Page 36 of The White Oak Lodge

Nina’s eyes softened.

“He isn’t safe,” Amos finished.

“I need to talk to him alone,” Nina said finally.

“Monty and I will wait out here,” Amos assured her, looking down at his trusty dog. At the mention of his name, Monty wagged his tail madly and looked excitedly at Amos.

Nina stroked Monty’s head and scratched behind his ears. She took a deep breath and turned the doorknob, glancing back exactly once before she squared her shoulders and disappeared inside.

Amos perked up his ears, waiting for some sign that things were going sour. He’d be ready.

Chapter Eighteen

Nina

June 2025

Nina returned to the living room of the cabin on stilts to find her husband and children cuddled up on the sofa and the windows open to bring in a fresh and salty sea breeze. Had it been any other year or occasion, she would have snuggled in with them, drawn her arms around their shoulders, or asked them if they were hungry for snacks. Will waved and said, “Mommy, where were you?” Nina held fast to the envelope that held her father’s letter to Francesca. She held fast to her recent realization that her marriage had been more or less a sham. A sham from before the “I do.” But how could she have known?

“Hi, buddies,” she said, looking first at Fiona and then at Will. Her voice was breathy. “I need to talk to your dad for a second. Do you mind going back to the bedroom?”

Fiona and Will eyed one another nervously.

“Dad said you aren’t getting divorced anymore,” Will said pointedly, as though daring Nina to say differently. In his mind, what his father said was the official rule.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Nina said, careful not to glare at Daniel. She didn’t want to expend any extra emotion on him. She knew that part of his tactic was wearing her out.

Fiona and Will scurried back into the bedroom. Nina closed the door behind them, crossed her arms, and looked at Daniel, who continued to sprawl casually along the sofa, his eyes glazed as he watched the kids’ cartoons. “I’m zonked from the flight, babe,” he said.

Nina walked across the room, picked up the remote, and turned the television off. With a smile on her face, she spoke in a whisper. “I just got off the phone with my lawyer. She told me to call the cops.”

Daniel looked frozen.

“Do the words restraining order mean anything to you?” Nina asked.

Daniel scoffed. “You wouldn’t. I don’t even know if they’d go for it. We’re married.”

“Just because we’re married doesn’t mean I can’t take out a restraining order,” Nina shot. “And remember. We won’t be married for long.”

“I won’t sign the papers,” Daniel said.

Nina inhaled sharply, remembering those long and arduous and freezing-cold months during which she’d tried (and mostly failed) to pretend that her husband wasn’t having an affair with a younger woman. Caitlin had told her, and there’d been subtle hints from others, side glances, mentions of the future that had made Nina feel as though she wouldn’t be a part of it. And then there was the fact that Daniel had been given tenure before her. Rage swirled in her stomach. But she needed to use it.

“You were having an affair. You were very public about said affair,” Nina reminded him.

Daniel blinked at her.

“Every judge in the world would grant me a divorce,” Nina told him.

“I’ll tell the judge your witnesses are lying.”

Nina raised her phone. She couldn’t believe her marriage had come to this. “I’m going to call the cops in thirty seconds if you don’t go,” she said. “And after that, it will be you who explain to our children why I had to call them.”

Daniel balked. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would.”

“Do it. I’ll tell them you’re insane,” Daniel offered.

---