Page 98 of The Sound of Harmony

“That doesn’t matter,” Gwendolyn cut her off. “Not one bit. Only Emma gets to decide what she will and won’t put up with from a man. Especially that one.”

“I know you never liked him,” Emma said.

“So?” Gwendolyn asked. “In the end, it doesn’t make any difference what I think. I only care what you think.”

Emma gave her a grateful smile. Gwendolyn sounded a bit like her therapist with her empowering messages. She leaned back on the couch and hugged a throw pillow, grateful that her sister wasn’t saying, I told you so.

“But Emma,” Brooke said. “If you’re only working for yourself, you’re going to have to line up new clients. Like, a lot of them.”

Emma grabbed the throw blanket from the couch and put it over her head. She didn’t want to think about that. She’d let so many things slide. Her website hadn’t been updated in ages, and she hadn’t posted on Instagram in over a month, which was forever in internet years. She’d removed the Clutter Whisperer sign from her truck, so she didn’t even have passive advertising.

Gwendolyn pulled the blanket off her head. “It’s not too late to apply to school for the winter semester. You can move in with me if it gets too hard.”

“Thank you.”

“I saved all those scholarship applications. I could email them to you in a hot second.”

“Could you?” Emma reached for Gwendolyn’s hand.

Brooke immediately took her other one. “And if you want to come back to the library, I can give you some of my shifts.”

Emma squeezed their hands with a grateful sigh. These two loved her to bits and only wanted what was best for her. It was time she listened to them.

The new soaps from Brooke all had “healing” and “energy” in their names. Maybe they helped. Or maybe it was the sugar from Gwendolyn’s cheesecake. Or maybe it was simply the thought that her sister and her best friend believed in her. Whatever it was, Emma felt better after their visit. Time to get herself back to work.

She contacted Maude and Murray, who jumped at the chance, and even insisted on paying the new, higher rates. Emma didn’t want to go anywhere near Cricket Lane, but she needed the job. The next morning, she poured herself a big cup of coffee for the trip into Cannondale, slapped her pink-lettered sign on the side of her truck, and drove to their house.

She got out of her truck and stepped purposefully onto the Zelinskis’ porch. Don’t look, don’t look, she told herself.

She looked.

Kendrick’s house stood dark and silent. Had he moved out already? Something else was missing and it took Emma a moment to figure out what. All the rosebushes were gone. Not just pruned, not just trimmed for the winter, but dug out of the ground. Shallow depressions of disturbed dirt were the only signs they’d ever been there.

It was probably Mitch’s idea. If he was going to show the house, he’d probably want the roses replaced for maximum curb appeal.

Emma shuddered at the thought of Mitch. The heat of his body, the smell of him, his lips mashed on hers. She was glad she’d rescheduled her therapy appointment, moving it up to this afternoon. She hadn’t told Gwendolyn about Mitch, because she didn’t know how. But she needed to tell someone.

“This too shall pass,” she mumbled before Maude answered the door.

“Ah, lovely. Come in, dear. Hold on a second.” Maude had her cell phone up to her ear.

Emma stepped into the entryway and was prepared to wait politely until Maude finished her call, but she held out the phone for Emma to take. “It’s Luke. He has something he’d like to say to you.”

“No,” Emma mouthed, showing both palms. No way.

“You don’t have to talk to him. Just listen.” Maude put the phone on speaker and held it out. “Go ahead, Luke.”

“Uh, hi Emma.” Luke’s voice was distorted, as if he was talking from an echo chamber. “I…uh…I’m sorry I doubted you. That work is hard, and I don’t know how you do it.”

Emma glared at the phone. She didn’t need this. She was here to put the Zelinskis’ house back in order, not talk to their son. “No, you don’t know how I do it,” she said. “You don’t have a clue.”

“You’re right,” Luke said.

Maude smiled a proud mother smile at her.

Emma snatched the phone from her hand. Enough. “Okay, you did what your mommy told you to do. Good talk, Luke. Bye.”

“It was my idea,” he said. “I wanted to tell you.”