Page 81 of Key West Homecoming

Gloria had stood in this yard and looked at the same house while remembering the little boy who carved them there.

Emma thought about the letter and what Gloria had written about making her life smaller so it would fit inside a job. The words hurt because they were true, but for the first time Emma didn’t feel the need to defend herself against them.

She had been surviving. Maybe she was ready to do something more than that.

For some reason, she wanted to tell Jake all of it. She wanted to tell him about Gloria’s warning and the years Emma had spent going to work and going home and telling herself that was enough. She couldn’t explain why she wanted him to understand, except that somewhere in the middle of all the confusion, Jake had become her friend.

There was more to come. Arthur was still her uncle, and the things he had done weren’t going to disappear because Gloria had written Emma a beautiful letter.

But right now, none of that felt as important as the small initials beneath the porch railing.

“You’ll come back?” Jake asked.

Emma looked at him and smiled.

“Of course.”

“Good.”

Emma got into the rental car and set Gloria’s letter on the passenger seat.

As she pulled away, she looked once in the rearview mirror. Jake was still standing at the gate.

Marisol was at the front desk when Emma came through the main house at Winslow’s. She looked up from her book, took in Emma’s face and didn’t ask a single question.

“There’s a plate in your refrigerator.”

Emma stopped.

“You put a plate in my refrigerator?”

“Ramon made too much again. He does it on purpose and would deny it to your face.” Marisol turned a page. “Eat it or don’t. I’m not your mother.”

Emma smiled.

She made it about six steps down the path before turning around.

“Marisol.”

“Mm?”

“Thank you.”

Marisol waved one hand without looking up.

“Go on with you.”

Emma walked back to the bungalow with tears threatening again, although this time she almost laughed at herself.

Apparently, once she started crying, there was no telling when it would stop.

She left the plate in the refrigerator for later and took Gloria’s letter onto the patio. The light was beginning to fade, and the palms moved gently above the garden wall.

Emma called Rachel.

She answered on the second ring.

“Emma.”