After their date, Carrie thought that she was prepared to hear people’s opinions about her relationship with Josh. But when she was approached in the store or at the library or even at work, it still came as a shock that so many people in town knew and cared.

Still, when Josh showed up at her place early Monday morning and dropped off Louie, the talk changed.

Rumors about what had happened at his business fueled speculations of him closing shop and moving to the big city. She hadn’t thought of that angle, so naturally, all week long she worried that the rumors were true.

She even stopped in to talk to Mason, dropping small hints to see if he knew anything. After almost half an hour talking with him, she gave up trying to beat around the bush and flat out asked him.

“Is Josh moving shop to the city?” she asked.

“What?” Mason frowned at her. “Where did you hear that?”

She shrugged. “Around town. Everyone’s talking about it, after the break-in. With him going to New York this week…”

“I don’t know about his plans to move the business, but I know he had the New York trip planned before the break-in.”

For the first time in days, she relaxed. “Really?”

Mason smiled. “Yeah.” He reached out and touched her arm. “I knew there was something there.”

She sighed. “Not anymore. Or so he would like to have me and the entire town believing. Especially his father and mine.”

“Is that why the man keeps driving by slowly?” Mason glanced out the new front window, which had been replaced a day after the break-in.

Sure enough, when she turned to look, Kevin William’s old truck was slowly crawling by on the street outside.

She glared when he saw her watching him.

“What an ass,” she said under her breath.

“Tell me about it. The other day he came in here and threw a punch and a bottle at Josh. I don’t know why the man isn’t behind bars. My old man is serving five to ten for less than what he’s done to Josh.”

She turned back to Mason. “If he bothers you, call my dad.” She bent and wrote down her father’s cell number. “Don’t bother with 911 or dispatch. My dad can usually be here in five minutes or have someone else here quicker.”

“Thanks.” Mason smiled over at her. “Are you free for lunch?” When her eyebrows rose, he shifted his feet. “My new girlfriend, Sophia, had to go back to Portland for the week. She’s trying to get everything ready to move here, but…” He sighed. “It’s taking longer than she’d expected to find a place here.”

“Sophia?” She frowned. “The pretty blonde?”

Mason’s smile grew, and he nodded. “Yes, we met shortly after our date. The day after I was hired here.” He glanced around.

She couldn’t see any destruction but there were new folding tables and lots of boxes with new computers in them.

“I’ve been working overtime to set up our new systems and could use a friend and food.”

“How about we order some take-out?” She wanted to keep the rumor mill at a minimum by staying out of public view with Mason.

They ate lunch at the office building while Mason waited for the computers to update so he could install the rest of the software. Carrie liked to think she was computer savvy, but watching Mason work, she wondered when Josh had learned everything he knew.

“Did you go to school for all this?” she asked him after their food had arrived.

“A few years in Portland. What about you? Josh tells me you run your own animal shelter.”

“It’s more of a sanctuary. My mother’s the local vet, and my dad’s the police, so when they get called in to deal with neglected or abused animals…”

“You get called,” he finished for her.

“Right. I kind of fell into the role, but now I can’t imagine doing anything but this.”

“You love it?”

“Without a doubt. Do you love what you do?”

He chuckled. “I’m good at it.”

“What would you rather be doing?” she asked.

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t laugh.”

“I promise.” She crossed her heart with her fingers.

“Okay, when I was about fifteen, my aunt took custody of me. One of the first things she bought me was a camera.”

“Photography?” she asked.

“Yeah.” He glanced out the window. “Landscape photography has always been my passion.”

“Do you have any samples of your work? I’d love to see them.”

Before he could answer, the front door opened and the pretty blonde woman she’d seen Mason with at the restaurant walked in.

“Sophia.” Mason jumped up from his chair and rushed over to the woman, who was frowning and narrowing her eyes at Carrie.

“I thought you were going to be gone for a few days?” Mason pulled the woman into his arms and hugged her.

Over his shoulder, Sophia gave Carrie a look.

“Sophia, this is Carrie, Josh’s… um, well…”

“Friend,” Carrie jumped in. “Mason has told me so much about you.” She held out her hand.

“Oh, is your boss here?” Sophia glanced around.

“No,” Carrie chimed in. “He’s in New York at the moment.”

The woman made a face and then asked for the bathroom.

“She seems nice.” Carrie whispered when she was alone with Mason again.

Less than a minute later, the woman came out, holding her cell phone in her hands.

“I have to go.” She gave Mason a sad look. “I just received a call. It’s an emergency.”

“But, you just…” Mason started, but the woman walked over and kissed him. Carrie watched and felt uncomfortable as the two kissed.

“I’ll call you.” Sophia waved as she rushed out of the door.

“No problem. Call me.” He called out and waved at Sophia as she left the building.

As she drove home later, she wondered if she’d misjudged the woman. The way she’d kissed Mason told Carrie there was definitely a spark there, but… something was missing for sure in the new relationship.

When she pulled into the house, there was a new silver truck parked where her old one used to be. The junkyard had come and hauled the old junker away a few days ago. Seeing her mother’s truck parked beside it, she jumped out to go find her parents.

“New truck?” she asked them when she finally found them playing with several dogs in the large pen she used to exercise the animals.

“Yes.” Her mother and father were sitting on a bench, her dad’s arm wrapped around her mother’s shoulders as they watched the animals play.

“It’s nice. Which car did you trade in?” she asked her father.

“That heap you used to call a truck,” he answered.

“What?” She shook her head.

“Your mother and I have been discussing your transportation issue. We decided that the work you do for the county is important, and well, we brought the issue in front of the town board, and they agreed. So…”—he waved his hand— “they pitched in. Your mother and I put the rest in. It’s officially yours.” He smiled.

“Mine?” She gasped. “Seriously?”

“Yes,” her mother added. “The city council would like to see a permanent sign on the front doors and the back windows, but I’m sure you can come up with something.”

Her mother walked over and hugged her, then handed her a set of keys.

“Mine?” She stared down at the keys. Then she bounced a couple times and rushed out of the fenced area to go look at her new truck while her parents laughed behind her.

---

Dealing with all the red-tape and bureaucracy of his business was not something Josh enjoyed. Meeting with CEOs of large businesses, being wined and dined over meetings while trying to cut through the bull, was something he’d learned quickly how to deal with.

He hated the high-dollar suits, the stuffy settings, and being pushed into awkward situations with people as they introduced you to the “right” kind of people.

Still, he knew the importance of the games and gritted his teeth and did his best to fit in. He loosened his tie again and sipped the warm beer he had been nursing for the past hour.

The conversation he was having now was long and boring, and he kept scanning the room for the person he wanted to talk to. William Martin was the CEO of GLO, the Global Litigation Organization. The company was doing great things in the legal field, bringing lawyers and the law into the reach of people who couldn’t afford their services, which was something he wanted to get behind.

He wanted five minutes with the man to see if he could help or even partner with them on a few ideas he had.

Having seen firsthand what his mother had gone through dealing with the divorce from his father and the aftermath, he wanted to put those services easily in the hands of women who needed them.

Almost twenty years later, his mother was still paying the legal fees from the mess his father caused. Since his father was officially disabled from a small injury he’d had while working at the mill long ago, his mother had been the breadwinner when the divorce happened, which meant, she was actually paying spousal support to his father.

Someone touched his arm lightly, gaining his attention again and pulling him back into the conversation.

“There’s Camilla Kincaid,” the woman said, standing beside him. He’d already forgotten her name, even though her husband, Richard, had introduced them just a few minutes ago. Richard owned several large banks in New York and was trying to convince him to add them to his client list. The man’s arrogance was so off-putting, he had decided not to work with him. “I hear that, since her father was forced to step down and is sitting in a jail cell after that scandal, she’s tried to wine and dine the board at the bank into taking her back on.”

His eyes moved to the woman in question. The pretty blonde-haired woman was just walking into the room. The room grew quiet as every eye turned towards the doorway.

Camilla Kincaid was attractive and young, and radiated power. Her long red dress, with a slit up the thigh, was a bold statement to all that, even with all this power, she was still a woman. Her eyes scanned the room quickly and, upon finding her mark, she glided across the floor as if she owned the place. Obviously, she didn’t care that everyone in the room was gossiping about her. He watched her slide onto a barstool and order a drink before talking briefly with the older man next to her.

“What scandal?” he asked, suddenly interested.

Richard looked at him funny. “The one you caused.”

He waited for more information, his eyebrows raising slightly.

“That I caused?”

“Her father owned XSecure Inc.,” Richard added.

Josh shook his head; the company name wasn’t familiar.

“The business you put under before taking their major vendor, Cover Banks. They were the security firm that was responsible for the leaks. Camilla’s father, Donald Kincaid, was charged with neglect after it was discovered he knew about the leaks but hadn’t done anything to seal them.”

Josh remembered the name now. He’d been so busy starting his own business, he hadn’t focused on the business that had gone under or the events that had transpired after.

“Right.” He nodded. “She’s trying to take over the business?” He glanced at the blonde again and was surprised to see her watching him from across the room. Her lips curved up slightly when his eyes locked with hers.

“Yes, although, from what I hear, it’s too late to save the sinking ship. Even the board knows it.” Richard sighed. “She’s been trying to convince other businesses to take XSecure back. So far, no one has bitten.” Richard leaned closer. “Not even I would trust that company again.”

“Honey, Carl is waving us over,” Richards’s wife said, touching his arm slightly. “It was nice meeting you. I hope to see you again soon.”

He nodded and stood there alone for as long as he could, enjoying the solitude in the packed room. When a waiter walked by, he set his warm beer down on the tray and headed for the glass doors that led out to a balcony. Looking out over the city, he wondered why anyone would want to live in the noisy, crowded place.

His mind started wandering to Carrie and the quiet little piece of heaven she’d built for herself, something he’d always dreamed of having for himself. He’d been thinking a lot about their conversations, how she was so willing to jump back into a relationship with him, even after all he’d done to her. All the pain he’d caused her. She’d made it clear to him that she’d forgiven him, but the truth was, he was having a hard time forgiving himself. He should have done something different two years ago. He should have fought for what he wanted. He should have stood up to the bully and declared his love the way he’d intended.

“Quite the view, huh?” The woman’s voice jolted him from his thoughts, and he turned slightly to see Camilla Kincaid standing behind him.

“Sure.” He shrugged.

Her eyebrows shot up. “Not a city boy?”

“Not necessarily.” He turned back to the view. He’d been there less than two days and already couldn’t wait to return to the quiet of Oregon.

“You’re Joshua Williams, CEO of Internal Security?” She moved closer and stood next to him by the railing.

“I am.” He nodded, unsure of what to say to the woman whose life he’d ruined according to most of the people in the room behind them.

“I’m Camilla Kincaid.” He nodded. “I’m sure you think I’m here to accuse you of putting my father in jail, but the truth was, he’s the one who got himself into the mess.” She relaxed next to him and sighed as she looked out over the city. “This city is beautiful for many different reasons.” She turned slightly towards him, the move a calculated one that caused the low cut of the dress to catch his eye. Although he admired her beauty, she wasn’t the fiery redhead he’d dreamed of most of his life. “The reason I think it shines brightest is that it’s still the land of opportunity.” Her finger ran over his forearm slowly. “My grandfather taught me that when one door closes, another one opens.” Her fingers ran to his upper arm. “My father would have done well to listen to those wise words.” She smiled up at him. “How about getting out of this stuffy place and grabbing a real drink?”

Reaching over, he gently took her hand from his arm. “Although I appreciate the offer, I’m afraid I’ll have to refuse. I’m here for a meeting, and I’m seeing someone.” She pouted, a move he’d seen on many women in LA when he’d declined their offers.

Although the last part wasn’t necessarily true, from the day he’d asked Carrie out all those years ago, he’d been attached.

Leaving the woman on the balcony to sulk, he went back into the party in search of William Martin. He was even more determined to pull the man aside and make a deal with him. He was done playing games for the night.