“Will’s dogs were just out.”

“They need to go out again.”

“Subtle,” Ella said under her breath.

“If I don’t come back, you’ll look for me, won’t you?” Grayson asked her.

Ella giggled. “I will. I promise.”

Grayson got up, grabbed his coat off a pile on a chair near the door and followed Colton out the door, the dogs bolting out ahead of them. “Whatever you want to say to me, say it fast. It’s colder than Jack Frost’s balls out here.”

“What’s up with you and Emma?”

“I’m sure you already know.”

“I want to hear it from you.”

“I like her. We’ve had fun together this week.”

“That’s all? Fun?”

“What’re you getting at, Colton?”

“She means everything to Lucy. It would hurt her if Emma got hurt, and if Lucy’s hurt, I hurt. You follow?”

“Um, I think so…”

“Don’t hurt her, Gray. She’s special, and so is Simone.”

“You think I don’t already know that? I get it.”

“What happens after they go home?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Figure it out.”

“No pressure,” he muttered.

“Lucy is worried. If she worries, I worry. You got me?”

“I hear you. I don’t want Lucy to worry or Emma to be hurt any more than you do. Give me a little credit, will you? And give me some time. We have things to work out, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”

“Fair enough.”

“Can we go in now?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Gray.”

He turned back to his cousin. “Yeah?”

“If you think it’s not going to happen, let her down easy, will you?”

“Of course I will. And for what it’s worth, I’m not trying to figure a way out. I’m trying to figure out how I can have more. Much more.”

Before Colton could reply, Grayson went back inside where Emma was staring at the door, seemingly waiting for him to come back.

“What’s Colton saying to him?” Emma asked her sister.

“I have no idea.”

“No idea at all?”

“Maybe the slightest idea. I’m worried about you. He’s picked up on that.”

“There’s nothing to worry about.”

“No?”

“No. We had a really nice week, but it is what it is.” The hopelessness of it all weighed on her.

“That’s it? You’re just giving up before you even try?”