“What I do, who I see, and who I sleep with are of no concern of yours,” he said, his voice lower this time. She couldn’t be bothered to lower her voice at all though.

  “So you don’t deny it? All I’ve heard for the last twenty-four hours was Quinn this and Quinn that. It wasn’t until Lara said how young and pretty she was that I started to figure it out. Though I’ve got to say, she’s pretty damn plain if you ask me.”

  He felt his face turn red. She had no right to judge him or his relationship. Nothing. She lost that right years ago.

  “Get the hell out of my sight right now. If you don’t want to see or talk to the kids anymore, just say the word. I’ll figure out a way to break it to them. After today, they probably won’t be heartbroken over it.”

  “Do whatever you want, Max. You always did. It was your way or the highway. Again, I was just the poor girl you helped give a better life to.” She stopped at the door and flung it open.

  “That’s all it ever was to you. Blame me all you want, but you took advantage of it,” he said, feeling drained. He’d thought and felt a lot of things over the last few years, but he never imagined any of what she’d just said.

  He never thought he was better than her. Though he liked that he was able to give her a better life, even pamper her, he didn’t expect it to be thrown in his face as if their broken marriage was his fault. That him being the person he was caused her infidelity.

  “You’re damn straight I took advantage of it. So, thanks for the life I’ve got now. I only had to lose about eight years for it,” she shouted and slammed the door.

  He sat down on the couch, put his head in his hands, and wondered how the hell a family vacation turned into this.

  Good Enough

  “Did the kids have their headsets on the whole time Mia was here?” Max whispered to Quinn early the next morning.

  She’d gotten up early as always, hoping to avoid Max at all costs but knew she wouldn’t get that wish. Nothing ever went her way in life.

  “Yes,” she said back, quickly and quietly.

  “Can we talk?” he said, leaning in close to her.

  “The kids,” she said, nodding her head toward Davey sleeping on the sofabed. Lara was still sleeping in her room. Quinn had made sure that she was with the kids at all times after Mia left, never giving Max an opportunity to have a conversation with her.

  It hurt, she hurt. After listening to his and Mia’s fight last night, she started to realize why Max was so distant yesterday morning. He probably suspected she was falling for him and the last thing he wanted to do was get involved with someone else he had to “save.” Look at how well that had turned out in his life so far.

  She always knew she wasn’t good enough for him, but she didn’t think she’d be some game to him either. Something to build up his ego.

  “Let’s go in my room for a moment,” he said.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Just let it go, Max.”

  “I can’t.”

  He grabbed her hand loosely and led her to his room, where he shut the door. He looked rough this morning, worn and beaten down, which was exactly how she felt. The weight of the world was on her right now.

  There were parts of her that wanted to comfort him last night after his fight with Mia, but the other part of her couldn’t do it. She couldn’t let herself be drawn in anymore. To feel any more pain.

  “Listen, Max. I think it’s best if we just cool things a bit.”

  “No,” he said firmly.

  “Yes.”

  “You heard what Mia said last night?” he asked, but it was pretty obvious he knew the answer to that. Why else call her in here to talk?

  “I did.”

  “Let me explain. What she said wasn’t true.”

  “It doesn’t matter. Things are complicated. Let’s take a few steps back.”

  “I don’t want to,” he said stubbornly. “My fight with Mia has nothing to do with us.”

  Of course it did, how could he think otherwise? “If you don’t agree to take a few steps back, then you’ll leave me no choice but to resign. I don’t want to do that to the kids, but I can’t go on like this right now.”

  He looked hurt, more hurt than he did when he came to get the kids and deliver them their room service yesterday, but she wasn’t going to be swayed from her decision.

  It was what she had to do to protect herself. She wasn’t good enough for him; she always knew that and didn’t know why she’d tried to convince herself otherwise.

  Even Max’s mother tried to warn her. Now she knew why Janice made that comment. It seems she and Mia had a lot in common, their backgrounds not being up to snuff for the Hamiltons.

  “I don’t want to lose you,” he said, almost pleading with her.

  She refused to take it any other way than he didn’t want to lose her as his employee, his kids’ nanny.

  “Then give me space.”

  She brushed by him and left the room before she started to cry. She didn’t cry over relationships. She stopped having these feelings so long ago and there was a reason for it.

  It was a good reminder that if she didn’t protect herself, no one would. She was all she had in the world…no one else.

  ***

  The flight home was miserable…at least for him, and by his guess, for Quinn. She hadn’t said much to him this morning. Just meticulously packed her stuff in his suitcase and made sure all the kids’ belongings were packed up tight before they took off for the airport bright and early.

  He’d hoped yesterday he could have spoken to her at some point, but it never happened. Wanting to make up for the two days the kids spent with their mother, he decided to take them to the ESPN Zone for their last day in town.

  Davey was on cloud nine, even Lara, but Quinn had decided to stay back. “Why don’t you spend the day with the kids alone? I want to take the day for myself.”

  “What are you going to do? Just sit in the hotel? No, come with us,” he said, smiling and hoping to get a grin out of her. But it didn’t work.

  Lara jumped in. “Please, Quinn, then we can play against the boys and beat them.”

  Even Lara’s happy pleading didn’t work.

  “That sounds like a lot of fun. But you know what? I wanted to go to the Chelsea Market and I haven’t had a chance.”

  “We’ll all go after we have fun at the Zone. Right, kids?” Max said.

  “That won’t be much fun for you guys,” Quinn argued. “It’s just a bunch of shops and food. I’ll bring back some good ideas on things to make, how’s that? But this lets me have a relaxing day to myself.”

  The kids easily accepted that answer, but Max knew better. She didn’t want to spend the time around him. She wasn’t even giving him a chance to explain what she heard the other night. Instead, she decided she was going to be judge and jury and he was guilty, end of story.

  Rather than argue with her in front of the kids, or beg—he was seriously getting desperate enough—he let her go. She had her day alone and he had a blast with the kids. He hoped it at least made up for the time they were with their mother.

  Now here he was looking out the window of the plane wondering his next step. Lara was next to him with Quinn and Davey on the other side, an aisle between them.

  He didn’t just have to figure out what to do about his and Quinn’s relationship, but he had to decide what to tell the kids about their mother.

  After a lot of debating and self-lecturing, he decided to say nothing right now. The kids were used to not hearing from Mia for months on end. After this trip, they probably couldn’t care less about hearing from her.

  So for now, he was going to table it. There was time before the next holiday, when Mia might or might not call, so he’d figure out something by then.

  The plane started its descent. He looked over and saw Quinn white-knuckling the armrest like she did on takeoff. As much as he wanted to talk to her or comfort her, he knew she wouldn’t want it from him.

  As luck would have it, Davey seemed to notice what was going on and reached his hand over and placed it on top of Quinn’s, forcing a smile from her. At least his son didn’t take after his mother. Not an ounce of selfishness in that act. Mia would have turned the other cheek if someone was in distress.

  With their luggage all in the SUV and the kids buckled in, Max and Quinn sat in the front while he drove them home. Still silence from Quinn and he was at a loss on what to say.

  “What’s for dinner?” Lara asked. “You never said if you found something good at the Market.”

  Quinn turned around and grinned at Lara, then Davey. “I found a lot of really neat spices. I’ve got all sorts of ideas, don’t worry. What do you want tonight? I’ll have to go into town and get some food at the store. Anyone want to ride with me?”

  He was about to say they could all go together, but caught the narrowing of her eyes and thought better of it.

  “I’ll go,” Lara said.

  “I’ll stay. Dad, can I get online with Charlie and Mike? They both sent me texts asking to let them know when I got home.”

  “Sure.” He didn’t see any harm in it at this point. It would be just after lunch by then. “I want you to eat something first though. Even if it’s a yogurt.”

  “Can I take it downstairs with me?”

  Normally he’d say no, that Davey had to eat at the table, but he was too tired to protest or deny the kids anything at this point.

  “As long as you pick up. Don’t leave a mess for Quinn.”

  He looked over and smiled at her again, but all he got was a nod in return.

  The rest of the ride was done in silence, the kids on their phones playing games or listening to music, Quinn looking out the window, and him just wishing he could drive faster, but the roads were still a little slick from the snowfall that morning.

  It felt like the longest drive ever by the time he pulled into the driveway, and he was glad to see the plow had come through their street and the person he paid to clear their driveway had come and gone too.

  Once they were parked in the garage, the kids hopped out and started to run for the kitchen door, but he stopped them. “Come grab your suitcases, please. Don’t leave everything for Quinn and me.”

  They did as they were told and started to walk forward, then stopped. “Dad, the door is open,” Davey said.

  “What? It shouldn’t be.” The door to the kitchen was always locked at night and when they were gone, even though no one could get into the garage without an opener.

  He moved ahead of Davey, seeing the door open a crack and pushing it wider, then walked in first.

  “Everyone stay here while I look around. Quinn, here are the keys to the car.”

  “Why are you giving them to Quinn?” Lara asked.

  He looked over at Quinn, got her nod, and walked in. If there was anyone in the house, he wanted her to get the kids out of there.

  Everything looked fine in the kitchen, nothing really out of place. He looked around the family room and started to feel a bit of dread. The TV was missing from the wall, along with some art, nothing that was really worth anything though. Whoever it was obviously didn’t know that.

  Making his way down the hall, he opened his office door and saw his personal laptop missing. He’d left his work one at the office and was forever thankful about that. More pictures were off the wall, and he realized that whoever it was was looking for a safe, and they found it.

  It looked to have been broken open. He should have known better when he first saw it, that it wasn’t sturdy enough for him, and he should have reinforced it or changed it out. How would he have known this would ever happen on a remote part of the lake?

  Then again, the house was so far back, they were at the end of the street and his neighbors across the street were on vacation too. Who knew when someone was here and did this? Especially since it snowed and the plows came through. Any trace of evidence would be gone now.

  Nothing else was out of place, so he went up and looked around the bedrooms, and then downstairs to the game room. The kids weren’t going to be happy at all.

  An hour later, Sheriff Trevor Miles was just finishing up his report. “If you think of anything else, just give me call. It looks like they grabbed all the electronics and smaller pieces. Anything they could easily fence for cash.”

  That and the ten thousand dollars he had in his safe. Thankfully he didn’t have to worry about jewelry. He didn’t have any.

  This never happened in New York, but wouldn’t it have been a kicker if all of Mia’s jewelry had been stolen? Then again, that’s what the ten thousand dollars was.

  When Mia walked out of the divorce proceedings, he had all the locks changed and Jennifer packed up the rest of Mia’s belongings and had them shipped to the boyfriend Mia was staying with. He’d totally forgotten about all the jewelry that was in their safe until he started to pack for Lake Placid.

  It held no memories for him, probably none for her, so he took it all back to the jewelry store. They gave him a fraction of what it was worth, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t the money he wanted, but rather the memories wiped away.

  Still, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything with the check, so he cashed it and put it in the safe here. Maybe it was good it was stolen. The last trace of her was gone. Good riddance in his mind, though not many people would agree with having that amount of cash stolen.

  “I will. Thank you for coming out so quickly,” Max said.

  “Like I said, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Whoever it was is probably long gone. They didn’t even destroy the house, just came in fast, took what they could and left. Your house wasn’t the only one hit this week. Same exact situation.”

  “Oh,” Max said. He wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or not. “How many were there?”

  “Three more. All people within a one-mile radius and all people that were gone over the break with kids. Whoever it was probably figured they were easy targets. Kids nowadays, they tell everyone they’re going away or post it on social media. They never think it could happen to them.”

  His kids weren’t on social media, and he wasn’t sure who they would have told they were going away, other than their friends. Friends that might be gone too.

  “I hope more people don’t come home to the same thing. Our neighbors across the street are gone too. They’re due back tomorrow.”

  “Thanks for the heads up,” Sheriff Miles said.

  “Should I call them? Their daughter is friends with my daughter.”

  “That’s up to you. It might not do anything but worry them at this point, though.”

  He didn’t think of that. No use ruining the rest of their vacation. With any luck, they weren’t hit.

  Max showed Sheriff Miles out and went back into the family room where the kids were sitting next to Quinn, both of them crying and looking terrified. That’s what bothered him the most.

  Not the monetary value, that could be replaced, but the peace of mind and broken security the kids would have to live with.

  “Hey, guys,” Max said sitting next to them on the couch. Lara crawled into his lap. “It’s only things, everything is easily replaced. We’ll go get new TVs this afternoon for your rooms, and replace your gaming systems, Davey. By tonight, I’ll try to get it as back to normal as I can.”

  Quinn looked over at him, her face a little pale, and he was sorry for that. That she was probably wondering what she’d gotten herself into. All his years in New York and he’d never been robbed. This was the last place he thought it’d happen.

  “Will they come back?” Lara asked with fresh tears in her eyes.

  “I don’t think so. The sheriff said they were just looking for easy things to grab and some cash. We weren’t the only house that was robbed. So we weren’t targeted specifically.”

  “Was Maddie robbed, too?” Lara asked.

  “I don’t know. They won’t be home until tomorrow, and don’t text her to tell her either. You’ll only worry her. Imagine how you would have felt if she let you know what happened to her when you were in New York. You would only worry.”

  “They have a security system. I bet they were fine,” Davey said.

  He didn’t know that, and wished he’d thought of that himself. “They probably were. And so no one has to worry about it anymore, I’m going to make a few calls and get someone out here to install one for us too. Will that help?”

  Both kids nodded. Quinn just looked over at him, still staying silent. He wrapped his arm around Quinn’s shoulders on one side of him, and Davey’s on the other. Then he kissed both kids on the forehead and then did the same to Quinn.

  “I’ll take care of you guys. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

  Worlds Apart

  That first night, everyone stayed in Max’s room. In the beginning Quinn didn’t want to, but she was too scared to stay in her room alone…by the garage entrance.

  So the kids slept with Max in his king-sized bed and she stayed on the small love seat by the fireplace. He’d offered to have her in the bed also, the kids between them, but that was just too awkward.

  If they hadn’t been robbed, she would have stayed in her room and shed a few tears, she was positive. Not over the robbery, but over the last few days with Max.

  Sure, she sniffled a little in Max’s room that night, but it was out of fear, or so she’d let Max think.

  It broke her heart that the kids were bawling their eyes out. Not necessarily over the loss of their possessions, but that they were truly scared.

  Heck, she was too. She’d lived in some shady places in her life and never experienced a robbery. Then again, there wasn’t much she had that anyone wanted.

  Trying not to toss and turn on the loveseat had been a hopeless endeavor. Even though the cushions were softer than her last pullout sofabed, she couldn’t get comfortable.