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Steph closed her eyes and lay back against the soft pillows, blowing out a breath. Max didn’t know that Steph had found his resignation letter to the fire department. She knew that Max wasn’t forced to leave because of his injuries. He’d resigned, stating that he no longer felt he had it in him to do the work. When Max had started at the Marine Center, he had thrown himself into the job, and then Kendal was employed. Max’s days at the center seem to get even longer after that, not to mention the weekend conferences that he started going to with Kendal and Clyde.
The one weekend Max had told her Clyde was with him and Kendal, Steph had found out Clyde hadn’t gone. According to him, the conference had been canceled. That was the day Steph’s eyes had been opened to a possibility that she’d never thought possible—Max was having an affair. When Max returned from his weekend at the supposed function, Steph had asked him about it, and he’d waffled on about a new turtle habitat that some company was sponsoring.
Steph had felt her heart start to crack, and it had slowly been splintering into painful shards ever since. She glanced at the message from Max once again and was about to write back when there was a soft knock on the bedroom door.
“Steph,” Hannah called through the door. “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” Steph replied, putting her phone on the nightstand as her sister entered the room, closing the door with a soft click behind her.
“I’m sorry,” Hannah said, her brow crinkling. “You’re right. I should’ve handled the news about Mom and James better.”
“It’s okay.” Steph sighed and patted the bed beside her for Hannah to join her. “It was a shock for me at first too. I went home after seeing her having a romantic dinner with James and waited up for her in the living room of Scott’s house.”
“You didn’t!” Hannah’s eyes widened as she climbed onto the bed beside Steph.
“I did!” Steph laughed at her actions, realizing how silly they’d been. “I heard James and Mom at the front door and peeked through the front window.” She shuddered. “To my horror, they were—” Her eyes widened, and she looked apologetically at Hannah.
“They were kissing!” Hannah guessed and sighed, grabbing a pillow to hug.
“Yup!” Steph nodded. “I suddenly felt like a snoop and wondered if this was what I would be like when the twins started dating.”
“Yes, but wouldn’t their girlfriends’ parents be the ones spying?” Hannah pointed out.
“Who says a girl can’t walk a guy home?” Steph pointed out. “This is a new world after all.”
“True!” Hannah nodded. “But you and Max brought your boys up to be gentlemen.”
“That’s also true,” Steph acknowledged. “After spying on Mom and James, I’m worried I may follow my boys or something when they start dating.”
“Nah!” Hannah shook her head, disagreeing with Steph. “You’re not like that, and you weren’t spying on Mom. You were checking to see if it was her at the door.”
“I like that scenario better.” Steph smiled.
“What happened when Mom came inside?” Hannah looked at Steph questioningly.
“She was surprised to see me,” Steph told her. “I lied and told her I needed to borrow some milk as I wanted to make cocoa, and I heard someone at the front door.”
“Wow!” Hannah looked at Steph, impressed. “Miss Morals lying!”
“I felt awful,” Steph admitted. “But Mom was cool about it and was acting like a giddy teenager. She was so happy to be able to finally tell one of her daughters.” She shook her head. “That’s when all my shock and anger at Mom betraying Dad faded.” She smiled at Hannah. “I realized that Mom is only in her late sixties, and she is so young and active for her age that, of course, she’d want to date again.”
“You are so right,” Hannah sighed and squeezed the pillow. “Mom deserves to be happy again. Gran won’t be around forever, and we’ve all moved out and have our own lives.”
“James is a terrific man,” Steph told her. “He’s kind, caring, considerate, and an absolute gentleman.” She grinned. “I did some digging on him and his previous marriage.”
“You didn’t!” Hannah gaped at Steph in amazement. “Who are you, and what have you done with my little Miss Perfect sister?”
“I’m far from perfect, little sister,” Steph assured her. “I was obsessed with ensuring that if Mom was dating, she was dating a man that would stand up to Dad.”
“You investigated James?” Hannah nodded in understanding. “What did you find?”
“Exactly what I told you about him.” Steph bit her lip. “James Barnes is a hard-working man who is well-liked, like Dad was.”
“That’s good to know,” Hannah replied.
Something about her demeanor set off warning bells in Steph’s mind.
“You’re going to investigate James as well, aren’t you?” Steph guessed.
