Page 123 of Key West Homecoming

Maeve smiled.

“I know. That’s why I’m letting you get away with asking me.”

The pelican left its piling and flew low over the harbor. Somewhere across the marina, a halyard tapped against a mast in the breeze.

Emma turned her glass between her hands.

“Rachel says most of Gloria’s estate comes to me if the later will is accepted. I’ll honor whatever Gloria actually left me, but I don’t want to spend the next year chasing Arthur for every dollar he may owe. I want the cottage. I want him stopped from selling it. After that, the court can decide what happens to him.”

Maeve nodded. “That sounds less like giving something up and more like deciding what you want your life to be about.”

Emma looked toward the water.

“The strange thing is that even with Arthur and the hearing and everything else, I’ve felt more relaxed here than I have in years.”

Maeve waited.

Emma smiled faintly.

“I suppose that means something.”

“It probably does.”

They stayed on the boat for nearly another hour. The conversation moved away from probate and Chicago. Maeve told her where to buy fish that had been in the water that morning, which charter captains could be trusted with a boat and which were better trusted with a story. Emma asked questions with the concentration of someone who would have taken notes if Maeve had handed her a pad.

When Emma finally stood to leave, Maeve walked her to the side of the boat.

“One more thing.”

Emma waited.

“You said Jake Kelleher’s name once while you were telling me about all those numbers.”

Emma’s expression changed just enough to answer the rest of the question.

Maeve smiled.

“That’s what I thought.”

Emma looked down, then back at her.

“I kissed him yesterday.”

Maeve’s eyebrows went up.

“You left that out.”

“I was discussing probate.”

“You spent an hour on my boat discussing probate while withholding the only piece of information I actually needed.”

Emma laughed.

Maeve was tempted to ask for every detail, but there was something new and slightly uncertain in Emma’s face that made her stop.

“Was it good?”

Emma’s smile came slowly.