okay. He kind of caught me snooping.”

Jillian plopped her feet onto the floor, leaning toward Katelyn, mirroring Tori, Belle, and Jade’s bodies. Jade giggled, “This I gotta hear.”

Knowing Jillian would not give up, she started, “Last night, I thought I would stakeout someone’s home to see if they happened to have company—”

“God, I want to know who it is!” exclaimed Jillian, clapping her hands together.

Katelyn cast her a narrowed-eyed look and continued, “So, I climbed up a tree outside their home—”

“You didn’t!” Tori cried out, just as Jillian hooted loudly.

“Are y’all gonna let me tell my story or just keep interrupting?” Katelyn complained, finding it hard to keep from grinning as a deep blush settled on her cheeks.

“No, no, keep going,” Belle begged, hiding her smile behind her hand.

Heaving a sigh, Katelyn repeated, “I climbed a tree that was next to the sidewalk and I was just looking. It was dark and I thought I was well hidden.” Looking down at her lap, she flicked off a non-existent piece of fluff from her jeans and mumbled, “Then Gareth came along.”

Hearing snorts of laughter, she jerked her head up, seeing all four friends bursting into giggles. Dropping her head in her hands, she said, “Oh, my God. This is so embarrassing. My pants got caught on a branch and he had to climb up to get me loose.”

Laughter erupted and Katelyn leaned back, unable to keep from laughing with them. Finally, after wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, she said, “He was pissed when he found out what I was doing—”

“It does sound dangerous!” Belle exclaimed before immediately begging, “Please go on.”

“Anyway, he said he wouldn’t tell my brothers about my little excursion if I would come in today to see him. It wasn’t about the job,” she said hastily in answer to their curious expressions. “It was to make sure I knew that I wasn’t to do any more investigating on my own. But then, as we chatted for a few minutes, I noticed how much he needed help in his office. So I asked what he was looking for and then told him I might know someone.”

“And that someone is you!” Jade pronounced, her green eyes sparkling with excitement.

“I figure with all the years of waitressing, I’ve listened to hundreds of people tell me about their good times and their woes. I’ve helped by listening and sometimes offering my two-cents as to what they should do. With that, I’ve got the basis for helping people discover things.”

“You want this change in your life, don’t you?” Jillian asked, her eyes warm as they landed on Katelyn.

Shrugging, Katelyn looked up at her best friend and said, “I don’t know. I mean, I’d love to do something besides be a waitress and it sounds really interesting.” Her voice softened as she admitted, “And I haven’t been really interested in anything in a long time.”

“Oh, honey,” Tori said, leaning over and grabbing Katelyn’s hand, offering a little squeeze. “What’s holding you back?”

“Fear,” Katelyn whispered.

“Fear?” Belle asked, wide-eyed. “Katelyn, you’re the most kick-ass woman I know!” Katelyn looked up at her as Belle continued. “You’re not afraid of anyone in the bar—you set them straight if someone gets out of hand. And I’ve seen you on the ball field, you play as hard as any of the guys!” Belle’s voice quieted as she added, “I’ve always admired you. I’m such a mouse and have wanted to be more like you for as long as I can remember…even back in high school.”

Shaking her head, Katelyn said, “Oh, Belle, don’t wish to be anything other than who you are. I’m hard and sometimes hard-hearted.”

“You’ve learned to be hard-hearted at times…it was self-preservation when Philip was killed,” Jillian added. “But Belle’s right, you’re the strongest person I know. So what are you afraid of?”

Sitting in silence for a moment, Katelyn finally answered, “I’ve never had a job other than waitressing. That was never my goal. As I said, it was a high school job at the diner that just never ended. And then, when I was old enough, the bar was just family. It’s been safe, paid the bills, but…it was never supposed to be my life-long goal. And working for Gareth? That, in and of itself, would be different. Especially for a private investigator. The work would be fascinating, and the chance to learn about the business is what really holds my interest.”

“So are you more afraid of working in the PI business or for Gareth?” Jillian asked pointedly, drawing Katelyn’s gaze.

“Gareth’s nice,” she replied noncommittally, her gaze dropping to her hands in her lap again.

“Nice? How about hot as hell?” Tori laughed.

Katelyn’s lips curved up slightly, “I admit, he’s good to look at, but,” offering a little shrug, “he’d be my boss, that’s all.” She felt her cheeks warm with a blush again and hoped her friends were unable to detect her deception. Looking at Jillian’s doubtful expression, she huffed, “I don’t know how to flirt, even if I was interested! I’m so out of practice!”

“Well, coming from someone who works in an elementary school all day, where everyone is a child or mostly female teachers, a little eye-candy at work would be nice!” Jade added.

“Strangely enough, I’ve come to realize that waitressing has become a security blanket for me. No change. No uncertainty. Easy. Simple. But this? This would be using and learning a whole new skill-set.”

“You know, bestie,” Jillian said, placing her hand on Katelyn’s shoulder, “I think you need to go for it. Your life needs shaking up a bit. You’re smart, tenacious, driven. You’ve held back in your personal life for long enough.”

“You think?” Katelyn asked, smiling.

“I know!” Jillian proclaimed, the others chiming in as well.

Sucking in a huge, cleansing breath before letting it out, she shifted to her knees and poured more glasses of wine. Holding hers up to the cheers all around, she toasted, “Then here’s to new beginnings!”

* * *

The rhythm of his footsteps along the beach was comforting to Gareth as he sweated through his morning run. Running was one of the things he did growing up that got him out of the house and gave him a way to burn off his anger. When his stepdad decided to beat another respect lesson into him, learning to run and run fast became necessary. A million years ago and a million miles away. That was what he told himself to keep the memories at bay.

Leaving his home had been easy. Leaving the military had also been easy. But the feelings that were growing with this little town and the friends he was making…can’t imagine being anywhere else.

The breeze off the bay cooled his skin as he brought up the bottom of his t-shirt to wipe his face. The sunrise behind the town was dawning clear, offering a glimpse of the blue-sky day in store for Baytown.

The never-ending surf washed up on the shore, cleansing the beach while also cleansing his mind as he ran, washing away old memories. The beach had been nothing more than a picture in a book when he was a kid and the idea of living near the water was a dream, that was now a dream come true.

Coming off the beach, he beat a path along empty Main Street. Early morning activity seemed to be coming from inside Jillian’s Coffee Shop, where he knew she was busy at work preparing for the coming breakfast crowd.

He turned before getting to the diner, knowing Katelyn would be hard at work preparing as well. He had not been able to get her off his mind since yesterday…well, before that, if he was honest. Slowing down his pace as he neared his building, he stopped outside and performed his cool down stretches. When he first moved here, he rented a small house north of town, but when he opened his PI business, he decided to live in the apartment above his office until the business brought in more money.

Katelyn MacFarlane. A knock-out, her looks caught his eye the first time he saw her. Spirit and fire…smart and sassy. And yet, when introduced, he could have sworn he had seen a glimmer of sadness in her deep blue eyes.

Later, getting to know her brothers, along with the other Baytown Boys, he heard the story of Katelyn and the greatly-mourned, Philip Bayles. Knowing Katelyn’s love was buried in the town cemetery had put a damper on his initial thoughts of flirtation with the Irish beauty. Who can compete with lost love? Especially one with someone the whole town mourned. So, he admired her from a distance, but admired her, nonetheless. And wondered…

Jogging up his steps and through his apartment, he headed into the shower. Dressing for work normally involved jeans or khakis with a polo. If he was meeting a client, he sometimes wore a shirt and tie. But as he got out of the shower and headed to his closet, he stood for a moment, thinking of what to wear. Damn, what the hell is wrong with me? Since when do I give a fuck what I’m wearing?

As he jerked a long-sleeved polo off the hanger, he knew the answer was going to be walking in his door today. After dressing, he headed into his kitchen, firing up the Keurig and mixing a bowl of instant oatmeal. Thoughts of breakfast at the diner tempted him, but he did not want Katelyn to think he was crowding her. And who knows who she’s thinking of for the job. I hope it’s her, but…?

An hour later, he was settled in his office reviewing the files from his open cases. Reading the same paragraph over three times, he finally slapped the folder closed and rubbed his eyes. Glancing at the clock for the millionth time, he was just about to give up when he heard a female voice from the front room.

“Gareth?”

Letting out a breath, he felt his heart kick-start. Katelyn. Just as he made it around his desk, she appeared in the doorway. Ebony hair pulled back with a headband, a touch of makeup playing up her natural beauty. He noticed right away that she was not wearing her diner uniform. She had changed into dark jeans and a red sweater with a scarf hanging from her neck.

“Hey, Katelyn,” he greeted, extending his hand.

She smiled and noted once more the warmth from his fingers wrapped around hers. “Hi.”

“Coffee?”

Laughing, she replied, “No, thank you, not today. I truly did have some this morning at the diner.”

After ushering her to a chair, he walked back around to sit behind his desk. Trying to steady his heartbeat, he jumped to the point. “Well, did you talk to the person who might be interested in the job?”

“Yes, I did. Or rather, I talked to some friends about me. I mean, me taking the job. Or applying for it.” Usually unflappable, Katelyn blushed as she stammered. “I’m sorry. Let me start over, please. I would like to apply for the position.”

Holding back his grin, he simply nodded. “What qualifications do you bring, besides climbing trees in the middle of the night?”

Blinking rapidly as she blushed, Katelyn grimaced. “For starters, can we not mention that embarrassing incident again?”

Chuckling, he said, “Well, you have to admit that it won’t be easy to forget getting you unstuck from that branch.” Seeing her about to protest, he threw his hands up in conciliation and said, “Okay, forgotten…for now. Please, continue.”

Smoothing her hands over her jeans, she held his gaze as she said, “I have no problem answering your phones, making appointments, greeting clients, and organizing your office. I admit, it’s been a while, but I have taken some business classes at the community college and I can certainly run spreadsheets of your expenses and keep track of your invoices, both paid and unpaid.” Looking at the stack of folders on his desk, she added, “And I can arrange a filing system that will make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for. And, one more thing—I’ve discovered you don’t have a website. I can set that up for you.”

Leaning back in his seat, he rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve gotta say, you’ve come up with some items that I hadn’t thought about, but could certainly use the help with.”

She smiled, encouraged, and continued, “You mentioned that you were interested in someone who wanted to know more about the investigation business…that’s me as well. And not just tree stakeouts.”

His eyes jumped to hers as he said, “Hey, you said no more tree jokes.”

“Well, I can mention it but not you,” she quipped, her eyes sparkling.

Nodding, they sat in silence for only a moment before he asked, “Tell me about your interests. Why this…why now?”

Her lips tightened for a moment as she gathered her thoughts. It had been easy to explain it to her friends last night…well, with some wine to loosen my tongue. Where’s wine when you need it? Clearing her throat as she noticed him waiting patiently, she said, “I began working at the diner when I was only sixteen and,” sighing, she continued, “it was a comfortable place to work. Somewhat mindless and easy. The pub is family run, of course, and I co-own it with my brothers.” She hastened to add, “I help with the Pub’s books and payroll, so doing it for your business would be easy, I’m sure.”

Gareth’s thoughts swirled in his head, excitement mixed with a strange sense of uncertainty. This is what I wanted, but maybe I didn’t think this through. She’d be my employee. How the hell can I be around her every day and not want more? And if I act on wanting more, can she stay my employee?

Seeing him still waiting, she shrugged slightly as she said, “I’ve finally come to a point in my life where I want to make a change. I don’t want just a job, but to have something to learn that I’m excited about. And even though I went about it the wrong way, I found it exciting to help someone who needed me to check into things for them.”

Gareth smiled as he stood and extended his hand. “All right. You’re hired. Welcome to Harrison Investigations, Katelyn.”

Jumping up, she grabbed his hand with both of hers, pumping up and down with enthusiasm. “Oh, my goodness! Thank you! When do I start?”