Page 124 of Key West Homecoming

“Yes.”

Maeve nodded. “Then I’m happy for you.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“You don’t have to know yet.”

Emma looked at her, and Maeve could see the answer settle somewhere.

“Thank you for the lemonade.”

“Thank you for finally telling me something interesting.”

Emma laughed again.

“Come by whenever you want. Patrick’s heard about you since the day we met, and he’s already decided he likes you.”

“I’ll have to meet him.”

“You will.”

Emma stepped onto the dock and started toward Whitehead Street.

Maeve watched until she disappeared beyond the harbormaster’s office.

Then she picked up the dock line and went back to coiling it. She had almost finished when she thought about what Emma had asked her and the answer she had given.

Patrick deserved to hear it too.

Maeve set the line down and reached for her phone.

Then she stopped.

Not today, she had told Emma.

Maeve smiled at herself, picked the line back up and decided she would make bread that afternoon after all.

CHAPTER 20

Emma drove from Winslow’s to Hibiscus Lane the long way. She told herself she wanted a few extra minutes before she saw Jake, but by the time she turned onto White Street, she knew that wasn’t quite true. She was trying to decide how much of Rachel’s meeting she wanted to carry through the gate with her.

For nearly two weeks, Arthur and the cottage had occupied more of her thoughts than anything else. This morning had finally given her some sense of where the legal fight was going, but it had also shown her how easily the next year could disappear into lawyers, money and anger. Emma didn’t want that. She wanted Gloria’s will honored, and she wanted the cottage protected. Whatever punishment Arthur deserved could be left to the courts.

The decision had brought more relief than she expected. What made her nervous now had nothing to do with Arthur. There was only one thing on her mind right now. She had kissed Jake yesterday.

Emma turned onto Flagler and passed the schoolyard, where children ran across the playground. She noticed a laundromat, then a small coffee shop she hadn’t seen before and made a mental note to try it sometime. That small thought caught her attention. She was beginning to collect places in Key West as though she expected to be around long enough to return to them.

By the time she reached Hibiscus Lane, she still hadn’t decided what she was going to say to Jake about the kiss. She only knew she wanted to see him.

The gate was unlocked. Emma let herself in and found Jake working beneath the pergola. Most of the top slats were in place now, and he was standing on the low stool with a level in one hand.

He heard the gate and looked over his shoulder.

“Hey.”

Emma stopped a few feet away. Seeing him brought back the feel of his hand against her cheek so clearly that she was grateful he couldn’t know what she was thinking.

“Come down before you fall.”