Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
T he morning after the fundraiser, Paradise Harbor House buzzed with a quiet energy.
The event had been a success—guests had donated generously, the silent auction had exceeded expectations, and more than one local business had pledged continued support.
The lingering warmth of the previous night still hung in the air, but Kaitlyn felt something else settling over her: a choice she could no longer ignore.
She stood in the kitchen, staring at the coffee in her mug but not drinking it. Leah and Tess were already out running errands, Gretchen was meeting Chelsea before their trip back to Captiva, and Will had gone to get footage of the sunrise over the marina. The shelter was quieter than usual, but she didn’t mind. It gave her space to think.
“Elena’s looking for you,” one of the volunteers said as they passed by. “She’s in her office.”
Kaitlyn inhaled deeply. She knew what this was about.
She found Elena at her desk, a notebook open, jotting down a list of follow-up calls from the fundraiser. She glanced up as Kaitlyn entered. “Ah, just the person I needed to see.”
Kaitlyn smiled, taking a seat across from her. “That sounds dangerous.”
Elena chuckled. “I promise I won’t make you fill out spreadsheets again.” Then, she set her pen down and folded her hands. “But I do have a proposition for you.”
Kaitlyn knew it was coming, but it still made her stomach flip. “Okay. I’m listening.”
Elena leaned forward slightly. “I want you to stay, Kaitlyn. Not just as a volunteer, but as part of our team. I want you to consider working here at Paradise Harbor full-time.”
Kaitlyn opened her mouth, but nothing came out right away.
“The job wouldn’t be glamorous,” Elena continued, filling the silence. “You already know the pay isn’t great. But what you did last night—coordinating everything, connecting with donors, managing volunteers—you’re good at it. And it’s not just about logistics. You make people feel like they belong here.”
Kaitlyn let out a slow breath. “I—I don’t know what to say.”
“Say whatever’s in your heart,” Elena said simply.
Kaitlyn looked down at her hands, then back up at the woman who had become a mentor in such a short time. “I love this place. I love the people. But this wasn’t part of the plan.”
Elena smiled knowingly. “Plans change. That’s life.”
Kaitlyn exhaled a soft laugh, shaking her head. “I went to school for business. I spent years thinking I’d end up in marketing, or corporate management, or—” She hesitated. “Something with a salary that actually makes sense.”
“I get it,” Elena said. “But what if those things don’t fulfill you the way this does?”
Kaitlyn bit her lip, glancing out the window at the courtyard. A few children ran past, their laughter echoing, while Melanie sat on a bench talking to another mother who had arrived the week before.
She thought about the video Will had filmed. About how proud she’d felt watching the fundraiser unfold. About the way her heart had expanded, seeing these women regain hope.
Then she thought about the moment her mother had looked at her last night, not with skepticism or doubt, but with pride.
She turned back to Elena. “Can I have a little time to think about it?”
Elena nodded. “Of course. But whatever you decide, know this—Paradise Harbor House will always have a place for you.”
Kaitlyn followed after Will, who had gone to the marina to take photos for a local artist. She found him leaning against the railing, camera slung over his shoulder.
“You disappear after big decisions, don’t you?” he asked without turning around.
Kaitlyn smirked, stepping beside him. “Who says I made a decision?”
He turned his head slightly, raising an eyebrow. “Well, did you?”
She sighed, resting her arms on the railing. “Elena offered me a job. Full-time, but you knew that already, didn’t you?”
Will nodded. “She told me she was going to offer you a permanent job. What did you tell her?”
Kaitlyn shrugged, “I couldn’t say yes, not without thinking more about it.
“And?” he asked.
“And I don’t know what to do.”
He was quiet for a moment, then said, “I do.”
Kaitlyn turned to him. “What?”
“You’ve already made your decision. You just haven’t admitted it to yourself yet.”
Kaitlyn frowned. “That’s a little presumptuous.”
Will chuckled. “Maybe. But I’ve been watching you. I saw you last night, running that fundraiser like it was second nature. I see the way you talk to the women at the shelter, how much you care.”
He shifted slightly, studying her. “I also know you’re scared. Because choosing this means letting go of whatever idea you had for your future before now.”
Kaitlyn let out a sharp breath. “Yeah. It does, even though I’m not really sure what I had planned. Was not planning anything at all really my plan?”
He laughed. “I guess it’s possible, but that only happens when you don’t know what to do…when you don’t know yourself. I don’t think you’re the same woman you were when you arrived in Key West. That woman is gone. You’ve grown so much in such a short time, but I think that’s what happens when you’re where you’re supposed to be.”
“But what about my mother and…”
“Kaitlyn, you’re not the first person to realize their dream wasn’t actually their dream,” Will said. “Sometimes we chase things because we think we should. But then we find something that actually makes us feel alive.”
Kaitlyn stared out at the water, letting his words sink in.
“Whatever you decide,” he added, “just make sure it’s what you want. Not what’s expected of you. Not what makes sense on paper. What you want.”
She turned to him, her expression unreadable. “And what about you? What do you want?”
Will’s mouth quirked into a soft smile. “That’s an easy one. I want to stay in Key West. And I’d really like it if you stayed too. But, you need to stay because you want to, not because I want you to.”
Kaitlyn’s heart did a little flip, but she ignored it for now. Instead, she just nodded, watching as a sailboat drifted toward the horizon.
“I’ll let you know when I figure it out,” she said.
Will grinned. “I’ll be here.”
“Seriously, Jeffrey? Once again you’ve decided not to put your daughters’ feelings first.”
“Let’s not fight about this, Gretchen. It can’t be helped. Joanna has a lot of things planned for the summer. We’ve got a few colleges lined up to visit and…”
Gretchen interrupted him, “What am I supposed to tell Kaitlyn? You keep pushing her away like this and she’ll give up wanting anything to do with you.”
“What about all those years when you made it impossible for me to see Kaitlyn? Why won’t you take some responsibility for this mess? It wasn’t all me,” he insisted.
“I’ve explained things to Kaitlyn and have apologized for them, but that was in the past. We’re now given another opportunity to set things right for these two young women. They deserve that.”
There was silence on Jeffrey’s end of the line with an occasional sound of a woman’s voice in the background. She assumed it was Joanna.
“How has Sarah reacted to this change of plans?” Gretchen asked.
“She’s not happy about it, but it’s not her call. She’s only sixteen years old and isn’t mature enough to make decisions about this. She’s going to have to trust that we know what’s best for her.”
Gretchen chuckled. “Good luck with that because as far as I can see, you haven’t a clue what’s best for anyone, especially your daughters.”
Angry, Gretchen ended the call and threw her cellphone on the sofa. She put her face in her hands and tried not to cry.
An hour later, Kaitlyn found her mother sitting on the small porch of the bungalow, deep in conversation with Ernest.
"I'm starting to worry about you, Mom. Talking to a rooster?"
Gretchen laughed. "I'm not the only one. The other day I heard Tess talking to him too. He's quite the charmer for a bird."
Kaitlyn sat on the steps, her legs curled up beneath her. The evening air was thick with the smell of jasmine from the vine that climbed the porch trellis, and somewhere in the distance, she could hear the gentle strum of guitar music drifting from one of the nearby bars.
"Are you okay, honey? Something on your mind?" Gretchen asked, studying her daughter's face with the kind of attention only mothers seem capable of.
Kaitlyn glanced at her mother, then exhaled. "Elena offered me a job."
Gretchen didn't look surprised. "Are you going to take it?"
"I don't know," Kaitlyn admitted, picking at a loose thread on her sundress. "I love it here. I love what we're doing. But it's not what I planned for my life."
Gretchen swirled her wine thoughtfully. "Life rarely goes according to plan. Trust me, I know." She paused, looking out at the deepening twilight. "But, I'm curious, did you have a plan after college?"
Kaitlyn gave a small laugh. "Not really. I don't know. For a minute I considered traveling to England or Spain or Italy. You know, just see what there is to see. After that, I’d come back home and look for a job in marketing or finance or something…grown-up. I wasn't thinking of settling down in one place so soon."
She drew her knees up to her chest. "I mean, if I work at Paradise Harbor House, it's a real commitment. I didn't want to get so attached to anyone. If I work there, that will be impossible. I can't walk away whenever I feel like it. People depend on me to be there for them. It's an important job, and…"
The more she heard herself talk, the more Kaitlyn understood how much she loved helping families get on their feet. She thought about Melanie and Hailee, about the new mother who'd arrived last week with nothing but a backpack and hope in her eyes.
"You know," Gretchen said softly, "when you were little, you used to organize these elaborate 'helping parties' in our neighborhood. Remember those?"
Kaitlyn smiled at the memory. "Mrs. Rodriguez's garden after that awful storm."
"And the Thompsons' garage sale for their son's medical bills," Gretchen added. "You were always gathering people together, finding ways to make things better." She set her wine glass down and leaned forward. "Maybe this isn't so far from who you've always been."
Kaitlyn felt tears prick at her eyes. "But what if I'm not good enough? What if I can't actually help these women the way they need?"
"Oh, honey." Gretchen moved to sit beside her daughter on the steps. "You already are. I saw you last night at the fundraiser. I saw how you talked to those donors, how you made them understand why Paradise Harbor House matters. But more than that, I've seen how you are with the women and children there. You don't just help them—you see them. You make them feel worthy of being seen."
Her mother turned to her fully. "The question isn't whether this fits the plan you made months or years ago. The question is—does this make you happy? Does it make you feel like you're making a difference?"
Kaitlyn swallowed the lump in her throat. "Yeah. It does."
Gretchen smiled, the porch light catching the moisture in her own eyes. "Then maybe that's all that matters."
They sat in silence for a moment, listening to Ernest scratch at the ground nearby, before Kaitlyn murmured, "Would you be disappointed if I stayed?"
Gretchen reached for her hand, squeezing it gently. "Honey, I will never be disappointed in you following your heart." She wrapped an arm around Kaitlyn's shoulders. "Besides, Key West isn't so far from Captiva. And something tells me you won't be alone here."
Kaitlyn thought of Will, of Tess and Leah, of Elena and all the people at Paradise Harbor House. She thought of the way this place had started to feel like home when she wasn't looking.
“Honey, I hate to add one more thing to your plate, but I’ve just gotten off the phone with your father. Apparently, they’re not coming to Key West after all.”
“What? Why not?”
“He said something about visiting colleges this summer and it would be too much for them to come down here right now.”
Kaitlyn hung her head and stared at the floor. “So, I won’t get to see Dad.”
It was the first time she’d openly voiced her disappointment in not seeing her father and it was painful. It was the kind of pain she’d stuffed down deep inside, not allowing her feelings to surface. She suddenly felt like a little girl again. The sadness enveloped her, and she let the tears fall.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” Gretchen said, wrapping her arms around Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn let out a slow breath, leaning into her mother's embrace.
“Why doesn’t he love me?”
The small tears turned into deep sobbing and Gretchen’s heart broke into a million pieces. She and Jeffrey had made such a mess of things that it all had come to bear in this moment between her and her child.
Kaitlyn had shown herself to be such a strong and capable woman, that Gretchen let herself forget that her daughter was still a child, one who was broken and lost.
Kaitlyn had gravitated to a position at Paradise Harbor House because of an empathy that had long developed from personal experience. Gretchen finally saw her daughter with a mother’s eyes, and a woman’s heart, and she vowed to make things right.
They stayed in that position for several minutes before Kaitlyn pulled back and wiped her eyes.
“Dad doesn’t know what he’s missing, not seeing me.”
Gretchen smiled and pushed hair from her daughter’s face, now wet with sweat and tears. “No, he doesn’t.”