“Where’s my sister?” she asked, not missing a beat.

He let out a groan and, unwilling to fall prey to her feminine wiles, volleyed the next change of subject right back at her. “I didn’t meet your Aunt Kassie, did I?”

“I’ll take that as a sign you aren’t ready to play nice.” She blew out a frustrated puff of air. “No, you haven’t met Aunt Kassie. Her work at the diner keeps her busy and out of family trouble.”

“Just like your work keeps you away and out of family trouble?”

She tilted her head to the side. “Don’t bother asking questions when you won’t answer mine. And don’t pretend to know me.”

“I’m not pretending. I know a little, and by the time we’re through with each other, I have a hunch I’ll know a lot more.” But more intimate knowledge wouldn’t come now. She was angry that he wouldn’t answer her questions, so instead he decided to hit on a lighter topic. “Tell me about the monkey.”

A reluctant smile pulled at her lips and she shook her head. “I don’t know. I came home and there he… I mean she was. The dress was something new.”

He chuckled. “Your family’s a riot.”

She turned her gaze his way. “Not many people think so,” she murmured. “But they obviously like to take in strays.”

The word “stray” distracted his thoughts from Ari’s relationship with her family to his own problems and triggered a reminder of Sam. “Oh shit.” He glanced at the street sign and took the nearest right.

“Where are we going?”

“We have to make a stop first. I have to talk to some friends. It’s important or I wouldn’t take the time.” He drove through the side streets, winding his way toward Sam’s foster parents’ house.

“What about my job?” Ari asked, though from the way she’d folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the car seat, she was resigned to whatever errand he had to run.

“It’ll be there when you get back.” He glanced at his watch. “Besides, we were planning on having dinner at your parents’. It’s not like you’re going to be late.”

But he was days overdue checking on Sam and talking to Aaron and Felice. Quinn couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about Sam’s problems, but between Ariana and Damon, Quinn had his hands full.

Especially since two years of cultivating Damon’s trust was about to come to fruition. Damon had just asked Quinn to oversee operations this weekend so he could get away with his most recent bimbo. Quinn would be able to compare the videotapes of the counting room with the books Damon turned over to the IRS. With a little luck, he’d also find the real books that documented the actual take from the casino. He was so close to the end he could actually taste it.

But that didn’t mean Quinn could let Sam’s problems get lost. The system did that too often. She had to know there was one person she could count on.

He pulled the car to a halt in front of a pretty house, yellow clapboard with white trim and black shutters. The kind of house Quinn had dreamed of growing up in with two parents, brothers, sisters, and a pet inside. He slipped the gearshift into park.

“Can we get something to eat in the casino before my shift?” Ari asked.

“Behave now and I’ll consider feeding you. Wait here. This shouldn’t take long.” On impulse, he touched her nose with his fingertip before turning and climbing out of the truck, leaving one problem and heading for another.

• • •

After watching Quinn walk into the house and the door shut behind him, Ariana realized he wouldn’t be right back. She grabbed her bag and moved into the back seat of his truck. Blocked by tinted windows, she quickly changed into her work uniform. The short black skirt and tight white T-shirt with “Damon’s” scrawled across her breasts was a sight she hadn’t wanted her family to see.

She planned on telling them about her new job at the same time she told them she wasn’t leaving again for Vermont soon, as originally planned. Any sooner and they’d be meddling in her life, something neither she nor Zoe could afford.

She tied her last sneaker and glanced out the window. Still no sign of Quinn. “Damn the man.” As long as she was early for work, she’d hoped she could implement her plan to convince Maria she had no interest in Connor. But if Quinn didn’t hurry up, she was out of time and luck.

Another five minutes passed and Ariana ran out of patience. She grabbed her purse, left the truck and walked up the driveway to the house, then followed the bluestone steps that led to the front door.

“Who are you?” a voice coming from the bushes to her right asked. A young, female voice.

“That depends on who’s asking.” Ariana glanced around, but didn’t see anyone.

“I’m back here. Behind the big bush and in front of the prickly ones.”

Ariana followed the direction and caught sight of a baseball cap peeking out from between the surrounding greenery. “Well, show yourself. I’m not coming in to find you.”

“Not a nature girl, huh?” the young voice asked.

“Not when I can avoid it,” Ariana answered.

“Can’t say I blame you.” A teenage girl popped out of the landscaping, a hunter-green cap on her head and blonde hair hanging down her back. “I didn’t think Quinn would go for the preppy type either. You look okay though.” She had huge, sad eyes that seemed to see and know too much, and she stared at Ariana. And she couldn’t be any more than thirteen.

“I’m glad I have your seal of approval.”

The girl crossed her arms over her chest. “I haven’t decided that yet.”

“Well, I’m Ariana and I’m a friend of Quinn’s. Who are you?” Who was this child to Quinn? Ariana wondered.

The girl came up beside Ariana. “Nobody important.”

Ariana’s heart squeezed tight in her chest. “You’re wrong or you wouldn’t know Quinn.” She didn’t know how or why she knew that to be true. She just did.

“He’s okay,” the kid said, grudgingly.

“Okay” seemed to be the operative word of the moment. Before they could continue their conversation, Quinn stormed out of the house, slamming the screen door behind him. He ran down the steps, nearly barreling into Ariana. “Ari,” he said, surprised.

She felt Sam bump her from the other side, then Quinn’s hands came out and grabbed her forearms tightly. “What the hell are you doing here? I told you to wait in the car.” His eyes appeared darker than before, as if a black cloud had settled over him.

“I needed fresh air and I was just talking to-” Ariana glanced around, but the teenager had disappeared. No sign of the baseball hat in the bushes, either. “Someone,” she muttered.

“Well, let’s get the hell out of here.” Obviously upset, he led her to the car and headed out of the neighborhood and back toward Atlantic City and the casino.

“I met a friend of yours,” Ariana said into the oppressive silence. He hadn’t even turned on the car radio. “But she wouldn’t give me her name.”

“It’s Sam.” His fingers clenched the steering wheel tighter.

“Your sister?” she hazarded a guess, though she hadn’t noticed a resemblance between Quinn and the young girl beyond the sandy hair color.

He shook his head. “McDonald’s okay with you?”

“It’s fine. Look, I don’t want to pry into your private life-”

“Then don’t.”

“But she was upset and so are you. And I’m a good listener.”

Quinn pulled into the drive-through of a McDonald’s rest stop off the Garden State Parkway, then leaned one arm over the back of her seat and glanced her way. “If you miss psychology so much, why don’t you go back to teaching and leave me alone?” he asked without much heat in his voice.

“Because it’s so much more fun bothering you.”

“Can I help you?” a voice asked through the microphone.

Quinn placed their orders without asking her preference, drove around to the window, and took the bags, handing them to Ariana to sort through. She didn’t think it was wise to argue with him right now, so she let him pay.

She bit into her hamburger and watched as he did the same. He’d been distracted since leaving the house and she wanted to know why. More, she wanted to help him deal with what was bothering him. Not just because it would be a good distraction from her own problems, but because she liked him better when he was smiling. But she couldn’t figure out a way to get him to open up, so she munched on a french fry in silence.

Since she obviously wasn’t going to get any information out of Quinn by pumping him, she remained quiet the rest of the way to Damon’s, and five minutes later the glittering lights of the casino came into view.

Instead of leaving the truck with the doormen at the front, Quinn pulled around back and into the garage, circling around till he reached his reserved spot in the back. Ariana crumpled her wrapper and put all her garbage into the bag, then reached for the door handle.

“Sam’s in foster care.”

Ariana swallowed hard. “It looks like a nice house. Is she with a good family?” She pivoted back to look at Quinn, holding her breath.

His brows furrowed over and he shook his head. “I thought so.”

“But?”

“The wife’s pregnant and they aren’t sure they want to keep a troubled kid around now.”

Ariana thought back on her initial exchange with the young girl. Who are you? Ariana had asked. Nobody important. Ariana winced. “That’s… that’s…” she sputtered, unable to come up with an appropriate comment to something so unspeakably sad.

“Exactly.” Quinn shut the car down. “I knew this family. I handpicked them. I introduced them to Sam and I fought to get her placed there.” He slammed his fist on the steering wheel in obvious frustration.

She covered his hand with hers, offering comfort the only way she could. “What’s your relationship to Sam? To the family?”

He met her gaze and slowly started to reveal more. “Sam’s a kid I met at the rec center downtown. Felice and Aaron are a couple I met over at Ocean Isle Medical,” he said, naming the town’s main hospital. “They couldn’t have kids and Sam needed a stable family before her petty stealing and antics for attention ended with her in a juvenile detention center. I thought it was a good mix.”