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Giving Mia what looked like a rather sad s to find the person that I used to be Your father is away so etslonely here soret thethis type of relationship with you I bowed to pressure and let the nanny handle h I wanted to do it all for you I’m so sorry I didn’t stand up for us"

Mia looked on in horror as her , "Momplease don’t We can start from today It’s not too late"

Herto burn through the tears that still rolled down her cheeks Mia couldn’t reer toward her, but having the chance for a real relationship with herto refuse "Honeydo you mean it? I know I have a lot to et to know you and have a place in your life?"

Mia could feel tears gathering in her own eyes as she said, "I’d love that, Mom, I really would" Maybe when one door closed, another did open She was gaining a real mother even as her heart still ie! Where are last ures?" Seth bellowed Was everyone at the resort co everyone to do their daie stalked into his office and slammed the door behind her She picked up a folder from the corner of his desk and smacked it down in front of him

"It’s on your desk where it’s been for days, ie, I’rowled

Putting her hands on her hips, she glared back at him "I’m not in anybut an asshole to me and everyone within a ten-mile radius since you lost Mia If you keep this up, everyone here is going to walk out I have already had to talk three people out of quitting just today!"

"Don’t coddle the staff If they can’t handle being called to task for not doing their jobs, then let them quit"

He saw her face flush red before she threw her hands up in the air and sank down into a chair in front of his desk He could feel the now-fa just beneath the surface as he waited for her to say whatever she needed to say and get the hell out of his office He was surprised when she finally raised her head and gave hienuine sadness "What?" he asked, surprised

"I love you, Seth, you’re like a son to me In the years I’ve worked for you, I’ve seen you at your best and your worst In all of that tih I’ve never known you to be the cruel bastard that you have turned into You are beingI know this all comes from Mia so tell me, what happened?" When he opened his ’; I know better"

He stared at her, feeling his heart race in his chest as thoughts of that night crashed back in He had worked nonstop since then to keep his mind off the look on Mia’s face as she walked away froot worse Margie was right: He had turned into a monster, and he couldn’t seem to stop it He looked at the woman as er start to fade away for the first tih his hair, he adie and to himself, "I fucked up royally and I don’t know if it can be fixed"

"Oh, honey," Margie said "You knoeen you andwith and we’ll go fro, he poured out the whole sordid ie flinch a few ti it onto the desk He heard her blow out a breath before saying, "Shit, when you screw up, you don’t do it halfway Geez, didn’t I warn you about Ashley? Where is she hiding out, by the way?"

Seth snorted "Apparently, I even turned her off that night She took off afterward and I haven’t heard fro of an ass for her"

"Probably," Margie agreed "All right, let’s start at the beginning Have you called Mia to apologize?"

When he shook his head no, he felt a paperclip bounce off his cheek "Hey," he protested, "I was in denial People in denial don’t apologize"

"Well, you’ve pulled your head out of your ass now, so that should be our first step Give her a call and tell her youthe phone down, try to explain"

Seth gave her a disgusted look "You’re really filling me with confidence here"

With an exasperated snort, Margie said, "Honey, this would have been easier if you had just called her fat I could have worked with that You had a naked woly led Mia to believe you aiting for her You are going to have to do sorovel" Before he could answer, she added, "And Iback toto call her Do you have her nu his eyes, he said, "Of course, I’m not completely inco to challenge that statement, but wisely, she continued on out the door Before he could talk himself out of it, he pulled Mia’s cell number up in his contacts and clicked to connect the call He was secretly relieved when it went straight to voicee to call hiie stuck her head in the door four hours later, he shook his head in disgust After another five calls, Mia had neither answered nor called him back He had already looked up the nuie said, "She’s not at work, either Iu there and they said she’s on vacation this week Her home number is unlisted and despite a considerable aive me that nuie had taken it upon herself to track Mia down She never could resist a challenge and Mia was giving the onto the hope that she would return his call sometime before the day was over

Mia had just finished e Hank and Nikki to let them know that her cell phone was dead and that she had left her charger at her condominium They were really the only two people ould possibly try to reach her this week She had planned to go ho turn of events with her h to stay for a few more days It wasn’t that their relationship had co She had always thought she was just fine without the usual parental affection, but now that it was being offered, she found herself soaking it up, unable to get enough Her mother was actually funny and just a tiny bit irreverent, which was co when she rounded the corner to find her mother in a heated conversation on her phone "Listen here, you had your chance, and you screwed up big ti more impressive than a phone call if you want to fix this I expected better froain!" With those words, the phone call was ended without a goodbye

"Mom?"