Chapter 5: The Cabin on Pine Lake

"He turned two in April," I said.

Gage nodded slowly.

"Whose name is on his birth certificate?"

"Brock's."

"Did he sign it himself?"

"At the hospital," Dot said, before I could. "I was in the room."

Gage looked at the little boy again.

Eli stuck two fingers in his mouth and looked right back.

"Where are you staying?" Gage said.

"With Dot."

"For how long?"

"Until I find a place."

"You don't have a place."

"I have four hundred dollars and a job at the diner if they still like me," I said. "That's more than I had on Saturday."

His mouth moved, almost a smile.

"I've got a cabin on Pine Lake," he said. "It's been empty three years. It's got a roof and a stove and a door that locks."

"No."

"Hallie."

"I don't take things from men I haven't paid," I said. "I just spent three years doing that."

Gage looked at me for a long moment, and I held it.

"Then pay," he said. "The club kitchen needs a second cook. Dot says she can't do the Sunday dinners alone anymore."

"I never said that," Dot said.

"You said it to me on the phone in July."

"I said my knees hurt."

"Same thing," Gage said.

I almost laughed.

"What does it pay?"

"Eleven hours a week, cash, from my account. Not the club's."

"Why from yours?"

"Because the club's account has been in Brock's hands for three years," he said. "I'm going to look at it."

He said it so calmly that Dot shivered.

I said yes.

The cabin was a mile and a half past the last streetlight.

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