When the car slid in next to the curb, I kissed my mother goodbye. Jared led me up the stairs with one hand, his duffle bag and luggage in the other. He put a few things away, and then trotted down the stairs.

From the railing I watched him mill about. I wasn’t sure when reality would finally set in. His perfection was something only seen on the silver screen or a magazine cover, and yet he casually walked around just below me. He was thumbing through his mail until he paused to look up at me.

“Everything all right?” he asked.

“I should be asking you that, shouldn’t I?”

“No, not necessarily, why?” His face was too relaxed, his features intentionally at ease.

“You’re not going to tell me what Samuel said?”

Jared smiled, seeming to ignore my question. “If you’re worried about your things, I had Robert take them to be laundered. We’ll pick them up later and swing by Andrews to get anything else you need.”

“Jared…Samuel—,”

“Lillian wants to meet you,” he interrupted.

“She wants to meet me? But…I’ve met her,” I said, bewildered.

“Nina, you haven’t been around her since you were a girl. And she wants to be properly introduced to my girlfriend, not to mention Bex has been dying to meet you. You’re sort of a celebrity at my house.”

“A what?” I said dubiously.

Jared laughed. “Imagine your father guarding the king, and your big brother, whom you idolize, guards the princess. You’ve never met either of them….wouldn’t you be excited to hear that a princess is coming to dinner? He’s eleven. He’s excited.”

“Yes, Her Royal Highness, the Princess of Crime,” I grumbled.

“Tomorrow night. She’s making pot roast.”

“Ugh! You’re not fighting fair!”

His face contorted from playful to concern. “You don’t want to meet my family?”

“Of course I want to meet your family. It’s just that…being around your mother—who I desperately want to like me—and in the same room is Claire…who wishes me dead. It’s going to be awkward.”

Jared smiled warmly. “It will be fine. Claire will be on her best behavior, I assure you. My mother is less forgiving about Claire’s attitude than I am. And you don’t have to worry about Lillian. She’s always loved you.”

I nodded, wondering what I had ever done to deserve her kind regard.

We set out on perfectly normal errands. He held me against his side while we waited for our developing film, and while walking the aisles of an antique store to find the perfect frame for our new picture. On the surface it appeared that our normal days on the island hadn’t ended, but Jared had purposely made it seem that way. He was hiding something.