“Pack your bags,” Dallas said breathlessly. He looked only slightly better than the last time he stood in this very spot in her living room days earlier.

“What? Did something happen?” Harlan wrapped her arms around herself and nervously eyed Dallas.

“Have the girls pack too,” Dallas instructed. “Warm weather clothes. Bathing suits. I’ve already talked to your brother Mathew. He’s going to take care of your mother while we’re gone.”

“Is there some kind of new threat or something?” She followed Dallas into her bedroom as he hurried around.

“Yes,” he explained. “There’s a new threat. The threat that I might have blown things with you. The threat that the best woman who has ever walked into my life might walk back out. That’s a risk I’m not willing to gamble on. Come away with me. I bought the tickets. I made all the accommodations. All you have to do is say yes.”

“Dallas,” she gasped, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Well, that’s not entirely true. You’re a mom, so you also have to pack half the medicine cabinet, plan for even unlikely inclement weather, call the girls’ preschool and let them know they won’t be in. You’ll have to pack life jackets. Snacks for the plane. They’ll need their devices charged so they can watch movies during the flight. So when I say all you have to do is say yes, I mean, first you have to say yes.”

“Yes,” she cried. “But what’s changed? How can we make this work?”

“Tim is going to be exonerated. It’s a long story that apparently ends with me being a scorned lover, betrayed by my best friend and girlfriend. We’ll have a week on the beach for me to explain. Our flight leaves in three hours. Can you pull it off?”

“You were on the right track with that list,” Harlan said, her head spinning as she tried to think of all she’d need to do. “I can do it.”

“We can,” Dallas assured her. “Divide and conquer. I promise you won’t have to spend another minute in this alone. I’ve been in a fog for a long time. I’m awake now. I’m awake, and all I want is everything you have to give.”

“A week at some beach won’t make my life any less of a mess. At some point the plane will touch back down here, and I’ll still have an alcoholic ex-husband. I’ll still have a gambling father. I’ll still have a sick mother. You aren’t getting smooth sailing.”

“I’d rather take rough seas and be on your boat than live one more day without you. I can be someone you can count on. I can be something you can be sure of.”

“Dallas,” she gulped, bringing her hands up to his cheeks, holding his face so she could look him dead in the eyes. “Do you know what you’re getting yourself into? Do you have any idea what you’re signing up for?”

“My eyes are wide open,” he promised. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”

“What about Larry? What about proving he killed Angus. I can’t be involved in any of that. I made a deal with Marc Azeela, and I can’t go back on that.”

“You did what?” Dallas asked, pulling her hands gently down from his face and leaning back so he could see her better. “You made a deal with him? How did you do that?”

“I caused a diversion here at the house, ditched my security detail, and tracked Marc down at the ice rink his son was playing hockey at. Then I made him give me his word that my daughters would never again be pawns in his game.” She attempted to explain it the way one might give someone directions to the closest mall, but Dallas was not fooled.

“He could have killed you,” Dallas said. “That was a crazy thing to do.”

“I know,” she agreed. “But it was worth it because he made me that promise, and I believe him. My girls will be safe.”

“You are . . .” Dallas was shaking his head disapprovingly, still looking as though this might be some kind of joke. “You are an amazing woman,” he finished.

“I’m not,” she challenged. “I’m a mom. An ordinary mom who took her life back. But I can’t get involved in trying to get Larry behind bars. Marc told me he knows for sure Larry killed Angus. He confirmed it.”

“He did?” Dallas asked, his brows knitting together. “And he hasn’t killed him?”

“I got the impression it was like a cat playing with a mouse right before he eats him. Larry getting arrested and going to trial isn’t part of the equation as far as Marc is concerned. He’s got his own justice lined up.”

“I wanted Tim free,” Dallas said, nodding like he was trying to convince himself. “He will be. The police will reopen the case and have no choice but to look at Larry as a prime suspect. I have to stop searching somewhere. My own life is waiting for me.”

“Mine is too.” Harlan smiled, falling into his open arms and pressing her head to his chest. “Your heart is racing,” she whispered.

“It’s in a hurry to tell you something,” he explained. “I love you. I love all the things you are. Bossy. Scared. Frustrated. Smart. Brave. Opinionated. Loyal. I love it all.”

“I love you too,” she said, leaning back to look up at him. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to do from minute to minute but I know that. And it’s enough. Loving you is enough to hold on to while we figure everything else out.”

“Dallas!” the girls shouted as they rounded the corner into Harlan’s bedroom. “You’re back!” The girls’ arms were around the two adults, joining the hug as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Who wants to go to the beach?” Dallas asked, leaning in to kiss Harlan. The girls squealed with excitement, hopping up and down.

“All together?” Anna asked, looking up suspiciously at them. “All four of us go to the beach?”

“Yes,” Harlan smiled, tears wetting her cheeks.

“Don’t cry, Mom,” Logan said, with a pout. “You love the beach.”

“I do,” Harlan agreed. “I’m just so happy.”

“It’s back, Mom,” Anna said, pointing at her mother’s face. “You’re big whole face smile is back.”

“Get used to seeing it,” Dallas promised. “Because we’re all going to have big giant whole face smiles.”

“Dallas,” Logan said, calling him down to her level. “You don’t get to leave again. It makes mommy hurt.”

“Never again kid,” he vowed. “I’m going to be around so much you’ll be sick of me.”

Her tiny arms wrapped around his neck and squeezed. “I won’t get sick of you, but,” she leaned away and touched his cheek, “your face is too scratchy.”

“I’ll shave,” he agreed. “Because I want all these hugs I can get.”