Page 138 of Key West Homecoming

Emma stood and smoothed the front of her blazer before stepping into the hall.

Arthur was at the water cooler.

She almost didn’t recognize him. He held a small paper cup in one hand, and water had spilled across one of his shoes. His gray suit pulled at the buttons when he turned toward her.

He looked older than she remembered.

Arthur saw her.

Emma kept walking.

She didn’t slow down or turn away. For two seconds, maybe less, she met his eyes. Then she continued toward the restroom.

His mouth opened, but he didn’t speak.

Once inside, Emma stood at the sink and looked at herself in the mirror.

Her hands were steady but she still felt shaky inside. She hadn’t cried or given him the anger she had carried with her when she first arrived in Key West. Seeing him hadn’t even frightened her.

What she felt was harder to name.

Emma washed her hands and thought about her father. David Kendrick would have been proud of her for walking past Arthur without allowing him to pull her into whatever he might have wanted to say.

Then another thought came.

Arthur had been her father’s brother. He had loved him just as Gloria did.

That didn’t excuse what Arthur had done to her grandmother, and it didn’t change what Emma wanted the court to do about the will or the cottage. Still, she could acknowledge that Arthur had lost someone he loved long before he began making the choices that brought him into Rachel’s office.

Emma dried her hands.

She thought about Gloria leaving the will, the letter and the photograph in the safe deposit box. Her grandmother must have known there was a chance Emma would one day have to face Arthur over all of it. Maybe Gloria had hoped she wouldn’t. Emma wished she could ask her.

By the time she returned to the conference room, Arthur was gone from the hallway.

Emma picked up the notebook and read for the next hour.

At eleven-thirty, Rachel came in again and suggested Emma leave for lunch before Arthur took his break.

Emma agreed.

She didn’t go to Margarita Max’s. Today she didn’t want a room full of people who cared about her. She wanted Jake.

She thought about that as she drove to the cottage. A week ago, needing someone would have made her uncomfortable. Now she turned onto Hibiscus Lane without questioning it.

Jake was on top of the pergola when she came through the gate. He looked over his shoulder and saw her standing there in the gray blazer.

He climbed down.

“You’re early.”

“Rachel told me to get out of the office while Arthur took his lunch break.”

Jake studied her face. “How bad was it?”

“I don’t know yet. Rachel thinks it’s going well.”

“That’s not what I meant.”