Molly studied the heaping plate of food that had been set in front of her, hoping a good, heart breakfast could not only satisfy her hunger, but also improve her outlook on the bleak situation she faced. If not, well, bacon, eggs and hash browns were always good.

“I’m sorry for the meltdown back there,” she said before biting into a slice of bacon. Crispy, just the way she liked it.

“Hey, no problem,” Dak said. “I wouldn’t really call it a meltdown, anyway. More like just a few tears.”

Molly figured he was just trying to make her feel better by downplaying it. Either way, she was still plenty embarrassed. “Yeah, but I’m sure you don’t want a crying woman on your hands. Especially one you just met.” Why was he being so nice to her, anyway?

“Well, that part’s true. I hate seeing women cry. It makes me feel helpless, which I don’t like,” Dak said. “So, let’s try to figure out a solution to your problem, okay?”

“A solution. Right.” Molly hated to be negative, but she was facing an expensive car repair she couldn’t possibly afford, and no other real means of getting to Virginia. It was difficult to be positive about the situation, and harder to imagine a solution. At least not a fast one. “I’m not accepting a loan from you, so don’t even bother offering.” Perhaps it was presumptuous to assume that he might, but even in the very brief time she’d known Dak, he struck her as the type who might do that, so she figured she better cut him off at the pass.

“Yeah, I suspected as much, which is the only reason I haven’t done it already.” His lips curled up in a smile. “I know you’ve got your pride.”

Pride. It was that, and more. Molly didn’t expect him to understand all of it, but he least he got some of it. “I don’t have much left these days, but I do have my pride. I have to find a way to do this on my own.”

“And that means no loans from me, and no calling the in-laws. Got it.” He drank from his coffee mug. “What about your family? Are they in the picture?”

“No. Not in the picture, and not an option.” Her tone was clipped. Hopefully Dak would get the clue that her family was not a topic of conversation she wished to pursue. “Dustin’s parents are my only real family.” That was painful to admit, given the not always rosy relationship she had with them.

“Why are you headed to see them, anyway, if you don’t mind my asking? I mean, from what you said back there on the highway, it doesn’t sound like you’re terribly close to them.”

“No. It’s complicated.” Wasn’t everything, these days? Molly took a bite of her eggs. Should she tell him? Part of her itched to open up to somebody, and she sensed that she could trust Dak. Besides, he’d probably understand her better if he knew what she was running from. “They’re my son’s grandparents, and even though we’ve had our differences, I know they’ll help me.”

“Then you do want their help. Just not financially.”

Molly sighed. “Something like that.”

“Let me guess. That’s complicated, too.”

A short hiccup of laughter escaped Molly’s throat. “Yes, it is.” She took another bite of her breakfast and washed it down with coffee. After not eating much the day before, she found herself starving. The food hit the spot, even if the hash browns were a little undercooked. “I got myself into a little bit of trouble after my husband was killed.”

“Like legal trouble?” Dak asked, and Molly was quick to shake her head.

“No, nothing like that. Just guy trouble.”

“Ah, that.” Dak gave her a smile. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that all guys are trouble?”

His tone was teasing, and Molly laughed. “Obviously not, since I was knocked up at nineteen,” she said. “Dustin was a good man, though. A good husband, a good father, a good soldier. Already, she sensed that Dak was a good man, as well. Why hadn’t she trusted her instincts with J.D.?

“After he died, I was lost, and I met someone who promised to be my savior.” Saying it out loud made it sound even more ridiculous. Yeah, she should have trusted her instincts, all right. “He was handsome and charming, and he always made me laugh. At least in the beginning.” Towards the end, all he’d done was make her cry. “Something was off, though. I thought he was too good to be true.”

“And I’m guessing that turned out to be the case.”

Molly let out a dry, humorless laugh. “Boy, did it. I should’ve followed my gut, but other people on town kept on telling me what a great catch he was, how I was so lucky to have found him. I heard it so much, I started to believe it. Right up until the first time he hit me.”

“First time? And it wasn’t the last? There were others?”

Molly waited for the dreaded question, the one no abused woman ever wanted to hear. ‘Why didn’t you just leave?’ As if it were that easy, or simple. Fortunately, the question didn’t come. “Yeah. There were others, but I stuck it out. I told myself he’d change.” Wasn’t that a familiar refrain? J.D. had promised it enough times that she wanted to believe it.

“Besides, I had nowhere else to go. I didn’t have a job, I didn’t have any money. I still don’t, obviously, but once he hit Timmy, that was it. I was done. It’s one thing to slap me around, but my son?” Molly shook her head from side to side with determination. “No way. As soon as J.D. left for work yesterday, I grabbed Timmy and a few essentials, and we got in the car and drove. Well, until the car died, that is.”

“I... Wow.” Dak exhaled audibly. “You’re a brave woman, Molly whatever-your-last-name is.”

He thought she was brave? That was a new one. “It’s Prentiss, but I sort of gave a fake name on my registration at the campground,” she said. “And I’m not brave at all. I’m foolish for getting involved with a man who would try to hurt my son.”

“Everybody makes mistakes,” Dak said. “The important thing is that you got out, and you got Tim out. That makes you brave, at least in my book.”

“Whatever.” Molly smiled wryly. “I left, sure, but I didn’t get very far.”

“Maybe not, but if your car had to die, it picked a good spot to do it. If you need to hide out for a while, the Happy Endings is a good place,” Dak said. “Heck, we’ve even had a couple of professional hockey players vacation there because it’s so secluded.” He smiled at her. “And hey, you have a nice neighbor.”

And a sexy one, too. “That I do. So why don’t you tell me about yourself, nice neighbor? I’m tired of doing all the talking.”