Though Mallory didn’t go into too many details of why she left, and Quinn didn’t feel right asking, the fact that Mallory was telling her now was kind of baffling.

  “Why are you telling me? I mean you weren’t in trouble with the law or anything, were you?”

  “No,” Mallory said. “I just need to move on with my life. In order to do that, I want to come clean to those that are my friends. I consider you a close friend.”

  Quinn had always thought of Mallory as one of the closest friends she’d ever had, so she was happy to hear Mallory felt the same way.

  “So you still didn’t tell me what you do. Or doesn’t that matter?”

  “I’m still the same person you’ve known for the last year,” Mallory said suddenly.

  “She is really the same person she’s been most of her life,” Nick jumped in to add.

  “Remember when we talked about what we really wanted to do with our lives? And you said you wanted to open a restaurant some day and I said I was writing a book?”

  Quinn remembered that conversation. She remembered it, because it was the most she’d ever said to another person about her past in longer than she could remember. With the exception of Max. He knew more than anyone. “Yeah.”

  “Well, I was writing a book. The thing is, I’ve written and published plenty already.”

  “You’re an author?”

  “Yes. I write under a pen name. I doubt you’ve heard of me. I write mystery novels for preteens.”

  “And adults. You’re writing one for adults,” Nick said.

  “That too,” Mallory said. “But really I’m known as M.A. Cannon. Mallory Dexter the insurance adjuster doesn’t exist.”

  “Oh my God. You’re joking, right?” Quinn didn’t read often, not unless it was a cookbook, but she saw a boatload of books on Lara’s shelves with M.A. Cannon on the side.

  “So you know me? I mean my work?” Mallory said.

  “I saw your books in Lara’s room. There are a lot of books.” More than Quinn could count, now that she thought of it. Okay, things were starting to add up now. The house on the lake, the big addition. The rich boyfriend that she’d known since childhood.

  By the sounds of things, Mallory had a privileged childhood.

  Mallory was someone that never would have given Quinn the time of day in school. Not even in adulthood, if she was honest with herself.

  “Yeah, that’s me. Surprise,” Mallory said, her smile wide and bright as sunshine.

  It was a surprise, all right, Quinn thought when she returned home hours later.

  Who would have thought that Quinn was friends with a famous author all this time? The girl that barely had two pennies to rub together on a good day was friends with someone with that kind of wealth.

  Mallory never looked it to her though. She just looked like a normal average person. Sure, she had more than Quinn ever would, but nothing that Quinn would even equate to Max. Now she was thinking otherwise.

  Hell, she already knew Nick came from money. Mallory had told her Nick owned his own software company.

  Maybe it was possible to reinvent yourself. Isn’t that what Quinn had been trying to do for years? Trying to run from her past and not be looked at as the poor foster child with barely a high school education.

  It’d been hard, and though she kept trying, she never made any progress. It always seemed she’d take a few steps forward and a dozen back. The vicious circle of poverty closing in around her at all times. No matter how hard or fast she ran, she was always found, then everything she worked for ripped out of her hands.

  She’d told Max she wasn’t sure how his world worked—the world where there were nannies and cooks and housekeepers—and though he assured her it wasn’t so different, she didn’t believe him, but maybe she was wrong.

  Maybe not all wealthy people looked down on the poor. Maybe not all of them shunned the hard workers of the world.

  She’d have to think on it some more. She’d have to reevaluate her life and her goals and dreams. Could she do it? Could she use this job as a stepping-stone to her future?

  Except nothing was long term in her life. But it was a nice thought. What was nicer was lying her head down on a soft comfortable pillow each night and not worrying if she’d be able to pay her next bill. Now that was a great thought!

  No, for once, she was actually dreaming, even hoping, things might be turning in the right direction for her. Maybe not the direction she’d planned, but one that could work out in the end. Then again, she stopped making plans years ago.

  A Connection

  “I didn’t hear you come in last night,” Max said to Quinn when he walked into the kitchen the next morning.

  He woke up bright and early, hoping to beat her to the kitchen, but that didn’t happen. She was just pouring the coffee beans into the grinder.

  “I’m sorry, was there something you needed?” she asked, looking concerned.

  He didn’t want her to think she did anything wrong. “No, I just didn’t think you would be that late.”

  That sounded like he was watching and waiting for her, which he was, but he didn’t want her to know that.

  “My friend sort of dropped a bombshell on me, so I stayed longer than planned.” She finished up with the coffee and walked to the refrigerator. “How about eggs and bacon this morning?”

  “You know you don’t have to cook for us on your days off,” he said, and hoped it didn’t sound as testy to her as it did to him. The thought of her cooking had him imagining her on her date last night. Before he knew it or could stop himself, he asked, “Did he like your dinner last night?”

  She turned and looked at him, frowned, then said, “Yeah, Nick couldn’t say enough about how good it was. What did you guys think of it?”

  So it was a guy. Nick, huh? “It was great. The kids ate everything but the cauliflower, which I suspected would happen. So Nick dropped a bombshell on you last night?”

  “No,” she said, frowning some more.

  It was like pulling teeth to get her to talk. He really should drop it, but he couldn’t. “I thought you said he did.”

  “He didn’t. Mallory did.”

  “Who’s Mallory?” What was he missing?

  Quinn leaned against the counter and eyed him for a minute. There was something going on in her head, but whatever it was she wasn’t saying. “Mallory is my friend. Nick is her boyfriend. Did you think I went on a date last night?”

  There was no way to get out of this without lying, which he wouldn’t do.

  “It crossed my mind. Like I said, you’re free to do what you want with your time.”

  So no boyfriend. That was good, wasn’t it? Maybe not, with her steady stare on him. What was she thinking about? He couldn’t read her as much as he wished he could.

  “I’m not seeing anyone, if you wanted to know. There is no one to worry about coming around the house. I would never do that anyway. I’d never bring a man into your house around the children. I wouldn’t bring any of my friends over either, not without talking to you first. I hope you realize that.”

  Okay, now he felt like crap. Not only had she seen right through to what he was thinking, but she made him feel guilty even thinking she would have brought anyone into his house.

  It was out there, so he had to address it. At least she wasn’t thinking he was jealous of her out on a date, but rather was interested about his children’s welfare. Must be his lucky moment.

  “That’s good to hear. This is your home, but I would like to know if someone is going to be in the house.”

  “Of course. Mallory is really the only friend I have, but I doubt she’d be stopping over. Though she does kayak around the lake all the time, so she might pop in some day.”

  “I’ve probably seen her at some point on the weekends when I’ve been home.”

  “She’s out at all times of the day. She works from home. Anyway, she’s really nice. I was there so late because both she and Nick come from…money. They’ve both had different upbringings than I did. I just wanted to talk to them about nannies and housekeepers. If they had them and how they related to them from a child’s prescriptive. I was hoping to learn a few things.”

  If he didn’t feel bad before about his thoughts of her with a guy last night, he was guilty as all hell now knowing she was there so late because she was trying to find a way to better adjust with his kids.

  “What did they say?”

  “Mallory’s mother stayed home with her when she was younger, so no hired help there. Nick’s family had a housekeeper that would sometimes watch them and bring them around. Nothing really like what you hired me to do.”

  Max nodded his head. There wasn’t much more he could say at this point other than to try to change the subject. He was wrong about her, or wrong to think what he did about her. He didn’t even know why he cared.

  That was wrong. He knew. He was attracted to her and he had to tell himself to not go there. It wouldn’t be good for anyone.

  “I almost forgot,” she said. “I think there was a mistake with my paycheck.”

  “How so? Pamela is normally pretty good about those things.”

  He hoped Pamela didn’t underpay Quinn. That was all he needed to start this out on the wrong foot. Act like a jealous fool and short her pay on top of it. He might as well pack her bags for her before she ran screaming from the house calling him every name in the book.

  “It was too much. I don’t have the slip with the details, but the amount deposited seemed like a full paycheck. I only worked four days. Pamela told me the week starts on Saturday and I didn’t start until Tuesday morning.”

  He tried not to groan. He wasn’t used to this much honesty from someone. Yep, he was an ass.

  “Quinn, as I told you before. You’ll work more than the average forty-hour-a-week person when you factor in the on-call time when I have to leave. I don’t count every hour. There will be times you work way more and I’ll compensate you for that. Then there will be times you can do what you want when the kids are in school. It all works out in the end.”

  She hesitated while she turned the bacon in the pan. She’d been cooking seamlessly during the conversation. He liked that about her, how she was able to multitask and never miss a beat.

  Her face softened and she quickly said, “Thank you.”

  ***

  Quinn was trying to gather her thoughts. What a crazy morning so far.

  First off, she wasn’t quite sure where Max was going with all his questions about her being out last night.

  She’d thought maybe he only said she could have time for herself, but hadn’t really meant it. Then when he started to talk about Nick, she almost thought he was annoyed. Or even jealous that she might have been out with someone. But that was ridiculous.

  Seriously, why would he care if she was on a date as long as she didn’t bring a man here? It’s not like she was his type or he could be interested in her, even if she did catch him looking at her more often lately.

  She wasn’t going to ask if he thought she was on a date, but figured she needed to. It was best to clear the air at the very least.

  It was almost laughable really. A boyfriend? Please! She didn’t have time for a boyfriend. All her time was spent running from one job to another.

  On top of that, most of the men she’d been in contact with were co-workers and she learned the hard way to never mix work and pleasure.

  Nothing could get you fired from a job faster than sleeping with a co-worker or, heaven forbid, a boss. Then when things go sour, watch out. In the kitchen tempers and food, not to mention utensils, tended to fly.

  Not that she’d ever had that happen personally, but she’d seen plenty of it.

  Her job was way too important to her to risk getting involved with someone that could jeopardize things, regardless of how attracted she was to him.

  When she felt that was all cleared up and she explained why she was so late last night, she could have sworn Max blushed, like he was embarrassed over something. Why would he be embarrassed over her asking Mallory and Nick if they grew up with hired help?

  Mallory hadn’t been much help to her on that front, but Nick had. His biggest piece of advice was to treat the kids like they were related to her. Listen to them and help them, but don’t boss them around.

  That was easy enough. Quinn already felt a connection to Lara and Davey. She’d never boss them around; she’d been in that position before and knew what it was like.

  No, she’d rather help the kids learn how to be better people and learn how to do things on their own.

  As if that wasn’t enough jumping around this morning, Max had to go and tell her that her check wasn’t a mistake. Then he said he’d pay her extra if she ended up working more than he felt was normal.

  This all just seemed too good to be true to her. Everything from the beautiful home she was living in, to the money she was making, and the kids being so nice. Even Max. Right now, she couldn’t ask for a better employer.

  Later that night, she decided to show everyone how much she appreciated them and said she was making homemade sauce and pasta.

  Jennifer’s response of, “Sure, show me up before I leave and make one of Max’s favorite dishes, why don’t you?” was pretty funny to everyone in the room. Even Max laughed.

  Quinn hadn’t known pasta and meatballs was one of Max’s favorite dishes, but now she knew and she’d store that bit of information away.

  “Can I help?” Lara asked when Quinn started to chop up the tomatoes to cook down for the sauce.

  “Sure you can. No knives though. You can get me all the ingredients I need, how is that?”

  “Okay,” Lara said happily as she bounced around the kitchen with more energy than Quinn ever seemed to have.

  Davey had been watching from the other room while Lara helped. Quinn noticed that Davey always seemed to stand back on the sidelines while Quinn was cooking. Like he wanted to help but was too cool to ask.

  “Davey, have you ever had homemade pasta? Not the kind you pour out of a box, but the kind you make and roll out yourself?”

  She watched as his eyes lit up, then glanced over as Max plastered a huge grin on his face and winked at her. She wanted to blush. It was just an innocent wink, right? It had to be; the kids were there. She was just reading too much into it.

  “How do you make it?” Davey asked.

  “Want to learn?” Quinn asked, lifting her eyebrow, then glancing at Max’s face as he watched the two of them talking back and forth. He was still smiling as he watched the kids, confirming she had to be misinterpreting his wink.

  “I want to learn too!” Lara said, jumping in front of her, waving her hand in the air. “Will you teach me too?”

  “I sure will. It’s easy. What do you say, Davey? Want to make homemade pasta tonight for your father?”

  Davey looked at Max’s face, then back to her as the barest of grins twitched around his lips. “What if I give everyone a stomachache?”

  “I won’t let that happen,” Quinn said as Max laughed. She was glad to see it. Glad to see that maybe Davey could warm up to his father a bit more. “Besides, your father’s a doctor. He’ll fix us all, right?”

  “Daddy doesn’t fix bellyaches,” Lara said, running over to Max and jumping in his lap to kiss him quickly.

  “I’d fix your bellyache,” Max said tickling her. “Maybe not Davey’s, but definitely yours.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Davey said, smirking.

  It was progress, even Quinn could see it. Talking to Nick and Mallory last night about her job was the right thing to do.

  This job might not have been the path Quinn ever saw herself on, but she was going to make it work. If not for her, then maybe for the kids and Max.

  She wasn’t the only one with hurt in her heart that needed healing.

  Together

  The following Saturday, Max was driving Jennifer to the airport with the kids in the backseat.

  “This doesn’t seem possible,” Max said, looking over at Jennifer.

  They’d both done their best to keep their emotions at bay around the kids this morning.

  “I know. The time has flown by. Just drop me off, Max, you don’t have to walk me in.”

  “Sure I do,” he said. “The kids will want to give you one last hug, right, kids?”

  “Yes,” Lara said wiggling in the back.

  No tears from her, at least not yet. Davey on the other hand wasn’t looking so convincing.

  He knew he should talk to Davey at some point, but didn’t want to push his luck. The fact that Davey had been warming up to him this last week was an improvement, and he was afraid to tempt fate. Still, this was the second mother figure in Davey’s life that was leaving.

  Max parked the car and went around to the back to get Jennifer’s last piece of luggage. The rest of her belongings had left the house yesterday via a moving company.

  Together, the four of them walked to the airport and inside. They could only go so far though.

  “Come here, Lara,” Jennifer said, pulling her close. “No tears. I’ll call you tonight and we can talk every night if you want. You know I’ll always be there for you.”

  “Will you Skype with me?” Lara asked, sniffling just a little bit.

  “Once I figure it out, I will. I promise,” Jennifer said, crossing her fingers in front of her heart just like Lara.

  Lara stepped back and Davey moved in. Max wasn’t sure if Davey would actually hug Jennifer or not in public, considering that tough preteen outer shell of his lately. But Davey surprised him and gave Jennifer a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  Jennifer leaned down and quietly said, “Cut your father some slack, Davey,” but Max still heard, though he pretended he didn’t. Then a little louder she said, “You can call me just like Lara anytime you want something too.”

  “Okay,” Davey said, shrugging his shoulders and stepping back.