A Soldier's Return

“I said I’d see them after I’ve settled in. I need to find a job and a place to live.”

“Will and Vivian would be glad to have you stay there with them. They have plenty of room,” Carrie said, but she already knew the answer.

“I won’t sponge off my sister’s family. You don’t live with them, do you?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then you understand,” he said, staring at her.

“Are you going to talk to Will about working with us?”

Jim sighed and stared down at her. “I don’t know.”

“He was serious when he said we needed help. We’ve got contracts with three different insurance companies and the cases are piling up.”

“I need some time to adjust. And I’m used to making my own way.” His voice was almost a growl.

“So did Rachel and Rebecca, but they became part of the family. And they all want you to do the same.”

She watched his face, seeing various emotions in his eyes. Most of all, she wanted to hug him and reassure him. He didn’t seem to grasp how much his family wanted to love him.

But she couldn’t tell him. After all, she wasn’t family. Nor could she hug him like his sisters had done. All she could do was try to maintain some contact with him. “Is it all right if Will calls you in the morning?”

“I guess so, but he doesn’t need to give me a job.”

“We need help, Jim. Truly,” she said earnestly.

“I’ll talk to him, but I’m promising nothing.”

“I’ll tell him.” She’d pushed him as far as she could, she thought. He’d given his word to at least speak to Will, and Carrie’s fantasy Jim would never break his word. So she said good-night and turned to walk away.

She could feel his eyes on her as she walked down the hall. Just before she entered the elevator, she looked back at him and gave him a warm smile.

His expression didn’t change.

AFTER SHE REACHED her apartment, she called Will. “He’s staying at the Holiday Inn in room #512. He agreed to speak with you in the morning, but he said you didn’t need to give him a job.”

“Thanks, Carrie. You did just what I wanted. I think it’s going to be a while before he feels comfortable with the family. But we don’t want to lose touch with him.”

“I agree.”

“Why don’t we both take him to breakfast in the morning? I think you can help talk him into trying out the job.”

“Me? I’ll be glad to go with you, but I doubt it matters to Jim what I think.”

“I’ll meet you at the office at eight-thirty. Then we’ll go pick up Jim.”

“Okay, see you then.”

Carrie hung up the phone and immediately moved to her closet to figure out what she was wearing tomorrow to impress Jim.

“You’re being ridiculous!” she exclaimed, but she didn’t stop until she found her favorite red suit and a new blouse she’d bought last week. She was glad that finally, in the last few months she had extra money to spend on her wardrobe.

It had taken her an extra couple of years to graduate college because she’d had to go part-time after her father’s sudden death. Then her mother had been sick, which had drained her of both time and money. But it had been worth it because she’d had time with her mother that she wouldn’t trade for any size bank account.

The luckiest thing that had ever happened to her had been to go to work for Will Greenfield.

Five years ago she’d come to work for him as a part-time receptionist, while she was in school. Then she began to handle some of the investigation work, the easier things that Will didn’t have time for. Over time, her involvement deepened until she was working full-time as a P.I.

Throughout it all, Will treated her as a member of his family—which at the time had only consisted of himself. Then he’d met Vivian, who happened to be the mother of her former best friend. Carrie had simply walked away from Vanessa, leaving her in the dark about the events that had changed her life so completely.

With her father’s death, her life had fallen apart like a house of cards. She no longer could afford tuition or new clothes or even the car her dad had bought her. She’d settled his bills by selling everything they had. Then she’d bought a cheap car and moved her and her mother into an apartment.

She still lived there.

But now she had her friendship with Vanessa back, and Will and Vivian in her life. And for the past year since she’d gotten involved in finding Vanessa’s siblings, she had Jim. The fantasy Jim anyway. From the moment she’d seen his picture, his face had spoken to her. She felt like she knew him—intimately.

She was definitely attracted to him.

But that was the fantasy Jim, she reminded herself. The fantasy Jim opened himself up to her, allowed her to love him. But the real Jim…? So far he remained the stoic soldier returning from war.

Carrie laid out her clothes for the morning and finally went to bed, in the arms of a strong-jawed fantasy man.

JIM AWOKE LATER than he’d expected. He attributed it to the airline travel yesterday, and meeting his family for the first time.

When he emerged from the shower, the phone in his room was ringing.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Jim, it’s Will Greenfield. Have you had breakfast yet?”

“No. I’m running late this morning.”

“How about you join Carrie and me downstairs in the coffee shop? I want to buy you breakfast.”

“You don’t have to,” he said.

“I know I don’t, but I want to discuss the job I mentioned yesterday. I figure breakfast is the least I owe you if you’ll listen to me.”

Jim realized this man was determined. Until he heard his pitch, Will wouldn’t leave him alone. He looked at his watch. “I’ll be down in ten minutes.”

“Fine. We’ll have coffee waiting for you,” Will promised.

It was the “we” that bothered Jim. He liked Will Greenfield. But Carrie… There was something there when he looked at her. Something that made him want to run in the other direction. He should run in the other direction he told himself. He didn’t want to hurt her. And that was all he’d bring Carrie. Or any woman.

He dressed in black slacks and a royal-blue dress shirt. After all, he was no longer a soldier. When he looked in the mirror, it was strange to see himself in anything but khaki-green. Hoping he hadn’t made a mistake in leaving the service, he picked up his billfold and his room key and headed for the coffee shop to face Will and Carrie.

When he entered the coffee shop, he looked around for Will Greenfield. But all he saw was Carrie Rand in a bright red suit, sitting in a booth. He frowned. He hadn’t planned on a breakfast alone with Carrie. The less time he spent with her the better everything would be.

He considered returning to his room, but he’d agreed to breakfast. Reluctantly he walked over to the booth.

Carrie glanced up and gasped. “Jim! You’re not wearing your uniform.”

“No. I’m a civilian now,” he said.

“But yesterday—” Carrie began.

“Was my last day in the military. I was traveling and it was easier to do so in uniform. Where’s Will?”

“Um, he had an emergency call he had to take. Please sit down, Jim. He should be back shortly.” Carrie signaled the waitress, who came to the table with a pot of coffee.

“Here’s a hungry man,” Carrie said with a smile. “Please pour him some coffee and maybe he’ll be ready to order in a minute.”

“I can order now, if you’re ready,” Jim said quietly.

“We’ve already ordered. I asked our waitress to hold our order until you got here. Will said for us to go ahead and not wait for him.”

“I’ll take two eggs over easy, bacon, wheat toast and a short stack of pancakes.”

“You certainly seem to know your mind, Jim. Will likes that.”

“It’s a habit the marines encourage,” Jim said with a nod.

“I bet you were a fast learner, too,” Carrie said, hoping to see Jim smile. She was sure a smile would increase his handsome quotient tremendously. Which was pretty incredible since she’d thought his stern appearance would be hard to beat.

Jim said, “Yeah.”

He took a sip of his coffee. Then he noticed Carrie was drinking some kind of cola. “You don’t drink coffee?” he asked.

“No. Diet Coke has caffeine, too. I drink it in the morning.”

“I can see that in the summer, but in winter? Don’t you want something hot?”

“If I feel cold, I drink hot tea,” Carrie admitted. “I’ve got all the stuff for hot tea at the office. Sometimes I drink it there.”

Jim looked at Carrie, puzzling over her relationship with Will. If Will hadn’t shown how much he loved his wife and son, Jim might’ve thought they were having an affair. But Will seemed to act like a father to Carrie.

“So you like working for Will?”

“Yes, of course,” Carrie said at once.

The waitress delivered their breakfasts and silence reigned as they ate. Then, with a second cup of coffee in front of him, Jim looked at Carrie. “I’m still not sure if Will really has a job open or he’s simply doing what Vivian wants him to do.”

“Surely you don’t believe—”

“Why else would he offer a job to a stranger?” Jim challenged her.

“You’re not a stranger, Jim.” Carrie nodded as Jim’s gaze narrowed. “When Vivian first asked Will to find Vanessa’s siblings, he warned her that they might not be the kind of people she would want Vanessa to know.” She grinned. “Even he will admit he had low expectations of the rich. He figured Vivian thought Vanessa’s siblings would be wealthy, like her.”

“And they weren’t?”

“We found Rebecca first, in Arkansas. She was a single mother with no help from her adoptive parents. They wouldn’t even speak to her. She was providing for her son and continuing her college classes at night.”

“So he invited her to Texas for a visit?” Jim asked.

“Not on your life. He wouldn’t do that until he had figured out what was going on in her life. He went to Arkansas so he could interview her in person.”

“That sounds safe.”

“It was—until Vivian insisted on going with him. He told her she could go on the condition that she didn’t reveal her identity. He told Rebecca she was his assistant.”

“And she bought that?”

“She did until Vivian told her differently. Once Vivian met her, she insisted she come back to Dallas to meet her sister.” Carrie smiled. “You see, Vivian sees with her heart, not her head. She’s different from most rich people, and that’s how she raised Vanessa, too.”

“Is that when Will fell for her?” Jim asked, doubt in his voice.

“I don’t think it was that fast. Will had been married before to a lady who wanted money, however she could get it. She divorced Will to marry a man almost twenty years older than her because he was wealthy.”

“It makes it seem unlikely that he’d fall for Vivian, then.”

Carrie chuckled. “He was a goner when he saw Vivian’s generosity to Rebecca, offering her a home, helping her return to school full-time, becoming Joey’s grandma. That’s how she convinced Will without even trying. He realized she was different from the rich women he’d met in the past.” Carrie paused, then gauging Jim’s expression, said, “All of which is a long explanation so you’ll understand that we know a great deal about you.”

He looked confused. “I don’t see how Will’s love life explains why you already know a lot about me.”

“It explains how Will wouldn’t invite you to come meet your family unless he believed you wouldn’t disappoint Vivian and your sisters. We’ve talked to many of your superior officers. We know about your returning to college to get a degree and moving up in the officer ranks. We’ve talked to men who served under you.” Carrie stopped talking because of the frown on Jim’s face.

“And what did you find that made you think I’d be a good P.I.?” he demanded.

“You’re smart, decisive, caring, honest,” Carrie said. “You can handle yourself in a fight, you majored in computer science and you’re a good friend.”

“You already knew about my degree when Will asked about my computer skills?” Jim asked, one eyebrow raised.

Carrie had the grace to look a little embarrassed. “Yes. We weren’t sure how you’d feel about having been investigated.”

“I don’t like it one damn bit!”

Carrie kept her gaze fixed on her plate, pretending to ignore Jim’s glare.

“If someone you loved wanted to find a stranger, wouldn’t you investigate the person before you introduced them?” Carrie asked gently.

After a moment of silence, Jim said, “Yeah, I would. But that doesn’t mean I want to work as a P.I.”

“Never said it did,” Will agreed, suddenly appearing at the table. “But I hope Carrie explained everything to you. We need some help. If you don’t agree to work for me, I’ll have to find someone else.” Will sat at the table and waved for the waitress to bring his breakfast.

“Tell me about the work.”

Will began to tell him about cases they had pending, between bites, pointing out that most of their cases involved investigating people trying to trick the insurance companies. “Occasionally, we take cases that the police have given up on. Or cases like Vivian’s.”

“No divorce cases? No tailing cheating husbands?”

“I try to avoid them.”

Jim looked at Carrie. “What do you do?”

“The same work as Will.”

“You actually tail people?”

“Of course.”

“You carry a gun?”

“Yes.”

Jim raised his cup and took a long drink of coffee. Then he looked at Will. “How about a trial run? I’ll work for you for a week, no pay. If I like the work, we’ll talk.”

“That’s more than fair. Let’s shake on it,” Will said, extending his hand to Jim.

After shaking Will’s hand, Jim extended his hand to Carrie.

Reluctantly, slowly, she gave him her hand, hoping he wouldn’t realize she was shaking more than his hand. She had a thing about shaking hands. It told her a lot about a person. But she already knew about Jim. Shaking his hand only confirmed her attraction to him. To the real Jim.

“Well,” Will said, “shall we go to the office? If you can catch on to what we do on the computer, Carrie has some fieldwork to do. You can use her desk.”

Jim again looked at Carrie.

All she could manage was a nod agreeing with Will’s statement.

“Are you going to stay here for the week? That will be kind of expensive.” Will paused and then said, “Since you’re working for free, you could stay with us. We really do have plenty of room.”

“I don’t think—”

“Then I’ll have to pay you a salary for the first week.”

“No, I—”

“Vivian will ask. She’d be horrified at my taking advantage of you.”

“Fine. You can pay me minimum wage for the week. Until I catch on, that’s all I’ll be worth anyway.”

Will blinked several times. Then he said, “It’s a deal. But we’d still like to have you move in with us.”

“That’s very kind, but no thank you.”

Carrie smiled. Jim had just proven her right. She’d told Will this morning she didn’t think Jim would go along with his offer.

“So you’re going to stay here?” Will asked.

“I’m going to look for an apartment, but I’ll stay here until I find something.” Jim stood. “I need to go get my jacket. I’ll be right back.”

Once Jim had left the table, Carrie grinned at Will. “I won that bet,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, you did. I’d hoped I could persuade him.”

“I know, for Vivian. But they’ll get to see him often and he’ll get used to a big family after a while.”

“I guess it has been kind of sudden.” He stood. “We’d better head for the office.” He waved the waitress over for their bill.

“Can you show him what we need done on the computer?” Will asked as he paid.

“That shouldn’t be a problem. It’s not that difficult.”

“Then what will you do?”

“Fieldwork, like you said.”

“Nothing dangerous, right?”

Carrie shrugged her shoulders. “I have a couple of specific cases in mind.”

“Which ones?” Will asked.

“The Moore case…and maybe the Riley case.”

“No! I’ll do that one, Carrie. I told you that one is dangerous. That man is amoral. He won’t hesitate to kill anyone who’s trying to stop him from getting his money.”

“And that’s why I have to do it. He would suspect you, but he won’t suspect me.”

“No. I won’t allow you to go alone.”

“Trouble in paradise?” Jim asked, coming up alongside them.

“Carrie wants to do something dangerous, and I won’t let her,” Will said firmly.

“It’s obvious you just want to protect her,” Jim said, raising one eyebrow.

“I am. But she thinks she has to protect me.”

“Vivian made me promise,” Carrie said with a light chuckle that defused the situation.

“Uh, I’m ready to go,” Jim said, garnering Will’s attention.

“Fine. Do you want to turn in your rental car? We could follow you and pick you up.”

“No, thanks,” Jim said, “I’ll keep it until I buy a car.”

“I’m just trying to save you some money,” Will explained.

“I never said I was penniless,” Jim protested.

Carrie stepped closer to the two men. “I think Jim can handle his personal life. Shall we go to the office?”

“Yeah,” Will said. “Sorry, Jim. I’m used to— I try to take care of the family.”

“I appreciate that, Will, but I’m pretty independent.”

“Well, we’ll see you at the office. You can follow us if you want. Or better yet, Carrie can ride with you and show you how to find the office.”

“I managed to find it yesterday, Will,” Jim pointed out.

“Ride with him, Carrie,” Will said, and walked off.

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