“Good. We’re heading out for a couple of days.”

He raises one eyebrow. “Heading out?”

“To Paris. We’re taking Paige to Disneyland.”

“You know, they have one of those here, in the U.S.”

“Two, actually, but that didn’t seem far enough from all the nonsense happening in town.”

Beau’s dark eyes grow suspicious. I bet he’s worried for Jane. If I’m skipping town to go to Paris, why should he stick around? “You think something’s going to happen?”

“I think she hasn’t taken a real vacation in years, and Paige could stand to meet Mickey Mouse. We’ll be back before you know we’re gone.”

He rolls his eyes. “You just came here to tell me you’re leaving.”

“Yeah, and to tell you that the security’s staying. Some of them will travel with us, but I want her house to be secured while we’re gone. And yours.”

Beau takes a drink of his iced tea. “Why don’t you just admit it?”

“Admit what?”

“That you’ve got it bad for Emily.”

“Please.”

“A whirlwind trip to Paris? A hundred security guards to keep her safe at night? Are you hoping to put a ring on her finger?”

“Would you care if I did?” I mean for it to sound like a joke, but it doesn’t. It sounds like a serious question.

“Are you out of your mind?”

“For suggesting it?”

“I’m with Jane,” he says, blunt and gruff, the way he has been since I first met him. “She’s the love of my life. Christ. I don’t have any weird attachments about Emily. Just don’t want her to marry some ridiculous prick who’s going to make her life harder.”

“Oh. I won’t ask her, then.”

Beau makes a sound that I recognize as a laugh. “Are you leaving now?”

“In about an hour.”

He waves me off. “Get out of here, then. Everything will be here when you get back.”

I drive into Eben Cape with his words ringing in my ears. It’s my main goal not to make Emily’s life harder. And as much as I love to kiss her, we’re nowhere near anything like an engagement. But if I did get engaged to Emily, I’d want it to be private. None of that dinner proposal bullshit. People always think it’ll be better in front of a crowd, but that’s a fantasy for the movies. Popping a high-stakes question in view of a bunch of strangers is a great way for the whole thing to backfire. No. I’d do it outside in her yard, where we could see the ocean. Some quiet night. Just the two of us. Moonlight, maybe.