I figured out that they were Mafiosi pretty fast, but Paul and his cousins were quiet, well-mannered guests—better than those with the corporate team-building getaway I was hosting at the time—so I didn’t care. Deer season ended, and Paul booked a week for duck season. Then he reserved the deer season for next year. Paul’s cousins kept their distance from their ex-cop host, but Paul and I hit it off well—not friends, but friendly.

By his fourth visit, I could see foreclosure on the horizon and was scrambling to push it off a little further, but had finally come to realize I was only postponing the inevitable. My second life was about to crash—not as spectacularly as the first—but all the more devastatingly. I’d kept my problems to myself…until Paul tried booking his next visit, and I had to admit the lodge might not still be around.

The next day, when I was out back chopping wood, he’d appeared, looking dapper and well groomed even in a lumber jacket and jeans.

“Got another axe?” he asked.

I wiped sweat from my cheek and shook my head. “Just the one. Wouldn’t be good for liability.”

“Let me take a turn.” He flashed a grin. “Never know when axe-wielding might come in handy.”

I handed him the axe and showed him how to use it.

“I’ll grab the pieces as they fall,” I said. “Just watch my fingers.”

For a few minutes, he just cut wood, alternating between cursing and laughing. Guys like Paul swing moods like they swing axes, swiftly and decisively, the smiles no less sincere than the scowls.

“You want me to take over?” I asked.

A mock glower. “When I’m just getting the hang of it?” He swung and embedded the axe in the stump I used as a chopping block.

“Hate to see you lose the lodge, Nadia,” he said. “You work your ass off, and you’ve got a great setup here. It’s the damn economy. You just need a little cash, to get you past this.”

I nodded and grabbed the split pieces.

He wiped his brow, then pulled the axe out of the stump. “We might be able to help each other out. I have a problem that needs a solution, and I’m thinking maybe you could help with that.”

I felt his gaze on my back as I added the pieces to the woodpile. He waited until I turned, giving him my full attention.

“A couple of years back, we had this young man start work for us. My sister’s brother-in-law’s stepson. A tenuous connection but…” A shrug. “Still family.”

He put another log on the stump.