Later that night, Elizabeth and Rosemary met up with their friend Dr. Faith Carter for dinner. Faith had grown up with Elizabeth in Manhattan and she had also become close with Rosemary through Elizabeth. Faith was a doctor at the local hospital and it was also where she met her husband of 12 years, Dr. Carson Shepherd. Together they had 2 children: 8 year old Maggie and 5 year old Joe. The 3 women were extremely close and often went to the gym together. They also socialized as often as they could and tried to have a girls night at least once a month. Tonight, they were meeting at their favorite Mexican restaurant while Lee was home with Abby and Jack.

Since they all belonged to the same gym, Elizabeth made sure to tell her friends about the break-in earlier that day.

"How scary! Thank goodness you and Little Jack were inside the gym at the time." said Faith.

"What did they steal?" asked Rosemary.

"Oh just an old purse that I use for the gym and running errands. I think it may have even been a gift at the stage door at one point. I had my wallet and phone with me so all they really got was the purse, a pen, a notepad, a lip balm, a lip gloss, a concealer stick, gum, and a pack of tissues. They didn't even take my expensive sunglasses which I leave in the car console."

"That's not so bad." said Faith.

"I should probably get the car door looked at soon but it still locks fine and there was no major damage to it. The detectives said that this was the 7th case they've seen so they are trying to catch the culprit soon."

Rosemary couldn't help but notice that Elizabeth's face lit up at the mention of detectives but she didn't want to pry just yet. She knew it had taken her friend a long time to get over Jack's death and feel that she could open herself up to love again. Elizabeth was just getting to that point now having finally removed her wedding rings 6 weeks ago. Still, she knew how vulnerable her friend could still get so she didn't want to push until Elizabeth was ready to say something.

The next afternoon, Elizabeth dismissed her History of Broadway class and headed to her office to get ready for the community theater group. She realized that she still needed to reserve the small theater for a date in December so that the kids could plan for their final performance. So on her way to the classroom, she headed towards Lee's office first. It was 3:30 so she had time to chat with him before her 4pm class began.

Lee had also attended NYU with Rosemary and Elizabeth and he and Rosemary were pretty much inseparable from the day they first met. They were married right after graduation but waited a while to start a family. This allowed Rosemary to focus on her acting career and Lee to focus on his own career in theater management. Though he had no desire to perform, he was bitten by the theater bug through his wife and Elizabeth so running the Performing Arts Center at Hope Valley University was a perfect fit for his background. Along the way, he had also started teaching and was eventually promoted to Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts as well. Lee had been working at Hope Valley University for 10 years now and had also helped Elizabeth get her teaching job there initially.

As Elizabeth approached Lee's office, she smiled in gratitude thinking about how much she had been through with Lee and Rosemary. Now they had the added connection of having children close in age who would grow up together. Elizabeth walked into the reception area and greeted Kevin, Lee's assistant. Kevin smiled and waved her right in knowing that Lee's door was always open to Elizabeth. Lee's office door was wide open so Elizabeth briefly knocked as she continued to walk into his office.

"Hi Lee, I need to talk to you about…" she said as she froze.

Sitting in the 2 chairs in front of Lee's desk were Nathan and Allie. Both of them turned around as soon as they heard Elizabeth's voice. At the same time, Lee stood up and hurried over to Elizabeth and hugged her.

"Hi Elizabeth! What a pleasant surprise." Lee said.

Elizabeth had trouble finding her voice and finally shyly smiled at her friend. Lee put his arm around her and led her over to the desk where both Nathan and Allie were now looking at her with smiles.

"I know you've already met Nathan and Allie."

"Hi Miss Elizabeth! Hello again Elizabeth. We seem to keep running into one another."

"We certainly do. How do you know Lee?"

Lee and Nathan both chuckled and Lee finally replied: "Nathan and I have been good friends for years now. We met in middle school and have been friends ever since. I was actually the one who recommended your class to Allie."

"How did I not know this?" asked Elizabeth.

"I'm sorry Elizabeth. I should have mentioned it to you but things have been insane with the new semester."

"And I'm sorry too. I should have mentioned to you that we knew Lee on the first day of class. I was hoping to tell you when I came to pick up Allie but we didn't have a chance to connect." chimed in Nathan.

Elizabeth finally found her voice and smiled back at Nathan.

"No need to apologize at all. The first day of class is always very hectic. It's a small world."

She smiled again and turned back to Lee.

"I won't interrupt your visit but I did want to talk to you about reserving the theater for our end of semester performance."

"Great! Did you have a date in mind already? I'll make it happen for you no matter what. You know that."

"Yes, how about Saturday December 15 at 2pm?" asked Elizabeth.

Lee looked at his calendar and blocked the date for Elizabeth. He then emailed her a calendar invite so her calendar would be blocked as well.

"Done and I just sent you the calendar invite!"

"Great! Thanks Lee!"

Elizabeth looked at her watch and realized it was 3:45.

"I should be walking over to the classroom. I'll see you 2 over there shortly."

Nathan quickly stood up. "How about if we walk over with you? We were just saying a quick hello to Lee so we will let him get back to work."

Elizabeth couldn't get over how mesmerizing Nathan's crooked smile and blue eyes were.

"Sure. That sounds great. Lee, I'll see you and Rosie later."

"Ok Elizabeth. See you later! Bye Nathan. Bye Allie." Lee said as he watched his 2 close friends walk out of his office. Neither Elizabeth nor Nathan could see the big smile on his face. Lee had always left the matchmaking to Rosemary but he couldn't help but notice that Elizabeth and Nathan already seemed to have a connection, one that neither of them likely understood yet. Since he knew both of them so well, Lee also knew how well Elizabeth and Nathan would fit together. The only question was whether they were both ready.

Allie walked in between Elizabeth and Nathan. Elizabeth noticed that Nathan had his arm around Allie's shoulder most of the way.

"Any leads on the robbery case yet?" she asked.

"We are looking into a couple of leads. I can't really say too much unfortunately but one of the leads looks promising. I promise I will keep you posted as soon as we know anything."

"That's great thanks. I just can't get over the fact that you are friends with Lee as well. Do you know Rosemary? She is my best friend."

"I do know her! Not quite as well as Lee. We tend to hang out when she's performing but Allie here has become quite the social butterfly the past couple years so I'm basically serving as her chauffeur in my free time which means I haven't had a lot of free time to socialize." Nathan said as he winked at Allie.

"Uncle Nathaaaan"

Elizabeth and Nathan both laughed as Allie rolled her eyes at him. They finally reached the classroom with 10 minutes to spare. A few of the other students were already inside getting settled.

"I guess this is my cue to leave. Al, I'll see you at 5:30. It was nice chatting with you again, Elizabeth. I'll see you later as well."

Elizabeth smiled and nodded back at him. She then gestured to Allie to enter the classroom and she followed right behind her trying desperately to get the sensation of butterflies out of her stomach. She managed to get through the 90 min class. Today the students were each acting out scenes from a one person play and then critiquing one another. Since it was only the 2nd class, it was another way for Elizabeth to assess each child's performance abilities. She was loving every minute of it.

Class ended exactly at 5:30 and Elizabeth found the familiar butterflies in her stomach again as she saw Nathan enter the classroom with a few other parents. Their eyes met and he walked over to her.

"I checked in with the station while you were in class and one of our other detectives has arrested a suspect in the robbery case. He is being questioned as we speak."

"Oh that's wonderful. I really didn't lose anything of value thankfully but I'm glad to see justice being served. I'm sure others weren't as lucky with the items they had stolen."

Allie walked over to them after saying goodbye to a classmate and Elizabeth noticed that only the 3 of them were left in the classroom. She quickly packed up her tote bag and picked up her purse as well.

"Are you heading out? We can walk with you to the parking lot?" asked Nathan.

"Sure, that would be great."

The threesome walked out of the classroom with Allie once again between the adults.

"Your son is adorable by the way. How old is he?"

"Thank you Nathan! Little Jack turns 2 on Christmas Eve. Time really flies."

"Well Christmas must be a fun time of year in your household then."

Nathan watched as a dark cloud came over Elizabeth's face and immediately regretted what he just said. "Elizabeth, I'm sorry if I…"

"No, it's ok Nathan. I'm fine. My late husband Jack was also in law enforcement and he was killed when I was 6 months pregnant. So he never got to meet his son. Sometimes when I think of his birthday, I start to think about Jack as well and what he's missed out on. But really I am fine and you are right, it's a fun time of year and I try to make it as special as possible for my son. I took some time off after Jack died and Little Jack was born so that was very helpful for me in my healing process."

Elizabeth had no idea why she just told a complete stranger all of this but there was something about Nathan that just put her at ease. Both Allie and Nathan were looking at her sympathetically.

"Wow I have no idea why I just told you all of that. Too much information I'm sure. I am so sorry if I dampened the mood."

"There is no need to apologize Elizabeth. Thank you for feeling comfortable enough to share that with us. And we are truly sorry for your loss. It sounds like it's been a rough few years for you. But, we are happy to have met you through this class. Allie here can't stop raving about it even though you've only had 2 meetings so far."

Nathan and Allie were now both smiling at Elizabeth so she smiled back. None of them realized it but they had reached the parking lot area and were now standing still just outside the building.

"Thank you! I do love teaching and didn't realize how much I'd missed it until I started classes again this week. Allie, hopefully you'll continue to feel that way as the semester intensifies. I'm excited for our end of semester show. It also doubles as a fundraiser for the Performing Arts Center since we sell tickets to the show." Elizabeth said as she gently tapped Allie's arm.

"I'm sure I will Miss Elizabeth. I'm having so much fun already!" said Allie.

"Well thank you both for walking out with me. My car is down this aisle here." said Elizabeth as she gestured to the aisle in front of them.

"What a coincidence! So is ours."

They started to walk down the aisle of parked cars and stopped when they got to Elizabeth's SUV.

"Well it was great walking with you both. See you in class next week!"

Nathan smiled and deactivated the alarm on the SUV parked right next to Elizabeth's. They got lost in one another's eyes for a moment until Elizabeth finally opened her drivers side door and tossed her bags across the seat. She said goodbye and waved to Nathan and Allie and then got in the car and drove the short distance home.

Once she got home, Elizabeth let Laura leave and quickly perused her mail. She then changed into jean shorts, flip flops, and a royal blue v-neck and walked over to the Coulter backyard with Jack. Lee was already at the barbeque heating it up. A plate of hamburgers was on the table next to him along with some vegetables. Abby was standing nearby playing with a bubble wand so Elizabeth put Jack down and he toddled over to his friend. The sliding doors to the kitchen opened and Rosemary walked out carrying a bowl of coleslaw in one hand and a bowl of potato salad in the other. Both were homemade. Elizabeth walked into the kitchen and grabbed the basket of whole wheat hamburger buns from the table and brought them outside. She then closed the door to keep any bugs out. Lee and Rosie were dressed in shorts and t-shirts as well. Elizabeth and the Coulters spent so much time together that there were no formalities.

Rosemary handed Elizabeth a glass of Malbec and they headed over to a couple of lounge chairs close to where the kids were playing. Lee continued to prepare their dinner over at the grill.

"So I hear the 1st week back in the classroom was a success, yes? I hear you've also had some interesting students and parents." said Rosemary with a mischievous grin.

"It was a great 1st week. I'm looking forward to adding more classes to my schedule in January."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Elizabeth! Lee mentioned that you met his friend Nathan Grant and his niece Allie. I didn't realize it last night but he was also the detective you were referring to."

"Oh yes I suppose so. What an odd thing to remember." Elizabeth said with a slight laugh.

"Elizabeth, you probably don't realize it yet but your face lit up last night when you were talking about the detectives who came to meet with you. Then Lee told me that you had a similar reaction in his office today."

Elizabeth blushed a very deep shade of pink. Rosemary reached over to her friend and squeezed her arm.

"It's ok to be interested in someone. You know that Jack would not have wanted you to be alone. He wanted you to find someone and be happy. He said so in his letter and he also made it clear to you before you got married."

Rosemary hoped that she hadn't pushed too much this time. Talking about moving on was still a sensitive subject. She and Lee had been with Elizabeth every step of the way since Jack's sudden death and she knew how long the healing process had been for her friend. But she had been pleasantly surprised when Lee came home earlier and told her about the encounter between Elizabeth and Nathan in his office. Rosemary had forgotten about Lee's long time friend and that he was not only single, but also a Hope Valley local. If Elizabeth was going to move on, Rosemary wanted it to be as easy as possible for her friend.

"Ok dinner's ready!" said Lee as he walked over and lifted Little Jack and then took Abby's hand. He walked the kids over to the patio table and got them situated while the ladies walked over and joined them. Lee already made up small plates for the kids so Elizabeth and Rosemary served themselves and everyone ate quietly for a few minutes. Finally, Elizabeth spoke up.

"This is delicious Lee, thank you! Barbequing has never been my strong suit so I'm always grateful when you grill for us." she said with a smile.

"Anytime Elizabeth! You know you and Jack are family to us." Lee said as he reached over and squeezed Elizabeth's hand.

"Oh and before I forget. Carson, Faith and the kids are coming over for a barbeque on Saturday late afternoon. The more the merrier! We want to do as much as possible before Rosie starts working long hours again and has to go on vocal rest."

"Sounds great! We will be there! And thank you for referring my class to Allie Grant. She says she loves it already so hopefully that sentiment continues." laughed Elizabeth.

"That's great news! Allie and Nathan have had a rough few years as well and I know she's always been interested in the theater so your class seemed like a good way for her to try it out. I know Nathan was pleased with the idea." said Lee as he exchanged a conspiratorial glance with Rosemary.

Elizabeth didn't notice the glance but she realized that she wanted to know more about Nathan and Allie. At the same time, she felt like she might be prying too much if she got that information from Lee instead of from Nathan. She asked one simple question.

"So does Allie live with Nathan, then?"

"Yes, he's her legal guardian. Nathan's sister Colleen died when Allie was 4. Nathan was the only family member able to take her in. Nathan and Colleen were very close so I think he and Allie ended up saving one another."

"Oh how sad. They both seem to be doing very well from what I've seen."

"Yes, Nathan and Allie have become very close. I'm surprised it has taken this long for you and Nathan to cross paths but all in good timing I suppose. Will you pass the coleslaw please?" added Rosemary.

Elizabeth passed the coleslaw to her friend as the group continued to enjoy their dinner. She could not get Nathan Grant out of her mind and was trying to figure out how to learn more about him during brief drop off/pick up sessions at the Performing Arts Center. Little did she know that Lee and Rosemary already had a plan in motion to rectify that much sooner than she thought.