“What?” Liz asked.

“Huh? Oh.” Quinn tossed the plate on the ground. “Nothing. Just… nothing.”

She stared at it for a moment. “Mom’s going to need help,” she finally blurted out.

“Is that what you wanted to talk about?”

“I have to go back to Paris tomorrow. I’m already missing too many classes as it is.”

“I can stay for a couple more days,” he told her. “But after that, I have to return to work.”

As far as Liz and his mother knew, Quinn was an international banker. It was a cover he often used on the job, too. It helped explain his extensive travel.

“So I’m supposed to just stay? I’d have to take the term off.”

“Relax,” Quinn said. “Of course you should go back. Uncle Mark and Aunt Carole are going to check on Mom every day. And I’ve spoken to Reverend Hollis. He’s going to have some of the ladies from the congregation help her out until she’s feeling better.”

“That’s your solution? Get others to do it for us? Great.”

“Liz, come on. It’s going to be fine. I’ll be here for-”

Quinn’s phone buzzed. Instinctively he pulled it out and looked at the screen.

David Wills again.

Liz rolled her eyes. “Work, right?”

Quinn sent the call to voicemail and shoved the phone back in his pocket.

“You’re going to have to leave sooner than you thought, aren’t you?”

“I said I’d stay for a couple more days, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

She took a step away, looking deep into the forest. “You know, I used to think… I used to think that maybe…” She paused for several seconds. “You know, never mind, Jake. Just… never mind.”

She turned and started walking back down the path.

“Liz,” he called out.

She didn’t stop.

“Liz!”

But she had already disappeared among the trees.