Page 46 of Key West Homecoming

Jake looked around the porch again.

Emma wondered what he saw when he looked at the cottage. For her, every corner seemed to hold something from the past. For Jake, it was simply home. Maybe that was why the thought of him losing it had bothered her almost from the beginning.

“There’s coffee inside,” he said.

Emma glanced at his mug.

“It’s been sitting since seven, and it’s not very good.”

“I’ll take some anyway.”

Jake stood and went inside. The screen door slapped twice behind him.

Emma smiled at the familiar sound and settled back in the wicker chair.

The lilies moved slightly in the breeze along the fence. Somewhere beyond the cottage, a truck passed on the street and then everything was quiet again.

She had come to Key West thinking Arthur had taken something from her. Now she understood that Jake had lost something too, even if he was only beginning to realize it.

CHAPTER 9

Rachel Alden’s engagement letter had arrived by email at eight the night before.

Emma spent the first hour the next morning going over her documents.

At quarter to nine, she tucked her legal pad and all documents into her bag and drove into Old Town.

Alden & Petit occupied a converted Victorian on Whitehead Street painted the color of soft yellow butter. A pineapple flag hung from the porch, and a small brass plaque beside the front door was the only thing that identified it as a law office. A bicycle was chained to the railing, and Emma wondered which attorney had ridden it to work.

Emma parked down the block and walked back.

The young woman at the front desk introduced herself as Yolanda. She had a serious face and a warm handshake.

“Rachel will be out in a minute.”

Emma sat in one of the chairs near the window and looked around. The reception area took up most of the front room of what had once been someone’s house. Old hardwood floors creaked beneath Yolanda’s chair, and a ceiling fan turned slowly overhead. Shelves of legal books covered one wall, while framed maps of old Key West hung on another.

The creaking floor reminded Emma of the cottage.

It seemed strange that so many things did now.

Rachel appeared a minute later wearing a blazer over a linen shell.

“Come on back.”

Rachel’s office was at the rear of the house, with one tall window overlooking a narrow side garden. A fig tree grew close to the glass, its branches nearly touching the building. Rachel’s desk was clear except for a legal pad, a pen and two folders.

She sat and motioned for Emma to take the chair across from her.

“Here is the retainer and engagement letter along with Jake’s letter.”

“Great, before we do anything else, I’ve got a copy of the will.”

Emma looked at the folder beneath Rachel’s hand.

For the last several days, everyone had been talking about the document as though Emma knew exactly what it contained. Samantha had found it. Maeve had explained what it might mean, and Rachel was already preparing to challenge what had happened in probate.

Emma had never actually seen it.