That First Special Kiss

Joe nodded gravely. “No one could blame you if you don’t want to see him again.”

Kelly looked at the photograph again. She might have recognized the face, but she didn’t know this man. He hadn’t been a father to her when she had needed a father. Now that she was a self-sufficient adult, what role could he possibly play in her life? “I really need to think about this before I make a decision.”

“Of course you do.” Joe stood, his business concluded. “I’ll let him know that you’ve been notified and that you’ve requested time. You take as long as you want.”

She walked him to the door. “Thank you for handling this so considerately, Joe. I appreciate the way you’ve respected my privacy.”

He nodded. “You’ve become a part of my family during the past couple of years. I watch out for my family.”

His gruffly spoken words touched her. Family, she thought, had little to do with blood, and everything to do with feelings. “Thank you.”

“Call me when you decide what you want to do.”

“I will.” She reached out to open the door for him. “I’ll let you know as soon as I...”

Her voice died away when she opened the door to find Shane on the doorstep, his finger poised above the doorbell. He looked as surprised as she felt.

“Joe,” he said, staring at his uncle with narrowed eyes. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Chapter Eight

Rather than answering Shane’s question, Joe greeted his nephew. “Hello, Shane. I heard your folks got back from their vacation yesterday. Did they have a good time?”

“Yeah, they had a great time,” Shane answered absently, studying the portfolio Joe carried beneath one arm. “Was this a business or social call?”

Joe smiled. “You always were a curious kid. I would have thought you’d have outgrown it by now.”

He glanced then at Kelly. “I’ll leave you to deal with your pal’s questions.”

Great, she thought as Joe and Shane passed in her doorway, Shane without waiting for an invitation to enter. As if the evening hadn’t been stressful enough.

Shane turned in the middle of the living room floor to look at her. “What did Joe want?”

She closed the door in a mixture of resignation and irritation. “Has it occurred to you that it’s absolutely none of your business?”

“I just want to know if something is wrong,” he insisted. “My uncle was obviously in P.I. mode, so either you’ve hired him for some reason...”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “Why would I hire a private investigator?”

“Then he was here because he’s come across something that concerns you.”

She knew Shane wouldn’t be satisfied until he found out what was going on. Had she really been opposed to telling him, she would have firmly repeated that it was none of his business and asked him to leave. And he would have gone—albeit reluctantly. But the truth was, this was exactly the sort of thing she would have wanted to discuss with Shane when she had thought of him simply as one of her best friends.

She needed that friend now.

“Your uncle was here on behalf of my father. Apparently, D’Alessandro Investigations has earned a reputation for reuniting long-separated family members. I didn’t bother to leave a forwarding address when I moved here eighteen months ago—I didn’t know there was anyone who would want to contact me—so my father hired Joe to find me.”

Shane rubbed the back of his neck, looking thoughtful, but not particularly surprised. “How long has it been since you saw your father?”

“Sixteen years. I was eight. I haven’t heard a word from him since.”

Shane had spotted the photograph still lying on her coffee table. He picked it up and studied it. “You have his eyes.”

Kelly pushed a hand through the fair hair she’d inherited from her mother. “I know.”

He looked at her over the photograph. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Do I have a choice?” she asked wryly.