The smell of Italian food—was that lasagna?—along with the sound of voices drifted from the kitchen. And when they reached the doorway, Emily dropped his hand.
Jake peeked in to see Mom, Claire, and Claire’s mother, Sherry, drinking tea.
Male voices echoed from the den, where he assumed Dad and Ron, Claire’s father, were visiting.
“Jake!” Sherry popped up from her chair, rushed over, and hugged him. “It’s so good to see you.” Then she turned to Emily. “Hi, Emily. I think it’s been forever since I’ve seen you. How’ve you been, sweetie?”
Emily’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Fine.”
“Come join us,” Mom called from the table.
Jake rested his hands on Emily’s shoulders. “Thanks, but wehave some work to do. The orchard opens Wednesday, and we’re running out of time.”
“Just give us a few minutes,” Sherry insisted. “It’s been so long.”
Claire flashed him a smug look over her mug.
Had she deliberately dragged her parents here to force him to spend time with her? She needed to leave, and he wanted to instruct her to do it now. But he couldn’t risk upsetting and embarrassing his mom. So he pressed his lips together and tried to stop his angry words from escaping.
“I’m sorry, but we’re really on a deadline here.” He pointed to the hallway. “We need to grab Em’s art supplies and get back over to my place. It’s great to see you, Sherry.”
“We were waiting for Jake and Emily to get here, and they’re here now.” Claire pointed to the oven. “The bread and lasagna are just about done. Why don’t we have supper now, Diane?” Her face clouded with a smarmy expression.
Mom stood. “That’s a fabulous idea! The rain is over, and we can eat out on the deck.”
“Wonderful.” Sherry started for the doorway. “I’ll tell Ron and Leon.” Then she patted Jake’s shoulder. “Have supper with us before you go back to work. Everybody’s gotta eat, right?”
“Sure.” Jake tried to keep his voice upbeat, but he knew he and Emily were stuck having supper with Claire and her parents.
Chapter 17
“I think the market’s grand opening is going to be a huge success,” Sherry announced while they sat out on the deck. “Don’t you agree, Ron?” She lifted her glass of sweet tea as if toasting the orchard.
Jake sat beside Emily, across from Claire and her parents, while they ate the lasagna and garlic bread. If he were honest, he had to admit that the food was delicious, but he was ready to get back to his to-do list. Aside from that, he also was tired of answering Sherry’s zillions of questions about the orchard while Claire eyed him from across the table.
But he was most worried about Emily. He could feel tension radiating off her while she remained mute and barely touched the food on her plate. He’d tried to catch her eye, to touch her thigh under the table to try to convey that everything was going to be okay, but she seemed to be completely inside her protective shell.
“Have you seen what the new owners have done with your family’s house, Emily?”
Jake’s eyes snapped to Sherry’s across the table just as Emily froze.
Oh no.Sherry couldn’t have chosen a worse conversation starter.
Jake reflexively covered Emily’s hand with his, and Claire appeared to seethe at them across the table.
“No,” Emily said, barely above a whisper.
“Oh, it’s lovely,” Sherry began before turning to her husband. “Don’t you agree, hon?”
Claire’s dad nodded before taking another bite of garlic bread.
“They’ve made such good use of all of that space your family had. They expanded the deck and put in a large in-ground pool. And they also added a dock for their huge boat. You should go see it. You’d just love it. I’m sure your folks would have too. We know the new owners—I’ll bet they’d give us a tour so you could see everything up close. We can walk over there if you’d like.”
He waited for Emily to respond, but she only stared at Sherry. That was his cue to speak up for her. “I don’t think so,” Jake said.
“They’re such a nice family,” Sherry continued. “Have you met them?”
Emily shook her head.
