Page 79 of A Hero for Hailey (Love will OUT 1)

Hold on. I’ll check.

Finally.

No. She’s not spayed. I’ll set up an appointment at the vet.

I thank him and put my phone away. “Sorry, Phoebe. We’ll get Lola spayed. Hopefully, ending her reproductive capabilities will help.”

“Oh no. I didn’t mean you have to get her spayed. She’s a breed. You might want her to have puppies.”

“Well, she ain’t gonna have puppies humping you,” Suzie points out in between snorts of laughter.

I slap her over the head. “Stop it. You’re not helping.” I indicate my office. “Why don’t you go sit in there while Phoebe and I talk out here?”

Today is Phoebe’s first day of on-the-job training despite my not feeling anywhere close to being qualified to train anyone. All I do is follow people around until they screw up and then I take pictures as evidence of their screw-ups. The main thing I have going for me is my acting abilities. Majoring in drama was totally not a waste but try convincing Pops of that.

“We have an insurance claim today,” I tell Phoebe and hand her the file. “It’s a simple case. The woman claims she was blinded in an accident. The insurance company doesn’t believe her. They want us to discover the truth.”

“What do we do?”

“We follow her.” Seriously. It’s that simple. And that boring. PI work can be extremely boring, but there’s no need to tell Phoebe. She’ll discover how monotonous it is for herself soon enough. “Ready?”

Her eyes widen. “Just like that?”

I smirk. “Well, I do have to say good-bye to Lola, but I think you might want to skip that part.”

She groans. “I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?”

“Nope!” Suzie shouts from the other side of the door. Is it wrong to wish my best friend were deaf? Yeah, probably.

After giving Lola a quick rub down, we walk to my car. We climb into the black mid-sized SUV. I program in the target’s address and we’re off.

As we drive, I decide the time has arrived to tackle some uncomfortable topics. If I don’t have to look Phoebe in the eye when I confront her, maybe I won’t chicken out. “Phoebe, can I ask you something?” Way not to chicken out, Hailey. You wimp.

“Um, sure.”

“Do you plan to dress like you are today when you’re a PI?” She’s dressed in a pencil skirt and halter blouse. She looks like she’s on her way to brunch at the golf course, not a stake-out. On her feet are her ever present high heels. I wonder if her feet are permanently arched when she takes off her shoes like the one and only Barbie doll Pops bought me.

When she doesn’t reply, I start babbling. “I don’t mean to offend you. You look hot. Obviously. Even the dog can’t resist you.” I snort as an image of Lola going to town on Phoebe pops into my head. “But you aren’t exactly inconspicuous.”

“Oh.” I hear her let out a breath of air. “I never thought about it. This is how I always dress.”

“I’m not saying you have to change, but you might want to think about it. It’s going to be hard to follow someone in those shoes.”

“Thanks, Hailey. I’ll think about it.”

I wait until we’ve driven for a few minutes before I approach awkward conversation topic number two for the day. “There’s something else.” I clear my throat. “You need a background check in order to sit for the exam to get licensed.”

“I’m not a criminal,” she’s quick to point out.

“I wouldn’t let you work with me if I thought you were, but your background is sketchy.”

“Sketchy?”

“It only goes back a year.”

She’s quiet as she digests this information. “Don’t worry. I can pass a federal background check.”

I’m going to have to trust her on this one. I take another turn before the GPS tells me I’ve reached my destination. I pull to the curb and study the ranch house.

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