“Take her down to the beach,” Emma said on the drive back.

“Away from the rest of us. Don’t try to talk to her about this in or around the house. Too many possibilities of interruption. If you’re interrupted, she’ll have a chance to regroup or evade.”

“That’s a good point. Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me. I may not be doing it for you. I may be doing it only for her.”

“Either way.”

“A long walk, and believe me, if she comes back from it upset, I’m kicking your ass. Or I’ll have Jack do it.”

“I’m not sure he could kick my ass. But you could.”

“Keep that in mind, and don’t screw this up.” She paused a moment. “Do you love her?”

“Of course I do.”

She turned to him. “That’s a stupid answer. A stupid thing to say. I really ought to kick your ass.”

“Why—?”

“No.” She shook her head and stared straight ahead. “No more pointers. You have to deal with this yourself or it’s not real. I’m going to stay out of the way. I’m going to start right in on these plants, so I’ll be out of the way. That’s the best thing I can do for both of you.” She bit her lip. “But don’t say ‘of course,’ you idiot.”

“Okay.”

When he pulled up at the house, Emma was true to her word. She unloaded the tools they’d bought and dug, literally, right in.

But plans to lure Laurel off for that long walk had to be postponed.

“Laurel went off with Parker. Shopping,” Jack told him. “Parker wanted some stuff for the house. She had a list. And there was talk about earrings. Mac’s in the pool, Carter’s down at the beach with one of his books, Mal’s somewhere. I’m about to head down there.”

“Did they say when they’d be back? Laurel and Parker?”

“Dude, they went shopping. It could be an hour or three or four days.”

“Right.”

“Problem?”

“No. No. Just wondering.”

Jack slid on his sunglasses. “Beach?”

“Yeah. I’ll come down in a bit.”

“I guess I have to see if Emma wants some help before I go down—thanks a lot for that.”

“Wait until the rest of it gets here. We didn’t have room for most of it.”

“Great.”

When they didn’t come back in an hour, he fought off the first prickles of irritation. He paced the deck, going over various possible scenarios in his head, as he would before going into court.

He heard Emma’s voice, Jack‘s, Carter’s, Mac’s, Mal’s—come and go. He spotted them on the beach, in the water, on the walkway. When he heard the group of them come in—probably digging up lunch—he went out for a solitary swim and more thinking.