"France to Siren Cove," Joel says and he wonders if it's polite to ask what she's doing here, but he remembers coming here himself, seventeen years old and mostly terrified that someone would ask and he wouldn't be able to lie. Although more people now know why he'd come here, it's still not something he's particularly comfortable talking about and he knows how much he hates being asked, so he decides not to. If she wants to tell him, then she can, but Joel has never been good at prying into the lives of others.

"I'm from New Brunswick originally," he tells her. "It's a nice place to live. I mean... if that's why you're here. To live. It's possible you're just visiting." Which would likely mean she knows someone in town. "It's a very nice place to visit, too. It's... I..." He sounds like an idiot, he realizes, his cheeks burning again.