“Are you two serious? I mean, like, Aunt Tessa just got married. Are you…”
Kate let out a shuddering breath. “We have some obstacles.”
“Like long distance.”
Kate nodded, preferring that obstacle to the other. “Yeah, it’s…a challenge.”
Emma leaned in and gave a sly grin. “Not if you and me move here.”
“You and I,” Kate corrected automatically.
Emma pointed at her. “Bingo.”
Kate laughed. “Girl, when you get a bee in your bonnet…”
“I have no idea what that means, Mom, but you know what? I’ll talk to him.”
“Aboutyourissues,” Kate said with a warning voice. “Not mine. Or his. Or…ours.”
“You can’t put limitations on my conversation with the guy.”
“I can?—”
“No,” Emma said, shaking her head. “I will talk to him about anything I want. That’s the deal. You have to agree that he and I can discussanything.”
Kate eyed her suspiciously. “Anything?”
“Anything.” Emma reached across the table for a handshake. “Deal?”
What could Eli share that would upset Kate? Nothing. “Deal.” They shook and she leaned in to add, “He doesn’t know what happened yet, so let me brief him, then you talk. Anything else?”
“Uh, yeah.” She pointed at a server’s tray as a giant piece of key lime pie floated by. “That.”
Laughing, they ordered and shared the pie, agreeing that it might be the tipping point that got them to move to Florida.
The next morning,Kate found Eli on the Summer House deck, snuggling Atlas, an empty baby bottle on the coffee table.
He’d offered to work from home today so poor, frazzled Jonah could make up a lab he’d missed when Atlas came down with a cold.
“How’s he feeling?” she asked.
“Sniffles. No fever. Nothing a little sunshine and Grandpa can’t cure.” He grinned at her. “And a visit from his favorite Auntie Kate.”
Smiling, she put a gentle hand on the sleeping baby’s head, then leaned over to give Eli a kiss.
“Grandpa can cure anything, huh?” she asked, settling on the sofa next to him.
“Usually. What ails you, gorgeous?” He leaned into her playfully, holding Atlas steady so he didn’t wake.
She answered with a soft sigh, letting the morning sun slant over her face. Beyond the dunes, the Gulf was flat and silver and peaceful.
“That sounds serious,” Eli replied.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to. What’s up, honey?”
“Well, it’s the Emma thing I mentioned.”
