(Author's Note: Thank you for the nice reviews. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Becky, please feel free to add this story to your Web page. Thank you for asking!)

Chapter 3

The next day as Janet sat in his living room in front of the typewriter, Thomas noticed that she was staring into space more than she was actually working. He set a glass of iced tea on the table and after taking a sip of his own tea; he positioned himself on the arm of the sofa and decided to pull her from her thoughts.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Her startled look as his voice penetrated told him she had been very far away.

"Sure," she said, trying to recover. "Why?"

He pointed to the blank white piece of paper in the typewriter.

"Not that I'm complaining because we all have off days, but you have seemed distracted since your arrival."

Janet took a refreshing swallow of the cool beverage and then leaned back against the cushions.

"I'd like to ask you a question about your job, but if I'm out of line, just tell me. Okay?"

"Okay."

"What's the seediest case you've ever had?"

Thomas did a double take and then tried not to look affronted.

"I'm not sure I know what you're asking. Did you hear something from someone?"

Letting out a frustrated groan, Janet quickly rose from the couch. She raked her fingers through her hair as she paced a small area of the living room.

"I'm sorry," she finally said. "This is all Jack's fault."

"Jack? The guy you and Terri were talking about at the Club last night?"

"Yes," she said and shook her head.

"You two seemed so happy to share the news that he's coming for a visit. You couldn't stop smiling last night. Why the frown today?"

"Something he said during our phone conversation started to bother me. I tried not to think about it, but it's there, nagging at me, and it won't go away."

"Does this have something to do with your earlier question about me and my 'questionable' cases?"

Janet sighed and tried to look appeasing. "Please don't take this the wrong way, Mr. Mag...I mean, Thomas, but it's just when I told Jack I was working for a private investigator, he seemed to lose it a little, and it really took me by surprise."

"He doesn't like private investigators?" Thomas asked, slightly amused.

"I don't know," Janet answered, running her fingers through her short hair once more. "The whole time we were roommates, the subject never came up."

"But now it has," Thomas said, "and it seems you care a great deal about what your friend thinks."

"Well, he is a good friend," Janet said. "One of my best friends, actually, even though we're no longer sharing an apartment."

"And he seems to be looking out for you by questioning your working for me?"

"Isn't it silly?" she said, trying to lighten the mood. "I told him I wasn't doing anything illegal. I'm not, am I?"

Thomas laughed. "Not that I know of. But if you're not comfortable, I'll understand. I'd hate to lose you, but you have to do what you think is best and what you can live with."

"Thomas," Janet admitted, "I've been having a good time since I moved to Hawaii. After some things in my life started to go very wrong, I wasn't sure what the future held for me. Terri moving to Hawaii and convincing me to join her has done wonders for my disposition. I really enjoy working with flowers, especially the exotic ones here on the island, but working for you is a nice change of pace. As long as you can assure me that I won't get carted off for doing something I'm not supposed to, then I want to continue working for you."

"What about Jack's concerns?" Thomas asked, deciding he wanted to be fair.

"He'll see for himself what a great guy you are when he gets here. I miss him so much, as does Terri, and we can't wait to see him, but I want him to see that I've adjusted to my new life here. A new life that now includes you."

"I'm looking forward to meeting him. The way you and Terri talked about him, he sounds like a heck of a guy."

"He is. Despite his, I don't know what else to call them except suspicions; I know you two are going to hit it off. I just know it."

With his best friend Larry's help at the airport, Jack got himself into a relaxed enough state to actually be looking forward to boarding the plane. Now that he was airborne and gripping the arm rests until his knuckles were white, he couldn't remember why he had been so ready to get on the plane. As time passed, though, the attractive female attendants and the so-far smooth flight were helping to keep his blood pressure under control.

After eating the somewhat tastier parts of his dinner, he accepted a blanket and a pillow from a particularly friendly blonde attendant and settled himself in his window seat. Not interested in watching the movie, he closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. Thoughts of Terri, and especially of Janet, kept him from dozing off.

Larry had actually laughed outright and called his friend paranoid when he had mentioned that Janet was working for a private eye. Jack didn't see what was so amusing. He had legitimate concerns about this Magnum person, and he voiced them to Larry, which made matters worse.

"How did she sound, Jack?" Larry had asked.

"She sounded fine," he grudgingly admitted. "Happy, even."

"Isn't that all that matters?"

Jack was reluctant to agree. He had been happy once, but it hadn't lasted very long. He thought he had found his future with Vicky Bradford, but once a very basic and very important difference in their value systems was discovered, Jack realized he couldn't remain in a relationship with her. It had been an amicable but emotional break up. What he had counted on to get him through hadn't worked out the way he thought it would either. With Jack making his own plans for the future, Terri and Janet did the same. Jack thought Janet would be married, but at the last minute, for reasons Jack still didn't fully know, Janet had called off her wedding to Phillip Dawson. Thinking they would have each other as roommates to help them through their difficult times, Jack was handed another curve when Terri announced she had decided to move to Hawaii and that Janet would soon be joining her.

Throughout the years, roommates had come and gone. While Jack missed Chrissy and Cindy and even Terri very much, the one he missed the most, he realized, as the captain told the passengers they were free to roam the cabin, was Janet. There was just something about her that he could always count on. He could talk to her, and even though she would tease him mercilessly if he had done something to get himself into trouble which she thought he could have avoided, she always listened to his side of the story and wasn't quick to judge. He appreciated that more than he realized until now. She was easy to talk to, and he missed that. He missed having someone to come home to whom he could share his day with. Janet had moved on, and he suddenly realized that maybe he hadn't. Was he stuck in the past and did he wish Janet were stuck there with him? And if so, how fair was that to either of them?

"Isn't this exciting?" Terri asked Janet, as they waited atGate 76 for Jack to arrive.

Janet held a white and yellow plumeria and carnation lei that she had made especially for him. She knew the female Hawaiian greeter would also present him with a lei, but that didn't stop her from making sure she and Terri had their own special greeting waiting for their friend.

"Look at that shameless flirting he's doing," Terri said, pretending to be upset as she and Janet watched him eat up the dark-haired, dark-eyed petite Island beauty who placed a lei around his neck and gave him a quick hug, which he tried to lengthen only to hear her giggle and move on to the next passenger.

He straightened up when he spotted Janet and Terri eyeing him with mock disdain and raced to them, telling them it was their fault he had been distracted.

"Our fault!" they protested in unison.

"Now, now, ladies," he said, trying to cajole them with a winning smile. "I just thought you would be quicker to whisk me away, before that lovely young woman could, you know, lei me. I think you two are losing your touch."

Janet and Terri had to laugh as he opened his arms and affectionately embraced them.

"I know you already have one, but this lei was made especially for you by me," Janet told him, after they had separated.

"Now, I feel like I'm in Hawaii," he said, after Janet and Terri placed the colorful circle of fragrant flowers around his neck and kissed him on each cheek. "You two look wonderful."

"You don't look so bad yourself," Janet said, as the trio began walking towards the escalator which would take them to baggage claim.

"I knew I missed you guys," Jack said, looking from Terri to Janet while they watched the carousel for his suitcase to appear, "but I honestly didn't know how much until I saw both of you standing there waiting for me. This is going to be great."

"Yes, it is," Terri agreed, her smile bright and oh-so welcoming.

"We have so many things planned for you," Janet said, the excitement evident in her voice.

"I'm up for anything," Jack said, and then added a disheartening caveat. "As long as it doesn't involve that Magnum private eye person. Which it shouldn't because you only see him during the day, right?"

Janet and Terri exchanged overt worried glances. If Jack felt that way, how could they tell him that he had been invited to attend a surprise birthday party for Thomas that his friends were throwing for him at the King Kamehameha Club the following night?