I brace for distance. For dismissal. For him to fade into the crowd, making his escape.
And suddenly, he drops my hand, turning to walk in the other direction. My heart plummets.
Seriously?Did I completely misread everything?
He should be the one getting an Oscar for his pretend dating me, because clearly, he is adamantly opposed to spending this getaway with me.
But then, as I watch with a slack jaw, I realize he’s not walking far. Instead, I glimpse him stooping down near where he’d been helping Parker and picking something up off the ground.
Something dark and bulky.
I’m dumbfounded when he lifts what I now see plainly is a duffel bag over one shoulder and starts walking toward me.
It takes me a second to understand what’s happening.
He already packed.
“Wait,” I say, stepping forward as he nears me, my heart rabbiting. “We don’t have to go. We can back out if you want. It doesn’t have to be…”
He simply keeps walking, each step decided and convincing in a way that I believe he’s made up his mind. He’s come to a conclusion and isn’t second-guessing it.
The duffel rides his shoulder, bumping lightly against his back with each step. His blue-gray eyes lock on mine.Then he tips his chin in that uniquely Beau way that says more than words ever could.
No performance.
No pretending.
Just…him.
Striding determinedly toward me. I’m the place he’s heading to. Not the prize at the end of a contest.
And suddenly, all the noise around me blurs.
Because I know I don’t want to talk him out of it.
I want to go.
I want to see what happens when it’s just the two of us—no quilt squares, no staged events, no faking it.
Just one pine-framed cabin near the Little Kilchis River.
And whatever comes next.
Chapter 10
One Bed, One Blanket Wall
Beau
The crowd doesn’t quiet down until we’re halfway to my truck.
Amanda and Luis from Team Tune-Up show up out of nowhere to loudly wish us well. Amanda tosses a silk flower in our direction, and Maisie catches it as smoothly as a bridal bouquet.
Luis grumbles about bug spray. “You said you packed it!”
“I packed snacks!”
“Great, now we can feed the mosquitoes.”
