Page 141 of Key West Homecoming

She smiled. “Thank you for lunch.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And for listening.”

Jake touched her hand. “Anytime.”

Emma believed him.

The afternoon passed much like the morning. Emma read Gloria’s notebook while Rachel questioned Arthur across the hall. His answers became shorter as the hours passed. By late afternoon, there were long silences between Rachel’s questions and his responses.

At four, Rachel opened the conference room door.

“We’re done.”

Emma closed the notebook. “How bad was it?”

“For Arthur? Not good. Ted spent most of the afternoon trying to keep him from making things worse. Arthur didn’t always cooperate.”

“What happens now?”

“I’ll finish preparing for Wednesday. The judge will have the filings and the evidence we’re presenting. Today gave me more than I expected.”

Emma studied her face.

“You still feel good about Wednesday.”

“I do. Very good. But I’ll tell you we’ve won when Judge Ellsworth rules, not before.”

Emma appreciated the answer more than a guarantee.

Rachel pointed toward the door. “Go home. Or go see Jake. Or go sit on that stool at Margarita Max’s that apparently belongs to you now. Eat something and sleep. Wednesday is the next thing we deal with.”

“Thank you, Rachel.”

At Winslow’s, Emma changed out of the gray blazer and sat on the bungalow patio.

She thought about Arthur at the water cooler. A few weeks earlier, she had imagined confronting him and telling him exactly what she thought of what he had done. Today she’d had the opportunity to say something, and walking past him had felt better.

Arthur looked smaller than she remembered. Maybe that was because Emma finally understood that she didn’t need anything from him. Not an explanation and certainly not an apology.

She didn’t know whether she pitied Arthur. She wasn’t ready to forgive him either. What surprised her was how little she wanted to hate him.

Gloria had loved him. Emma could leave that love where it belonged without allowing Arthur to take anything else from her.

That was enough for one Monday.

She went inside and lay down. Gloria’s notebook stayed closed on the table, and her phone remained beside it.

Emma slept for eleven hours.

CHAPTER 23

The Monroe County courthouse on Whitehead Street was three blocks from Alden and Petit. Emma walked there with Rachel.

She wore the gray blazer. Her hair was up, and the small pearl earrings her mother had left her were in her ears for the first time since the funeral. That morning at Winslow’s, Emma had stood in front of the mirror longer than usual. She wanted to see some part of her mother and Gloria in the woman looking back at her. She felt she had come close and prayed they’d be with her today.

Rachel had collected her from the lobby at nine-thirty. She wore the navy suit she kept for hearings, and even her hair looked more serious than usual.