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She waits for us to comply, then stops pacing. I see it happening in slow motion—Jess holds up her hand, and her brilliant diamond ring sparkles in the light shining in from the window behind us. “This is my ring. We’re engaged. Dax is my fiancé. This is not a joke.”

Mrs. Roberts gasps, her hand flying up to cover her mouth as she looks from Jess’s ring to me and back again. “Oh my goodness,” she whispers. “You’re really engaged? To him? I don’t know what to say.”

Mr. Roberts stares at Jess, his smile dropping from his face. “Fiancé? Seriously?” he sputters, his voice filled with equal parts shock and disbelief. “Since when?”

“Since about a month ago,” Jess says.

Her words hang in the air, creating a tangible tension between us. I can feel Mr. Roberts’s eyes boring into me, searching for any sign of deception or weakness. Jess’s announcement might have caught him off guard, but his expression remains stern as he continues to assess me.

Finally, they seem to understand this isn’t a joke. It’s interesting how quickly they went from laughing to full-on serious.

“I don’t understand,” says Mrs. Roberts. She glances at Taylor and the camera, and it looks like she wants to say more.

“It all happened pretty fast,” I explain. “Jess and I have been seeing each other and talked about possibly getting engaged one day in the future, but I decided I didn’t want to wait. I surprised her with the proposal, and she accepted.”

I’m uneasy about lying to her parents, and I’m pissed off they allowed Taylor to come inside with her camera. There’s no way to dance around this or give half-truths. It’s all one big lie, and knowing that Jess is going to have to clean up this mess later on bothers me more than I want to think about.

Considering the queasy look on her face, I don’t have to guess how awful Jess feels. This is not the look of a woman madly in love. If she’s hoping to fool someone with this act, she’s doing a very poor job.

I pull myself up from the low couch and walk over to Jess. I put my arm around her and kiss the side of her head.

“Jess has been really nervous about telling you two the news. I know it must be a shock, but I want you to know that I love your daughter. You don’t have to worry about her.”

I feel Jess stiffen beside me at my use of the L-word.

Mrs. Roberts focuses her blue eyes on Jess. “Baby, I hope you know you can tell us if something is going on, if you need help with something. We’re understandably confused right now.”

A small smile flutters across Jess’s lips. “Mom, please don’t worry. This may seem sudden to you, but Dax and I have known each other a while. He makes me happy.”

Jess is nowhere to be found. Hours ago, she told me she was going to take a nap in her bedroom. Though I didn’t believe that for a second, I knew she needed some time alone and encouraged her to go ahead.

Even knowing she can’t be far, I can’t help the sudden uneasy feeling I have. Since our arrival at her parents’ house yesterday, she hasn’t been her usual self. She’s quiet and withdrawn. Her parents see the change, too. They haven’t commented on it, but I see the concerned looks they exchange with each other.

I’ve had very little time alone with her since she slept in her bedroom upstairs last night and I slept on a pull-out couch in the basement. Each floor that separates us is an insurmountable obstacle that has kept us apart. I feel the separation, and I hate it. I don’t like the distance that already seems to be growing between us, and yet I don’t know how to stop it.

Unsure of where else to look, I decide to check the kitchen one last time.

I come to a sudden halt when I see Mrs. Roberts is there. She has a cabinet open and is pulling out some flour.

She glances around when she hears my footsteps. “Oh, hi there, Dax. I’m about to start some dinner. It’ll be ready in about an hour or so. I hope you like chicken parmigiana. I have my own recipe, a little twist on the original.”

“It sounds wonderful. Have you seen Jess? I thought she was taking a nap, but she’s not in her room.”

Mrs. Roberts hesitates for a moment. Then, she nods her head toward the glass door that leads out to the back patio. “She’s out there. She has a special place where she goes to be alone. I don’t usually bother her when she’s there.”

“Thank you. I won’t bother her then.”

Mrs. Roberts takes her apron off a hook and puts it around her neck. “Dax, I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest. There’s no camera here. It’s just us.”

I nod. “Okay. I’ll answer what I can.”

She ties the apron around her back, then leans against her counter. “Jess was engaged to Anthony a couple of months ago, and to my knowledge, they were happy. Now you show up, and suddenly, she’s engaged to you. I don’t like to pry into my daughter’s personal business, but you can see where I would be concerned.”

I hold my breath and let it out slowly. “Sure, I can most definitely understand why you’re concerned.”

Her shrewd eyes peg me in an unblinking stare. “I see the way she looks at you when you aren’t watching. Her feelings are written all over her face. All I need to know is . . . do you really care about my daughter, or is this all some show for the camera? If all you care about is your ten minutes of fame, you need to tell her.”

“Mrs. Roberts, I may not be able to tell you the truth about everything going on right now, but I can tell you this with one hundred percent honesty. I care about Jess more than I ever intended to, more than I ever wanted to. Everything I’m doing, I’m doing for her.”