She supposed she was the dull one of the family.

  She didn’t have a problem with it. Dull and boring...stable. Those weren’t bad things in her eyes.

  Dahlia was the oldest of three girls, the second oldest in the family of five kids.

  The way they’d lived and moved around for their father’s job, a doctor with Doctors Without Borders, gave them a unique upbringing.

  One that all the kids hated but others thought was exciting.

  Sure, it was exciting if you weren’t living it.

  She wanted exactly what she got. Dull, boring, and stable.

  Something she’d never felt she had until she gave it to herself.

  When things stopped being stable a few years ago with Shawn, she’d ended it.

  He wasn’t happy and made a few scenes in the office. She’d been passed over for Bob’s position that she’d wanted but told herself the next one would be hers.

  When that didn’t happen, she decided that maybe taking a risk wasn’t so bad.

  Ivy let her know about a job opening at Blossoms for a Director of Finance.

  It was out of her comfort zone, but she’d told herself she needed to be that young kid out to take a risk.

  Besides, maybe she missed her family.

  Jasmine, the sister she was the closest to at two years younger than her, was married and had a child.

  Ivy was living in Jasmine’s old apartment.

  It just seemed like the thing to do and she didn’t have one regret.

  Other than everyone was so freaking happy and cheerful finding love and, as her baby sister said, she hadn’t had a date in almost two years.

  “Does it matter?” she asked.

  Ivy walked into her office and sat in the chair across from her. Guess it was time to chat.

  She wouldn’t complain. Ivy didn’t bug her much at work and she appreciated that.

  The last thing she wanted was her boss Lily Bloom-Wolfe to think she was slacking off when she pushed herself to work harder than ever because this job was different than the one she had before.

  She didn’t want Lily and her sisters to regret hiring her. Or think they only did it because she was Jasmine and Ivy’s sister who already were employed by her.

  The Bloom sisters had a thing about flower names and it being fate.

  Dahlia wasn’t so sure she believed in those things.

  She was too practical for it.

  “Kind of,” Ivy said. “I just feel bad. You moved here to live with me and now I’m not home much.”

  She grinned. “I didn’t move here to live with you. I moved here for a job and living with you was the logical decision. It helps us both split the bills and allows you to put money away.”

  “Blah, blah, blah,” Ivy said, waving her hand with a massive grin. “Always logic with you.”

  “Someone has to be the logical calm one.”

  “It’s always been you,” Ivy said. “Jasmine is the peacemaker in the middle. Open minded and more tolerant of me and my moods.”

  She laughed. “You do have a lot of moods. More so when you were a kid. But we all have to be who we need to be and not what someone thinks we should be.”

  Ivy cocked her head to the side. “Oh boy. What’s going on?”

  “Nothing,” she said, frowning.

  “You make those statements when you’ve got a lot on your mind. Jasmine told me that. I guess I was always so self-absorbed in my life I didn’t see it.”

  “You have been self-absorbed most of your life, but now you’re not so much. It was just a statement, Ivy. Nothing to look deeper into.”

  “Are you sure?” Ivy asked. “I’m not missing something because I’m not around to see it?”

  “You’re not,” she said softly.

  “Phew,” Ivy said. “Good. Otherwise, I’d have to go get Jasmine and I know she’s at the greenhouse. We can gang up on you for once.”

  “I’m positive,” she said. “Go have fun with Brooks. I’ll see you tomorrow if I don’t before you leave today.”

  Ivy had an office down the hall from her but spent a lot of time running around or in the store.

  Her baby sister was good at her job and Dahlia was thrilled to see that when Ivy was the one that couldn’t seem to figure her life out in the past.

  Ivy stood up and left and she went back to work.

  “Don’t let her get to you.”

  She looked up to see her boss, Lily, standing there. “How much did you overhear?”

  “Most of it,” Lily said. “Sorry about that. You know Ivy talks loud.”

  “She does,” she said. “She’s always been the one of us so full of life.”

  “Just like Poppy,” Lily said of the middle sister and co-owner of Blossoms. Lily walked in and sat down. At the start of her third trimester with her second child, Lily was looking as lovely as ever but showing much faster this time.

  “Yeah,” she said. “There isn’t anything wrong with it.”

  “No,” Lily said. “Never. It’s exactly what you said. We have to be who we need to be not what others want. You and me, we have a lot in common.”

  “The oldest of the sisters,” she said. “The one that had to be more responsible.”

  “That’s us,” Lily said. “You know my sisters didn’t always agree with my choices in life, but it all worked out in the end.”

  Dahlia knew the story. When the Bloom girls' mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver when Lily was eighteen, she married a much older man, the former owner of Blossoms, which was just a flower shop back then. It was the best way to keep the sisters together by providing a stable home life for them.

  Dahlia had to say she wasn’t sure she would go as far as Lily had, but if put in that situation, maybe she would have to keep everyone together.

  “It did,” she agreed. “Just like me coming here. I took that risk that I needed to.”

  “We are thrilled to have you,” Lily said. “And because I think you are so much like me at times, wanting the world to see we’ve got it all together, I remind myself that it would have been nice to have been told it too.”

  “Thank you,” she said. “But you don’t need to do that.”

  “Yes,” Lily said, “I do.” Lily shut the door and came back to sit down. “Being the responsible one holding the family together, you never want your younger sisters to think you’re worried or something is wrong. Being a parent I understand that even more. It’s our job to protect our children.”

  “You were protecting your sisters long before you had children,” she said.

  “I was. Now that my sisters have families of their own—maybe even before that—they got on my case to put myself first too. They pushed me with Zane. Gave me the nudge I needed.”

  “Oh no, are you going to tell me to start dating too?”

  “No,” Lily said, smiling. “I am going to tell you that I know you were nervous about taking this job and worried that you were only hired because of your sisters. I’d like to think by now you’d know we wouldn’t do that.”

  “I know it now, but it’s always in the back of my mind.”

  “Don’t let it be there,” Lily said. “I’ve always put the business first.”

  “You have.”

  “I’ve said more than once that Jasmine saved me. I couldn’t run the flower shop after Carl died. It wasn’t my passion, but I knew I needed it to funnel the rest of the business. That meant letting someone take control of it though.”

  “Which would be hard for you to do,” she said.

  “Being hard doesn’t mean it’s not the right decision. Just like you moving here. Whatever was going on in your life, you knew you needed to be by family. I’d like to think this job fell into your lap as much as you fell into mine.”

  She smiled. “I think you’re right. That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t still scared.”

  “And it’s the first you’re saying that to anyone,” Lily said. “I understand. Don’t be scared about your job. You’re doing a great job. Wonderful. We are in the best shape we’ve ever been in and I know it has to do with you. You’re seeing things my last person didn’t because she didn’t have the knowledge or experience you do.”

  “It’s nice to hear that,” she said.

  The last person in this position just paid the everyday bills and they had an accounting firm doing the rest.

  The position had been revamped with Dahlia doing it all. It was a lot of work, but she was up to it once she wrapped her head around for profit from not-for-profit.

  Now that she’d done it for nine months, she wondered why she never thought to before. There were fewer restrictions in her eyes and she was thrilled she’d been able to help her bosses expand their business and personnel.

  “Which is why I’m saying it. You can relax some. I told you before not to use work as an excuse to not have a life.”

  “And back to that,” she said, laughing.

  “No,” Lily said, grinning. “Just making a point. You’ll move on when you’re ready. The reason for keeping to yourself is yours. Trust me, I know. But I wanted to be clear that you are a huge asset to the business and you can take that worry out of your brain. I’d be lost without you and I’m not sure how we did what we had before you came on board.”

  She felt her eyes fill a little. She knew Lily was being sincere and didn’t realize how much she needed that praise.

  “Can I be honest with you? It won’t go any further?”

  “Of course you can. And you know I won’t say a word.”

  “You have no idea how much I needed to hear that. My last job, I worked so hard. I thought I had this great reputation and then worked my way up fast. I started to date a coworker. Things were good and then when the relationship didn’t work out, I noticed changes with people at work. I was looked at differently dating him. Then he said things at work to me that weren’t nice and other people overheard. He made scenes when I ended things. Two promotion opportunities were passed by me. I felt like having a personal life burned my professional one.”

  “I’m sorry that happened to you,” Lily said. “And I can understand where that might make you a little skittish to try again. But nothing is going to ruin or burn your professional career. It’s not like that here.”

  “No,” she said. “It’s not. I think I needed that reminder too. I love working here and everything you and your sisters stand for.”

  “Thank you for saying that. We try. It’s a business, but it’s family too. Not just my sisters, but your family and everyone else.”

  “You’ve done a beautiful job with it,” she said. “And I’m honored to be a part of it.”

  Lily got up and left after and Dahlia returned to work feeling much better about herself and her life.

  Maybe she would try again if the opportunity presented itself.

  2

  PEOPLE BURN OUT

  “How do you like living here?”

  Special Agent Hugh Crosby lifted his head from the report he was typing into his laptop to look at Grant Fielding, another agent in the small New London Resident Agency that he’d transferred to two months ago.

  “It’s fine,” he said.

  “Not the same as Phoenix,” Grant said.

  “Nope,” he said. “I’m not sweating my balls off in May here. One good thing.”

  Grant laughed. “Nah. It can get warm in the middle of the summer, but if you’re close to the water, the breeze helps.”

  Hugh had a home he’d closed on last month on the river in Groton, just ten minutes away. He knew Grant was talking about living on the ocean more than anything.

  “I’m sure,” he said. He didn’t volunteer much about his life and never had. Many tried to find out what they could, but it wasn’t coming from his mouth.

  “Give us something,” Grant said. “Everyone is talking and no one can figure out why you transferred here. Many are dying to get out of this small office and into bigger cities and yet you did the opposite.”

  “I’m not like everyone else,” he said, smirking.

  “Tell me about it,” Grant said. “You’re the only one with your tie on though you did hang your jacket up on the chair behind you. You’re in the office, why wear a full suit?”

  “Because I don’t always expect to be in the office daily,” he said.

  Grant was in pants and a nice shirt. No tie, but he kept one in his desk for emergencies, the same with a suit jacket. The guy probably only owned two suit jackets, black and navy and had multiple pants to go with it.

  Maybe Grant was just more efficient than him rather than being lazy.

  It wasn’t his life and he wouldn’t judge.

  Hugh followed the rules and that was wearing a suit to work daily unless he was undercover or on a special assignment that required something else.

  “Is it true what they say about the Special Victims Unit?”

  He wanted to get back to his work, but it didn’t seem that Grant was going to let him.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “That people burn out in it?”

  He’d spent six years in the Special Victims Unit. He’d lost his marriage, his drive, and a damn good part of his soul.

  He wouldn’t admit that to anyone.

  Maybe he didn’t have what it took.

  Or maybe he just couldn’t face it anymore and the acid that drilled a hole in his stomach had been the last straw.

  Could be Keri not standing by him that did it.

  Didn’t matter now. They were in completely different time zones and the hole in his gut was repaired and it was time to just move on.

  “Everyone is different,” he said.

  “I’d think that is where all the action is,” Grant said. “Not arresting stockbrokers for embezzling money.”

  “Yeah, well, you tend to get shot at less by guys in an office,” he said, angling his head.

  He’d never thought he’d want to work in white-collar crimes, but when he decided it was time to leave, this was where he landed in his haste to escape.

  The view out his bedroom window toward the river was much better than the concrete one he’d had in his condo before he and Keri split.

  He let her stay in the condo because he was nice that way. Even if he’d owned it before they married.

  Nice guys didn’t always finish last, but sometimes they just had to walk away to save themselves.

  “That’s a good point,” Grant said.

  “Grant, there is a call on the hotline you need to take.” Emily’s voice sounded from the front of the large room the agents all shared. They had dividers up to give them privacy, but there wasn’t any.

  “Got to go see what alien might have landed last night,” Grant said, laughing.

  Hugh was glad he and Grant didn’t work on any cases together. He wasn’t sure he could deal with the guy’s laid-back attitude.

  He went back to reading his notes on Dahlia Greene. He’d spent two weeks finding out everything he could about her and the past few years of her life.

  When he’d gotten the call about an investigation into an accounting firm in Chicago and that one of the persons of interest had relocated, he’d taken the file.

  From what he’d read, he didn’t see it.

  The woman was too strait-laced, but she was tied to the prime suspect a few years ago and nothing could be ruled out.

  From what he’d observed, Dahlia worked at Blossoms as the Director of Finance. Her sisters also worked there and she lived with the youngest.

  He needed to make contact and was only biding his time. Tonight was as good a time as any to get a move on.

  No reason to go to her place of business and embarrass her with questioning. But in his observation of her movements, he knew she didn’t always get out of work at exactly five.

  Not that he had much of a life, so he’d give it a little time.

  At six, he drove by Blossoms and into the parking lot in the back. He didn’t see her car, so he was going to assume she was gone for the night.

  Next stop was her home. The apartment she shared with Ivy Greene.

  Driving by, he’d only seen Dahlia’s car and decided this was his best opportunity.

  He parked in the road, climbed the stairs to the front door, opened it and went to her floor, then knocked on the door.

  When it opened a minute later, he wasn’t prepared for how tiny she actually was standing next to him.

  She was probably about five four, brown hair and eyes. She was still dressed for work in a pantsuit. He’d noticed in scoping out the business that not too many others that worked there were as formal though they were all professional.

  Just another thing that made him think she had nothing to do with this.

  By all intents, she was a rule follower. People like that didn’t break the rules for money.

  At least they wouldn’t be sharing a small apartment in a quiet town if they’d taken millions of dollars. Even her bank accounts and credit cards had shown no activity other than someone who lived a simple life.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  He had his badge out and flipped it open to show her. “Special Agent Crosby with the FBI. Can I come in and talk to you?”

  She eyed him suspiciously and then reached for his badge and pulled it closer. He let her; then she looked at him and back to the badge.

  “What’s this about?”

  “If you’d let me come in we can talk,” he said.

  “Not until I know what it’s about,” she said. “Maybe you’re someone in a boring suit trying to impersonate an FBI agent to get into my apartment.”

  He cracked the barest of grins. Something he never did when he was working. “Some might say we are matching.”

  She looked down at her black pantsuit. She had a light peach shirt on under it. There was a simple necklace with a rose charm on her neck and nothing else.

  She snorted. “Do you have a warrant?” she asked.

  “I don’t,” he said. “No reason to have one. I just want to have a simple conversation about Shawn Stratton.”

  “I haven’t seen Shawn in almost a year. I haven’t talked to him in over that.”

  “I’m aware of that,” he said. “But I’ve got a few questions.”