Page 169 of Key West Homecoming

Maeve waited.

Emma smiled a little. “I told Priya yesterday.”

“And Jake?”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

Emma thought about Leah’s advice the night before.

Tell him what’s true now.

“I’m going to. I think I needed to say it to myself first.”

Maeve nodded.

“I’m not going back to the life I had,” Emma continued. “There are things I have to deal with in Chicago. My apartment. My job. A lot of practical things. But I don’t want that life anymore.”

“How does it feel saying that?”

Emma considered the question.

“Like I should be more scared than I am.”

Maeve smiled. “That sounds familiar.”

Emma looked at Jake again.

“I don’t want him to think I’m staying because of him.”

“Are you?”

“No.” The answer came easily. “He’s part of why I want to be here, but he isn’t the reason I came. Gloria is. The cottage is. And somewhere along the way, this place started feeling like mine too.”

“That sounds like a pretty good reason to stay.”

“It does.”

Emma watched Jake laugh at something Patrick said.

“The part I haven’t figured out is him.”

Maeve followed her gaze.

“You don’t have to figure him out by yourself.”

“I know.”

“You could talk to him.”

Emma laughed softly. “You and Leah have been comparing notes.”

“I like Leah.”

“Of course you do.”

Maeve smiled.