“I think we’re good. I’m going to take the kids out to lunch and the early movies with their friends today. I’ll see you sometime later.”

  She nodded and slipped out the door, making her way to where her car was parked at the end of the three-car garage. Max said he could get used to her cooking breakfast every morning, but she could get used to the simple things like not having to warm up her already beat and abused car on a cold fall morning.

  If looking at him dressed so casually this morning wasn’t enough to make her mind go down a road it shouldn’t, hearing he was spending his day off with the kids sure did.

  From a kid in foster care who was just happy to have a roof over her head and food in her stomach, thinking of a parent—let alone a father she’d never known—taking her to the movies was something out of the realm of reality.

  Not only that, he was letting each of the kids take a friend, too. Lara and Davey didn’t know how lucky they were. The world she grew up in was something they’d probably never been exposed to and never would be. At least she hoped not for their sake.

  First stop was the bank. She needed to open up a checking account. She’d never had a need for one before.

  Thankfully she had a savings account and was able to give that information to Max’s office since they only did direct deposit.

  Now though, she figured she should at least get a debit card; otherwise she’d have to go to the bank to get any cash. Before this job, each week she had cash in her pocket from tips. She’d cash her paycheck and pay her bills with cash or money orders and try to put away fifty dollars a week in her savings.

  It might not seem like much, but it would build now and again to give her some breathing room. Until her car broke down, or her siblings needed some money. Or worse yet, she had to leave town quickly because someone was making trouble for her. Someone was trying to find her again.

  Unfortunately, those things happened so frequently she didn’t think she even had five hundred dollars in the account now. She never touched it for anything other than emergencies. It just seemed every time she turned around, she was putting out a fire.

  She’d gotten her last paycheck the night before at work since they were paying her under the table in cash. She stopped and picked up her final check at the restaurant she was waitressing at before coming to the bank.

  Between those two amounts and her first deposit from Max, she could send Brett more than she hoped. Her next stop after the bank would be the post office for a money order to do just that.

  Quinn took a seat in the reception area. She waited a few minutes until someone was available, and then made her way into the little glassed-in cubicle. “Hi. I’d like to open up a checking account today.”

  “Sure. Have you done any banking with us before?”

  “Yes, I’ve got a savings account here,” Quinn said.

  “Perfect, that will save us documentation. We can just link the two if you’d like. Then you could transfer money from one to the other online.”

  “I don’t have a computer,” Quinn said. Though it would be nice to be able to do that.

  “No problem. You can call and do it, or stop in too. Is that something you would be interested in doing?”

  “It sounds good. Is there a charge for that?” She didn’t want to pay any unnecessary fees. She’d become a pro at making a dollar stretch for miles.

  “No charge as long as you’ve got at least a thousand dollars between both accounts.”

  Quinn calculated everything she had on her right now, plus her savings account, then subtracted what she was going to send Brett. It’d be close. “How are the fees figured?”

  “If you don’t have the minimum balance by the end of the month, you’ll have a ten-dollar service charge.”

  Ten dollars. That might not be a lot to some people, but she could eat a couple of days on that. Still, she’d be fine by the end of the month. “Okay. Let’s set it up.”

  The bank employee pulled up her savings account and said, “You have well over a thousand dollars in there right now, so no worries.”

  “What? Can I see that?” Quinn asked.

  Looking at her savings account she noticed the amount deposited into her account from Max was almost double what she’d expected.

  Quinn had fully expected to have one week’s worth of hours held back from Max, but they’d told her it didn’t work that way for some of the positions and hers was one of them.

  Pamela told her she’d get paid this week because Max’s account was at the same bank as Quinn’s so there was no waiting period either.

  Still, something didn’t seem right. She tried to run the math in her head and realized that she was given a full paycheck rather than half. It had to be a mistake.

  “I guess I lost track of what I had in there,” Quinn said. No use saying anything else at this point.

  Thirty minutes later, Quinn was the proud owner of her first checking account. That was pretty sad for a twenty-seven-year-old. Better late than never, though.

  She was in line at the post office waiting to purchase her money order when she heard her name called. Turning, she saw her friend Mallory Dexter standing there.

  “Hey, Mallory. Sorry I didn’t get back to you last week. Things have been a little crazy.”

  She and Mallory had been friends since Quinn moved to Lake Placid over a year ago. Quiet like her, Mallory seemed to hit it off with Quinn. Mallory was the go-to person that Quinn cooked all her new recipes for.

  “No problem. I know how it can be. Actually, I’d like you to come to dinner tonight if you aren’t working.” Mallory seemed to hesitate and then said, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  “Is everything okay? Did you and Nick split?” Mallory had been dating an old childhood friend, Nick Buchanan, for months. Last Quinn knew, everything was going well. Mallory had even gone back to Richmond to visit with Nick’s parents.

  “Everything is great. I’ll explain it all over dinner. Does tonight work?”

  Quinn debated, and then decided to go ahead. Max told her the weekend was her time. She’d make it up to the Hamiltons tomorrow with a nice big Sunday dinner. But tonight she really wanted to spend some time with the one friend she had in town. “Only if you let me bring the dinner.”

  Someone Far Removed

  “You’re back early,” Max said when Quinn walked into the kitchen with a few bags in her hand.

  He looked at the clock and saw it was just after eleven. The kids were getting ready so they could leave in ten minutes. He hadn’t expected to see her until later on.

  “I finished everything faster than I thought.”

  She seemed to hesitate over something. “Is everything okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Um, is it okay if I’m not here tonight? I ran into a friend in town and was asked to dinner.”

  She wanted to go on a date. He should have figured.

  He tried not to show his disappointment. He had no reason to feel that way. She was young and single, at least he thought she was. Not his worry, but he’d have to talk to her at some point about bringing men back to the house. That wasn’t going to be allowed.

  “I told you the weekend was yours to do what you wanted.”

  “I can have dinner made before I leave if you’d like.” She held the bags up. “I bought enough to make dinner for you guys in addition to what I’ll be making for my friend.”

  That was sweet and he was trying not to get annoyed she was making dinner for some guy. What, the bum couldn’t take her out on a real date? What was this dating world coming to?

  “No need for you to cook twice.”

  “What?” she asked. “No I cook at home and bring it over. I never cook there, so it’s not that big of a deal. I’m not leaving until around six and the house is on the lake so it’s not far.”

  “Maybe it’s someone I know.” He hoped that only came out as curiosity.

  “I doubt it,” Quinn said, ducking her head.

  So much for getting any information. Oh well. “It’s your choice. Like I said, I’m taking the kids to lunch and then the movies. We’ll see you when we get back later then.”

  “Okay. Have fun,” she said and started to unload her food.

  He tried to eye the ingredients and see if he could figure out what the lucky bastard was getting, but all he saw were some spices and potatoes before she looked up and saw him staring at her.

  “I’ll see you later,” he mumbled, walking out and trying not to grind his teeth. He had no reason to feel the way he did. He wasn’t jealous, not really.

  Hours later, Max had dropped off both Lara and Davey’s friends and parked his car in the garage. He had a splitting headache and was in desperate need of aspirin.

  He’d been looking forward to spending the day with the kids, but they both wanted to bring friends along and he couldn’t say no.

  Thankfully Davey didn’t seem as cold to him today for some reason. Not that he was actively talking, but he was at least making eye contact, talking and laughing with his friends.

  Max always enjoyed being around the kids. Maybe because deep down, he was a bit of a kid himself…when he let himself be. When he wasn’t stressing over the kids and how they were handling all the changes in their lives, or how his practice was doing. Or how much longer he could go before he had to hire more help.

  Sure, he loved that the practice was growing by leaps and bounds, but it was turning out to not be the relaxing life he had envisioned when he moved here.

  The headache didn’t start until the movie, though. Of course the girls wanted to go see some animation and the boys wanted a superhero movie. Although he didn’t want to split the kids up, he didn’t want to torture the boys either.

  Besides, he was hoping to earn a few points with Davey by letting him go off with his friend, even if it was only in the theater next to his.

  The “Thanks, Dr. Hamilton,” from Charlie was nice, but the quiet, “Thanks, Dad,” from Davey made it worthwhile sitting through a glorified cartoon with screaming kids.

  Hence the need for the aspirin as he walked into his kitchen.

  Running into Quinn prepping food only made the ache intensify. Trying to push her from his mind hadn’t worked while he sat in the movie theater either.

  He had no interest in what was on the big screen, so he tried to run work through his mind, ideas and plans, things he wanted to do and change. Except images of Quinn in nicely fitted worn jeans, a simple cotton shirt, and her hair in a ponytail kept creeping in. That and the sweats with the words on her rear end.

  She was nothing like anyone he’d ever dated before, or ever looked at, to be honest. Maybe that was part of the appeal. Someone so far removed from what he left behind. His best description of her had to be…simple, but not in a bad way. She didn’t fuss too much with herself like most women did and he found it actually enticing. Teasing almost, though he knew she wasn’t doing anything more than being herself.

  It didn’t matter though since he wasn’t looking. He shouldn’t be looking, and it seemed she had someone else anyway.

  “Smells good in here,” he said when he opened the cabinet and pulled out the bottle of aspirin.

  “Thanks. I like trying new things and bringing it over to my friend.”

  Friend, sure, that must be a new word for it. He had to stop this. He was being childish, he knew. “What are you making?”

  “Beef Wellington and roasted potatoes, with cauliflower puree.”

  “Sounds fancy.” And delicious. Lucky bastard, he thought again.

  “I’m making enough for you guys for dinner tonight, too. If you aren’t hungry tonight, I can cook it tomorrow. I’m just prepping the Wellington now. Then I’ll bake it quick before I leave. I like to bring it over hot and serve it that way.”

  Well, maybe he was going to be lucky tonight. At least with the food. “We don’t have dinner plans tonight. Not sure how much of the cauliflower the kids will eat. Or the rest, but Jennifer and I will appreciate it.”

  “What are you making, Quinn?” Davey asked when he returned to the kitchen. Both kids had dashed in ahead of him and took off like they always did.

  “Beef Wellington and roasted potatoes. I’m bringing dinner to a friend tonight, but making it for you guys too. Want to help me?”

  Max watched Davey look at him first, then back to Quinn, and finally say, “Sure.”

  It wasn’t the first time Davey had spent time around Quinn, and now he was wondering if Davey had a crush on her. Great, just what he needed. Both of them crushing on the nanny. This was just the makings of trouble.

  “I’ll let you two get to cooking then. I’ve got some work to do.”

  He walked out of the kitchen shaking his head, wondering what he was going to do next. The last thing he planned on doing was working this weekend, but he couldn’t stay in the kitchen and stare at Quinn either.

  ***

  “Wow, that smells great. What did you bring tonight?” Mallory asked, holding the door open.

  “Forget about food. What the heck happened to your house?” Quinn asked.

  It’d been over a month since Quinn had been to Mallory’s, maybe two months, she couldn’t remember. Still, the house seemed to have doubled in size. Mallory had never said a word. Nothing more than Nick was spending more time here. Maybe it was his idea?

  “A lot has happened. Come on in. Nick is already in the dining room waiting for dinner. He would have driven to town to get you if I knew your address. I’ve told him how you always bring food over and he was dying for it when I said you were coming.”

  It was nice to be appreciated. And no, Mallory hadn’t known where she’d lived. She’d been too embarrassed to give out the exact address of her little apartment.

  “I moved. I live a few miles away from here on the lake. I’ve got a new job too. I’m a nanny and housekeeper now. I just started this week, actually.”

  “Really? That’s great. I knew you were looking for something full time. Anyone I might know?”

  “He asked me the same thing about you. I figured you never got out much, so I didn’t say your name.” She doubted Max would have any knowledge of an insurance adjuster that worked from home and lived on the lake. Besides, Max was new to the area, too. “Dr. Max Hamilton. He has a practice in town. He’s relatively new to the area.”

  “Can’t say that I’ve heard of him. Then again, we know how much I get out. Where on the lake? That much I bet I know, since I kayak around it all the time.”

  Quinn said the address, which meant nothing to Mallory. “Tell me what the house looks like. I’m used to seeing the houses from the water,” Mallory said.

  “It’s big, brown-sided and brick. Not sure what it looks like from the water. I’ll have a view of the lake once I’m in the nanny suite. The current nanny is there one more week. It’s on a point, I know that much. Lots of windows. Oh, and the master bedroom has this huge deck off of it, above a glassed-in sunroom.”

  “I think I know which one you’re talking about. The house is only a few years old, I believe.”

  “Sounds like it. Anyway. Max lives there with his kids, Lara and Davey. They’re nine and eleven.”

  “No wife?” Mallory asked.

  “No. Divorced. I don’t know much more about it. I’ve only been there a few days. I started on Tuesday morning.”

  “Mallory,” Nick said, walking into the kitchen where Quinn was putting the food on serving platters. “Stop yapping, and bring the food in.” Nick walked forward, grinning, and surprisingly leaned down and kissed Quinn on the cheek. “It’s nice to see you again, Quinn. Mallory raves about your cooking and I can’t wait to see what you’ve brought.”

  She hadn’t expected that. Though she was friends with Mallory, she’d only met Nick that once when she was working.

  “I hope you’re hungry,” Quinn said. “Mallory said she had something to tell me. I’m guessing it’s the addition to the house.”

  “That’s part of it,” Nick said, eying Mallory.

  Quinn caught the look between the two of them, soft and sweet. She quickly glanced at Mallory’s left hand but didn’t see a ring. Nope, that couldn’t be the news. She couldn’t imagine what it was Mallory needed to tell her.

  “Well, if you want to help me bring this all in, we can sit down and eat.”

  After ten minutes of passing the food around and filling their plates, along with “this is awesome” said more times than Quinn could count, she was starting to wonder what was going on.

  “Just tell her, Mallory,” Nick finally said.

  “I don’t know how,” Mallory said, looking at him, almost pleading.

  “There’s no easy way. Tell a story if you must,” he said.

  “What’s going on?” Quinn finally asked. She was starting to get a little nervous.

  “Quinn, first I want to apologize. I haven’t been completely honest with you since we’ve known each other.”

  “Ah, okay.”

  “My name isn’t Mallory Dexter. It’s Mallory Denning, and I’m not an insurance adjuster.”

  “What do you do then? And why use another name?” Quinn asked, more confused than ever. Was Mallory an undercover agent? Something else more mysterious? Nah, she wiped those thoughts from her head, they were too ridiculous.

  She’d always gotten the impression Mallory had secrets, maybe because like saw like. Mallory never asked a lot questions and neither did Quinn. It was probably why they got along so well. Still, it couldn’t have been anything as crazy as where her mind just wandered.

  “First off, I left home when I was eighteen. Trixie, Nick’s grandmother, helped me move. I left in the middle of the night and no one knew where I was until a few months ago when Nick found me by accident.”

  Quinn just sat there and listened to Mallory’s unbelievable story of secrets, lies, and mystery for all these years. Of taking on another identity. She couldn’t help but feel more of a bond with Mallory. Not the new name or identity, but the part about hiding. More like running away.