Page 116 of Key West Homecoming

“That happened.”

“It did.”

She could hear the nervousness in her own laugh and knew he probably could too.

For another moment neither of them moved. Emma wanted him to kiss her again. She wanted to put her arms around him and stay exactly where she was until she no longer had to think about leaving. Wanting to stay that much was what finally told her she should go.

“I should probably get back.”

Jake’s smile faded a little. “You should?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Then why should you?”

Emma looked at him.

She had spent years making decisions only after she understood every possible consequence, and right now she understood almost none of them. She had kissed a man whose life had been broken open three years earlier and who had only last night trusted her enough to tell her how. Her own life was changing faster than she could make sense of it, but more than anything, she knew she needed to leave because she wanted to stay too much.

“I need a little time to catch up with myself.”

Understanding came into his face.

“Okay.”

Emma touched his hand where it rested beside him on the swing. “I’m not running away.”

“I know.”

They stood, and Jake walked her to the gate. Emma was aware of him beside her the entire way. At the car, she turned toward him and had to stop herself from stepping closer.

“Good night, Jake.”

“Good night, Emma.”

She got into the car before she could change her mind.

The smile came somewhere around the corner of Hibiscus Lane and stayed with her all the way back to Winslow’s.

Marisol walked along the garden path with a stack of folded towels against one hip when Emma walked through the gate. She took one look at Emma’s face and stopped.

“No.”

Emma laughed. “I haven’t said anything.”

“You don’t have to.” Marisol shifted the towels to her other arm. “Go to bed. Don’t tell me tonight because if you do, I’ll be awake until two.”

Emma kept walking.

She had almost reached the bungalow when Marisol called after her.

“Tomorrow.”

Emma looked back, but Marisol was already walking away.

Emma went inside and set her bag down. She stood in the quiet room with her fingers against her lips.

She could still feel Jake’s kiss and remember exactly how it had felt to stop thinking for those few seconds and simply want something.