Page 33 of Key West Homecoming

Emma closed the folder.

That thought had come too easily.

She took out her phone and photographed both pages of the letter before sending them to Maeve.

Marisol was back behind the desk now, sorting through a stack of reservation cards. She hadn’t asked a single question.

Emma was beginning to appreciate that about her.

“You look worried,” Marisol said without looking up.

“I’m trying not to be.”

“How’s that working?”

“Not very well.”

Marisol smiled and continued sorting.

Emma’s phone buzzed.

It was Maeve.

I’ll read this now, but I need the paper copy when you can. I want that letterhead in my hand.

Emma slipped her phone into her bag.

“You were right,” she said.

Marisol looked up. “About what?”

“I’m definitely having a day.”

“I’m usually right about these things.”

Emma smiled.

She tucked the manila folder into her bag but kept Jake’s envelope in her hand.

She had somewhere else to go before she returned it.

As she walked toward the door, she realized she was already thinking about getting back to Hibiscus Lane.

Not because of the letter, but because Jake would be there.

Margarita Max’s was quiet when Emma arrived.

Tess stood behind the bar refilling salt shakers. Leah was at the register with her glasses low on her nose. The lunch crowd had thinned, leaving only two men at a table near the front windows and Lloyd in his usual place at the far end of the bar.

Emma was beginning to recognize the room at different times of day. In the afternoon, the white lights along the beams hardly showed. The photographs on the walls seemed more faded, and the old paddleboard hanging from the ceiling looked as though it had been gathering dust since before Emma was born.

There was something comforting about the place. Maybe it was because nobody seemed particularly interested in impressing anyone.

“Is Maeve here?” Emma asked.

“Out back on the phone,” Tess said.

Emma handed her the manila folder.