Page 110 of Key West Homecoming

“She knows I got it and that it was cashed. She doesn't know what I did with it.”

He rubbed one hand over the back of his neck.

“I've felt guilty about taking that money since the day I deposited it. I didn't know how to send it back to a woman who had buried her only child. I couldn’t press the point and tell her she had to keep money just because I didn't want it either.”

Emma's hand tightened slightly on his knee.

“Maybe you took it because she needed you to.”

Jake looked at her.

“I don't know.”

“She sent it to you for a reason and at that time you were in no condition to argue with her. It makes sense.”

He looked back toward the garden.

“I used to think I'd eventually figure out what to do with it. Three years later, it's still sitting there.”

“You don't have to decide tonight.”

“No.”

They were quiet again.

After a while, Jake said, “I haven't been able to say Nora's name out loud for a long time without it hurting so much.”

Emma looked at him.

“It still hurts. But tonight it was different. I don't know what to do with that.”

“You don't have to know what to do with that either.”

Jake nodded.

Emma understood what he had trusted her with, and she wasn't going to make him explain any more of it.

She didn’t know what else to say so she said, “I’m so sorry, Jake.”

He nodded but didn’t look at her.

She also wasn't going to cry. The tears were there, but she knew if she let them come, Jake would turn his attention to comforting her. He'd spent enough years taking care of what everyone else needed. Tonight she could sit beside him and let him be the one who didn't have to hold somebody else up.

So Emma stayed where she was with her hand resting on his knee.

Minutes passed.

Then Jake looked toward the paper bag on the table.

“There's a flan left.”

Emma smiled.

“I know.”

“I'm not going to eat it tonight.”

“Neither am I.”