“You know how Katy is…” I searched for the right word to sum up her personality.
Ridge beat me to it. “Crazy, difficult, stubborn?”
I laughed. “I was going to say… spirited or convicted.”
True, Katy found herself in trouble often, but her dedicated moral compass often put her in harm’s way. Whatever misguided reasons drove her, Katy only wanted what was best for Pelican Bay. Unfortunately, like Ridge and Anderson, Katy and I could not agree on the proper course to reach our similar outcomes. We didn’t even agree on the same outcome. Katy wanted nothing to change but didn’t realize that everything changed all the time. If we, as a town, didn’t stay on top of technology, we’d become a ghost town.
Sometimes I wondered if Katy really disagreed with what I was doing, or if she hated me so much because of her ridiculous family reason that she’d disagree with anything I did. If the Kensington family donated a million dollars to the Women’s Auxiliary, Katy would find a reason to complain. Why only a million dollars? Why not a million and one dollars?
I once considered doing it just to see what she would say, but that would be paying the soldiers to arm themselves against me. No one interfered with my plans more than the Women’s Auxiliary. Maybe when I was younger, I’d have done it for the fun and the fights, but age made me battle weary.
“And you’re worried Katy is going to get involved and impede the investigation?”
Now Ridge and I agreed with where this conversation needed to go. “Yes, and I need you to keep her out of it.”
Ridge laughed, but it was soundless. “And how do you expect me to do that?”
There was only one way to keep Katy from trying to track the latest killer in Pelican Bay. “Solve the case. Do whatever you need to do. I’ll cover your expenses until the job is finished.”
Katy would not take the situation lightly. She’d jump in a hundred and fifty percent and eventually find herself in trouble. Then, rather than reach out and ask for help, she’d pull one or more of her friends into the fray until Ridge ended up involved somehow, anyway. My plan only cut out the middleman.
I’d failed Katy in the past, but I refused to do so again. She might not see me as her protector, but it was my job to keep her as far away from danger as possible.
“I’d also want you to put a man on Katy. Make sure she doesn’t realize she’s being tailed.”
Ridge’s eyes glistened as the sweep of the lighthouse trailed across my office. “And you want me to report what she does to you?”
Did I?
Yes, I wanted to know where Katy was every second of every moment of every day. But… as much as I hated to admit it, getting deeper into her stratosphere would not be good for me. I knew too much about Katy already. It never did me any good.
“No, just make sure your guy keeps her out of trouble. Give me as-needed updates.”
Ridge nodded, but his smirk never fell.
3
Katy
“The wedding will be perfect,” I said, staring at Tabitha’s wedding dress as she tried it on and did a quick circle for us. She’d picked out the dress during an earlier shopping trip but came and tried it on every chance she had available, claiming it was necessary for the alterations. The white fabric hung from her body and pooled on the floor since she currently wasn’t wearing the three-inch heels, which would accompany her down the aisle on her wedding day.
“Ridge is going to faint,” Anessa said, her smile as bright as I’d ever seen it. She’d tried to talk Tabitha into using a pink sash around the middle of her dress on our last trip, but Tabitha opted for white—traditional and timeless as she was.
Tabitha caught the view of herself in the mirror and smiled at the long fluffy skirt for a fraction of a second before her expression fell.
“What?” Did she notice something wrong with her dress? There was still plenty of time to call and get a new one before her early spring wedding.
“As long as Aunt Mary doesn’t call me a slut. I worry there’s too much cleavage.”
She cupped the bottoms of her breasts and pushed them up and close together. Any woman would die for that kind of cleavage.
“Stop being ridiculous. No one is going to say shit about you,” Anessa said, batting Tabitha’s hands away from her boobs.
With my lips firmly sealed, I stayed speechless, just cringing on the sidelines until they paused. “Poor Riley.” He never quite recovered from his aunt calling his prom date the less than savory word. They still had a frosty relationship and for a while Riley dated every skank in the county.
I finished off the small glass of champagne we’d been handed when we walked into the bridal shop in downtown Pelican Bay. Most people expected Tabitha to drive to Clearwater and try on dresses at the shop there. Those were the rumors, but she was dedicated to Pelican Bay and chose to use a local seamstress. Her best kept secret.
She’d hired Pelican Party Planners to handle the preparations for her big day, including the dress. The startup company was growing their business, and something told me after coming out as Ridge and Tabitha’s personal planner she’d have more business in the upcoming years. Especially as Ridge’s men were coupling off and settling in our small town.
