Connor had a bad habit of answering the door and letting in whoever was on the porch, so it wasn’t shocking he’d beaten Mom to the punch this time either.

YES, I signed back. HEARING BOY, I KNOW, BUT . . .

My sentence fell short when Beau noticed me and got to his feet, returning Spider-Man to Connor.

HELLO, he signed, coming over to me and Mom. READY?

YES, I signed quickly, ready to grab Beau by the arm and drag him out the door before Mom got going on whatever parental embarrassment she was getting ready to inflict.

WHERE YOU GO? Mom signed before I could make my escape.

SURPRISE, was Beau’s answer, making my stomach do that freefalling thing again.

READY? I signed, pointing toward the front door.

Beau nodded, sending a grin my way, and of course my mother didn’t miss that.

CAREFUL, she signed, following us to the front door. NEED YOU HOME IF SNOW BAD.

PROMISE, I signed.

Beau had left the car running, the heat going full blast, so it was like slipping under a blanket fresh out of the dryer when I buckled myself in his car.

We were a couple blocks away when I finally asked, “So can you tell me where we’re going now?”

I was sure whatever Beau had in store for our date had to be something indoors with all this snow, but I still wanted to know what it was.

“I said . . . surprise,” Beau said with a pretend stern look on his face.

“And?” I said. “I’m not one for surprises.”

WAIT, Beau signed to me at a stoplight. OUR DATE FUN, PROMISE.

There wasn’t much conversation to be had on the way to wherever Beau was taking me. He couldn’t face me while driving so I could lipread, and he couldn’t exactly sign with me with his hands occupied on the steering wheel. The longer we were in the car, though, the easier it became to relax. Beau had this calming presence whenever I was around him that was hard to ignore.

We left Denver behind after about twenty minutes, getting on the I-70 heading west. I still wasn’t too familiar with Colorado, but I noticed we were going into a more mountainous area. Everything was covered in snow, the sky a smooth white, and I had the thought that we might currently be on our way to Narnia.

I sat up in my seat when Beau took an exit with signs pointing toward a place called Georgetown.

“What’s Georgetown?” I asked with interest.

It was impossible to tell what Beau was thinking as he carefully navigated the ice-covered streets, not answering my question. It took another ten minutes before we passed under a large sign that said, “Welcome to Georgetown!”