I might have been too ambitious with my plan to leave for Paris immediately. We decide to delay until the next afternoon instead of waking Paige up in the middle of the night. It does make things easier when you give people a few hours’ notice. Plus, there are a few things I need to pick up before we leave.

Emily has packed the same rolling suitcase three times when I stick my head into her bedroom. “Need anything from town? I’m heading in. Shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

“I don’t think so. I’ve got a couple of summer outfits packed. Unless there’s a secret list that I don’t know about.”

“There’s no secret list.”

She glances down at the suitcase. “Just an hour, right?”

“Unless you don’t want me to go at all,” I offer. “The private jet can still take off if I don’t run a couple of errands.” This place is surrounded with security. Liam North sends me regular updates about how absolutely nothing is happening. A couple of paparazzi tried to come through a patch of woodland at the opposite side of the property, but they didn’t get within sight of the house. The rest of them don’t seem inclined to keep trying. Not with armed professionals patrolling the border.

“No,” Emily says. “That’s fine. I just wanted to be sure—” A light laugh. This one sounds very close to genuine. It sounds like she might be excited about the trip. “I wanted to be sure we wouldn’t miss the plane.”

“The plane leaves when we’re ready.”

“I know,” she says. Emily flew to Houston on a private jet to find Jane, and that’s how they came back to Eben Cape. Things were tense between me and Emily after her arrival. Now, an hour away from her feels like too long.

Maybe this isn’t about the schedule at all. But it can’t be about me. Can it?

“An hour,” I promise. “And then we’ll head out.”

“Okay.” She pushes a lock of hair away from her face. “Paige, honey. Come have a bath.”

“It’s too early,” Paige calls back from her bedroom. “I have a bath at night.” Emily’s daughter appears at her bedroom doors, several rocks in one hand and a marker in the other. “It’s not night yet.”

“It’s not going to get dark until late,” Emily agrees. “But we’re having an early bath today.”

I head out to the sounds of Emily negotiating the time of the bath and Paige giving in. Beau’s house is my first stop. Takes almost no time to get there in my car. Beau’s out on the front porch when I pull in, a glass of iced tea in his hand.

“How’s Emily?” he says as I get out of the car.