There was a knock on the door the next morning, and Vinnie was ready to head out for the day when she heard it.

She had her weekend bag in hand and stopped dead in her tracks.

Vie didn't bother looking through the peephole, expecting to see maybe Stella, but was more surprised to see her mother instead.

"Hi." Marcella greeted quickly.

Vinnie could tell she was uncomfortable by the way she was shifting on her feet.

"Good morning." She replied kindly, almost cordially.

There was a pause. Marcella shifted again on the balls of her feet.

"Did - uh, did you happen to see Stella yesterday?"

Marcella let out a nervous laugh, putting her hand up to her head.

Doubt started to overwhelm Vinnie. Was something wrong? Did something happen?

"Yeah, I did." Vie replied cautiously. "She was down at the Bubble Bar."

Vie leaned against her door as casually as she could, waiting for the worst. But instead Marcella looked at her for a long moment before taking a breath.

"Stella apologized to me."

And when Vinnie scrunched up her nose she couldn't hide her confusion.

"What?"

Marcella let out a soft, nervous laugh and pushed her hair behind her ears.

"I know that with yesterday morning's show -"

"I really don't know what you're talking about." Vinny cut in quickly.

She shouldn't have gotten involved or given Stella advice in the first place. It wasn't her business. What was she thinking?

Marcella was not naïve. She knew that her neighbor was trying to save face. She heard when Vinnie turned on her TV the morning the augment happened. There was only one reason why she would be up and making noise that early.

Vinnie was usually as quiet as a mouse.

"Regardless," Marcella started strongly, getting to the point, "she's my baby. I was the one who hurt her, and now she's the one who's apologizing to me. It's so backwards."

Marcella was speechless, exasperated even thinking about it. She was trying to figure out why Stella had changed her tune.

"Stella mentioned that she wanted to grow up and get a job, and that a friend," Marcella gestured to Vinnie, "convinced her to enjoy being a kid for a little while longer."

Oh. Oh.

"Hmm." Vinnie nodded, her lips pursed. She wasn't sure what to say.

"And then she wouldn't shut up about this amusement park." Marcella scoffed gently, and Vinnie shook her head with a grin. Stella was right - she must have had the jingle in her head all night.

"Santa Carla." Vinnie affirmed, leaning against her door. "I think she could have a good time going to a place like that."

Marcella caught her eye for a moment and smiled.

"Maybe it will do her some good to go have fun." She stopped for a moment to get her thoughts together. "Stella asked if she could take a day trip with her friends to check it out sometime."

"Did she?" Vinnie asked, a cheeky grin creeping into her cheeks.

Marcella let out a long hum.

"I told her that she could check it out this weekend as long as her friends get permission to go."

"She'll probably have a lot of fun." Smiling, Vinnie was satisfied with the outcome. "She's a smart kid, Marcella."

"Yeah, she is." She nodded, pulling out a brown paper bag from behind her. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank you."

Marcella held the bag out to Vinnie and oh boy, she couldn't believe it. Vinnie had a hard time holding back a grin.

She knew exactly what it was. It was chorizo, eggs, and cheese all wrapped in a flour tortilla and slathered in hot sauce. She did not deserve such a treat.

"You didn't have to do this."

Vinnie took the bag like it was a prized possession, placing it carefully under her arm.

"Trust me, it's the least I could do." Her neighbor assured, turning to walk back to her apartment. "I'll see you later."

Vinnie waved goodbye as Marcella walked back to her apartment, and as if the stars were aligned she was ready for her Friday.

Maybe there was a change in the wind, or maybe it was the breakfast burrito, but it was turning into a great morning.

Vinnie watered her plants and locked up, stowing her weekend bag into the back of her 1979 Honda Civic.

It was a cute little car with a light blue exterior, and the best part about it was that it was an automatic. Her dad had helped her pick it out.

Work flew by and Vinnie was grateful for the casual Fridays at the office. She got to let loose a little and wore her favorite jeans and a button up blouse with some strappy sandals. Nothing was going to stop her now.

The office was pretty small for as big a company Vinnie worked for, but she liked it well enough.

There was a main office down in Los Angeles but she couldn't imagine working in a call center. Not to mention that she really didn't want to put those little headphones over her ears.

Santa Barbara was much better. Vinnie made decent money and was not working as a secretary, and the best part was that she wasn't the only woman in the office.

There were two other women: Rae and Betty.

Both of them were worth their weight in clout, and even though Vinnie was the youngest of the group she felt like a part of the team. The other ladies made the work days so much better.

Betty was the sales leader in the office, and Rae was partially retired, working the claims investigations.

"Ladies, we are just like Charlie's Angels." Vinnie mentioned out of the blue, setting down her newspaper.

She had been reading something about the winds changing and how the fire had turned north toward Fremont, but had to set it down when it talked about how dangerous the fire was becoming. The damage was life changing.

"Vie, honey, what on Earth are you going on about?" Betty questioned without looking up from her computer, her long red fingernails tapping away on the keyboard.

"I think she's saying that we are fierce, hot, disco queens Betty-Lou." Rae quipped dryly, looking over her thick rimmed glasses with a grin.

Her cheeks were red with rouge, but Vinnie could detect the faintest blush hiding behind it.

The other lady wistfully grinned.

"Well that's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me. And I've been married twice." Betty laughed, winking at Vinnie.

There was always light banter and good jokes, and Vinnie didn't realize it, but she made the other ladies feel young. They were both independent and hardworking, and she was lucky they were easy to connect with.

Rae Jameson was somewhere in her sixties but Vinnie swore that she looked twenty years younger. She had bright blue eyes behind thick glasses and short auburn hair. It was always curled. Her perm was impenetrable, as was her attitude, which was equally as fierce.

Vinnie had learned a while back that she did detective work in her prime under the pseudonym of Raymond James.

Rae helped as an independent contractor in Orange county for a time, and it was a dangerous place for a woman to be in the field she was in. She had been a big help in domestic abuse cases, and there was no hiding the fact that she was still ready to help if there was someone who needed it.

Betty Carter was more of a wildcard.

She was originally from Reno and she was probably ten or fifteen years older than Vinnie, but Vie definitely wasn't going to ask. Betty was beautiful and boisterous, and it was no surprise that she was from Nevada. She worked as a bartender at numerous casinos and bounced around the rich and famous alike. She even met both of her ex husbands at the poker table.

Betty definitely had a type, and swore that she would find the right guy one of these days. She had light, sun kissed hair that bounced with each step and Vinnie just knew that she dyed it. There was no way it was that blonde naturally. She kept a can of Aqua Net hidden away in her desk drawers for touch ups, but no one dared to mention it. Her nails and lips were always painted pink or red, and her skin was flawless. The clothes she wore accentuated her body, usually cinching her waist in with a tight belt.

Betty was a force to be reckoned with, and it was easy to see why she was the sales leader. She had a way with people.

Men. She had a way with men.

Vinnie never thought that she would be working alongside two other women that had such exciting backgrounds. The more that she thought about it, they were like Charlie's Angels. Rae and Betty, she meant.

And then there was Vinnie.

Vienna Beckett. She was old enough to drink and get married and have babies, but not old enough to have the same worldly experience that only time could bring.

She was going on her fifth year at the company. It was a long time for someone her age.

She was not as fiery as Rae nor as flamboyant as Betty, but there was still time to figure it out. As she thought about it, her features were soft; there was nothing extreme about them. It was the soft color of her lips, the delicate makeup she wore, the way she picked out clothing that was practical. It was as if she didn't want to be noticed.

The way that she looked was kind, careful, generous. It was safe. It was intentional.

Vinnie's goal was to be invisible and sneaky, to fit into the crowds without drawing attention.

She wanted to be somebody, and she would never say it out loud, but she wanted to be just like the Danger Man. She wanted to be like James Bond.

Reckless.

Powerful.

Fearless.

But instead she felt simple. Plain. Her parents convinced her that the insurance job was much safer than field work.

"Who would want to be a detective, anyway?"

"Spies aren't real. It's something you'd see only on TV."

They had engraved backhanded comments into her head for years and Vinnie didn't pursue her young and wild dreams.

She never had the option to go into law enforcement after she graduated, or even an option at all. Her folks practically had the insurance job lined up for her.

At the end of the day Vinnie settled. She would still get to help people without the risk, and she really did like the work. Didn't she? She had thought about it once in a blue moon.

Was she really making a difference? Sometimes it felt like she was missing out on...something.

Before she knew it the day had passed and they had locked up the office, and Vinnie was driving up CA-99 towards her dad's place. She had been listening to the weekend Top 40 but was zoning out. Her mind was elsewhere.

Vinnie hated to admit it, but maybe it was because she wanted to have her Charlie's Angel moment.

Betty was beautiful and could have any man wrapped around her finger and Rae-Rae was an actual detective! Vinnie wanted, no, needed her day in the sun. If she could do something, or really help someone, maybe she could put it to rest.

It was the kind of drive that blurred together and before long the sun was setting and she was merging off the highway and back onto the local roads.

Dolano was much smaller and far more quiet than Santa Barbara. It was a flyover town of about 12,000 people. It was the home of a couple of vineyards and state prisons, but it was also where Vinnie grew up.

Everyone knew everyone. Vinnie noticed a new gas station and liquor store, but it was generally unchanging. Even for a Friday night she was met with minimal traffic.

This was her time to relax, a mini vacation, a chance to get some downtime. Her mood changed again as she pulled into the driveway. Her dad was sitting on the porch with a drink in one hand and the daily comic strip in the other. Looking at him in such a casual state made her anxiety about her job almost dissolve.

It was all going to be okay. She was going to be okay.