to do, he thought, was get past telling his parents.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we will be beginning our descent to Houston shortly. Please return your tray tables to the upright positions…”
The cheerful flight attendant continued with her instructions, her voice fading into the background for Connor.
Connor’s stomach felt just the slightest bit queasy. Not because of the airplane’s descent, but because of what lay ahead.
Zero hour was almost here.
They walked into the big, sprawling living room en masse: his sister Valene; his sister Maddie and her husband, Zach McCarter; and his parents, Kenneth and Barbara Fortunado.
Here goes nothin’, Connor thought, putting on his game face.
Kenneth Fortunado, a robust giant of a man, had never been known for beating around the bush. He got right to it.
“All right, Connor, what’s the big mystery?” Kenneth asked his son as he came in. “What suddenly brings you here?”
“My guess is it has to be something big to get Connor to leave that cushy, high-paying executive job of his back in Denver and bring his butt back home,” Maddie said, making herself comfortable on one of the oversize sofas in the room.
“It’s not bad news, is it, dear?” Barbara Fortunado asked, her brown eyes wide with worry as they searched her son’s face. “Please don’t let it be bad news. I couldn’t bear to hear about anything else bad happening after all that’s been going on.”
“Come to think of it, you do look rather unsettled, boy,” Kenneth said, looking more closely at his son’s face. “Out with it. What’s going on? Why are you suddenly here?”
Unable to remain quiet any longer, Connor’s sister Valene spoke up. “Everybody, let Connor breathe. We’re all getting way too jumpy.” Valene was referring to the fact that the place where they all worked, Fortunado Real Estate, had suddenly and inexplicably seen a turn for the worse in the last two months. They’d lost a good share of their best clients.
Taking Maddie’s hand in his, Zach McCarter gave Connor a sympathetic look, as if to say that he was glad he wasn’t the one in his brother-in-law’s shoes, although for now he wisely remained silent.
Connor looked around the room. There were members of his immediate family who were missing from the gathering although he had put the word out that he wanted to speak to all of them at the same time. He saw no sense in having to go through this little drama twice, but obviously his message hadn’t registered properly.
“I was hoping to say this when everyone was here,” Connor told his father.
“You’re going to have to settle for half the family,” Kenneth told him, his tone already growing impatient. “In case you haven’t noticed, trying to get everyone together in one place—apart from holding a wedding—is like herding cats—”
“More like herding chickens,” Valene said under her breath, then flashed a smile at her father when Kenneth shot her a look. It was obvious she hadn’t thought she was going to be overheard.
“Connor, please tell us,” Barbara entreated her son. “You’re getting me very nervous.”
Feeling guilty that he was adding to his mother’s concerns, Connor stopped stalling. Half a family was better than none.
Taking a deep breath, he launched into the reason for his unexpected return home.
Connor started slowly. “It’s nothing to make you nervous, Mother.”
“Spit it out, Connor,” Kenneth ordered. “If you beat around the bush like this at that corporate search firm of yours, it’s a wonder that they haven’t shown you the door yet.”
This was as good an opening as any, Connor thought. “Well, that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about,” he began.
Kenneth cut him off. “They fired you?” he cried, astonished despite what he’d just said.
“No,” Connor replied firmly. “They didn’t fire me, but I’m not working for them anymore.”
His father’s complexion was turning a shade of unflattering red. “What do you mean you’re not working for them anymore?” Kenneth demanded.
“Kenneth, please, let him speak,” Barbara pleaded, putting her hand on her husband’s arm as if she was trying to gentle a wild stallion. “I’m sure he has a good explanation for all this.” She looked at her son hopefully. Waiting.
“Well?” Kenneth demanded, his eyes all but pinning Connor against the wall.
Connor took in another breath, as if that would somehow shield him from the explosion he sensed was coming. “I’m not with that firm anymore because I’m a private investigator now.”
“You’re a PI?” Maddie cried in awed disbelief. Suddenly, a smile bloomed on her lips. “You mean like Magnum?”
Valene looked at her sister, lost. “Who’s Magnum?” she wanted to know.
“Some guy on a classic TV show,” Zach volunteered. “I caught a few episodes on one of those channels that show nothing but programs from the seventies and eighties.”
“No, not like Magnum,” Connor corrected tolerantly. “Most of the work isn’t as glamorous as TV makes it out to be. It requires a lot of patience and a great deal of attention to detail,” he told his family, hoping that was enough.
Apparently, it wasn’t. Exasperated, Kenneth waved his hand for everyone else in the room to be quiet. He obviously intended to go toe to toe with his son.
“You’re a private eye?” Kenneth cried, completely stunned and grossly disappointed. There was no question of that. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“It’s ‘private investigator,’ Dad,” Connor told his father patiently. “And what I was thinking was that maybe I could help find out who’s responsible for everything that’s been going on around here lately.”
“There are professionals for that sort of thing, dear,” Barbara told her son, speaking up.
Connor turned to look at his mother. He hadn’t thought this was going to be easy, he reminded himself. “I am a professional, Mother.”
Kenneth let out an exasperated breath. “Since when?” he mocked.
Connor turned his attention to his father. He couldn’t back down now. If he did, it was all over. “Since a few months ago.”
Kenneth frowned, shaking his head, unable to accept the information or come to grips with it.
“I don’t believe you,” Kenneth countered. “You wouldn’t do something that was so life-altering without telling me.”
“I
