“I didn’t think they were letting you out until tomorrow,” Kate said, sounding hurt. “I can’t believe you didn’t call me.”
“Reese pulled some strings. He’s good at that kind of thing.”
“Are you hungry? I’ll pick something up and bring it over.”
“I’m okay. Listen, Kate. I didn’t plan to do this on the phone, but maybe it’s better this way.”
“Better? What’s better? What are you talking about?”
“The bad guys are in jail. Your sister’s killer is dead. We both knew from the start this was a temporary thing. It’s time you got on with your life and I got on with mine.”
Silence fell on the other end of the line. “Why don’t we talk about this when you’re feeling better?”
But it would only make things harder. “There’s no use putting it off. What we had was great, but it’s done.”
She took a deep breath and slowly released it, the soft sound whispering over the phone. “If that’s the way you want it, then I guess that’s it.”
His chest clamped down. Giving Kate up was the last thing he wanted. He wished he could tell her the truth, but it wouldn’t be fair to either one of them. “That’s the way it’s got to be.”
“I’m glad you’re okay, Jason. Even if things didn’t work out between us, you were a great friend. Thank you for everything you did.”
His eyes burned. He rubbed the sting away with the heel of his hand. “If you ever need anything just call me, okay? Just call and I’ll be there.”
“Goodbye, Jason.”
“Bye, Kate.” The line went dead. He didn’t expect to feel the same empty deadness inside.
You did the right thing, he told himself.
But he hadn’t known it was going to hurt so much. Hell, how could he? He had never been in love.
Three days passed. Kate buried herself in her work, but it didn’t really help. She felt sick with grief, as if someone she loved had died, felt as if some part of herself had been cut away. She hadn’t realized how much she had come to count on Jason, how much he had become a part of her life, her happiness.
That he had ended things shouldn’t have surprised her. From the start, she had known he would leave. Accepting that didn’t make her feel any better. Every night when she got home, she found herself searching for him, waiting for his phone call, then crying herself to sleep.
The fourth day, she began to pull herself together. During the agonizing hours she’d sat next to Jason’s hospital bed, she had made some life-altering decisions. After Andrew, she had realized she wasn’t the person she had believed herself to be.
Jason had shown her the person she was inside, the person she was meant to be. That person needed challenge and adventure in her life, something more than examining books and ledgers and filing reports.
The first thing she did was apply for her private investigator’s license. There were courses she needed to complete. After some research on which weapon to purchase, she chose a Glock 19. There was a background check before the purchase could be completed, then she took the pistol out to the shooting range to improve her skills, and applied for a concealed carry permit.
She never heard from Jason. Not once. But her course was set. It was time to talk to Robin Murdock, put her plan in motion. Robin had often expressed a desire to own her own consulting firm. Kate had a business proposition for her.
They set a time to meet at the office, went into the conference room and sat down across from each other at the rectangular walnut table. Robin was two years older, attractive, single, a high achiever and very good at her job.
“So what’s this about, Kate?” Robin took a drink from her can of Diet Coke out of the vending machine down the hall.
“I want to expand the business, Robin. To do that I need your help.”
“Are you’re thinking of hiring more employees? We’ll need to bring in someone for business development if you do.”
“I’m going to need marketing help, but not to grow the consulting business. I want to take the company in a new direction. I want to expand into small-business and corporate security. Embezzling, stealing corporate secrets, identity theft, forgery, that kind of thing.”
Robin sat back in her chair. “Wow, I had no idea you were interested in something like that. It sounds intriguing, but I don’t see how I fit in.”
“You’d be in charge of the consulting side of the business, the work we do now. I’d specialize in the security aspect. I’ve applied for my private investigator’s license. After the work Jason and I did to find my sister’s killer, I knew what I wanted to do.”
“Isn’t that sort of work dangerous, Kate?”
