Dumbstruck, Jesse only shook his head. Emma sat beside him.
“I’m only here because my friend Lizzie left,” she explained, smoothing out her skirts. “I’d rather not return to the party by myself. It’s boring. But you can go if you want. Everyone will probably be eating soon. In case you’re hungry.”
Jesse managed to croak out a soft, “No.”
Anything he’d have eaten just then would have come right back up. Besides, Arthur had told him to wait in the library, and so, that was what Jesse intended to do. Even though Emma was here. Even though Emma was here and she knew that her father was with a man in a romantic sense. Even though Emma was here and sheknew that her father was with a man in a romantic sense and thatthatman was Jesse.
Emma sat back and crossed her ankles.
“Don’t you work for a newspaper?” she asked.
Jesse blinked a few times, his mind hurrying to catch up with the present moment. So, Emma really wasn’t going to ridicule him, then?
Jesse shifted his weight on the cushion.
“Uhm, not exactly. I work for Putnam Press. Despite the name, it’s only a print shop. We print newspapers and flyers and things, but we aren’t the ones who write them.”
Emma frowned. Apparently, that wasn’t the answer she had been hoping for.
“Do you... like to read the newspaper?” Jesse tried.
She shrugged. “Sometimes. I’d like to write for one even more, though.”
Jesse let out an incredulous little scoff-laugh and raised an eyebrow. He couldn’t have heard her right.
Then Emma said, very haughtily, “I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that, because of who I am, I couldn’t possibly ever work for a newspaper. But I will. In fact, I write for my own newspaper right now. It’s not a real one. Obviously. But I know how to write. I write it for my friend.”
“Oh.” Jesse nodded a couple of times, trying to absorb this interesting and unexpected piece of information. “What do you write about?”
“Whatever news I can find out on my own. Which isn’t much. Sometimes I write less serious stuff, too. Social news. Gossip.” Her sly smile returned. “In fact, if you and my father aren’t careful, I might feature the two of you someday.”
Jesse sucked in a fast breath. Emma cackled a little.
“I’m not being serious,” she said. “I know I’ll need my father’s help if I ever want to work for a real newspaper in the future.”
Emma laughed some more, and Jesse ran a hand over his face. Emma may have had Arthur’s passion, as well as his smile, but her sense of humor was not nearly as sweet.
“So, your father supports this endeavor, then?” he asked.
“Not yet. I’ll change his mind, though. I hope.”
Jesse smiled a bit. “I hope so, too,” he said.
Just then, someone flung open the door to the library. Jesse turned to see Arthur standing in the threshold, his beautiful blue eyes sorrowful.
“They chose someone else.”
Jesse’s heart sank.
“Oh no,” he said, his forehead wrinkling with sympathy as he stood. “I’m so sorry, Arthur. I know how excited you were to exhibit.”
Emma stood up as well. She placed her hands over her heart. “Oh, Father, I’m sorry, too.”
Arthur hooked his hands behind his back and shrugged, lowering his eyes to the floor.
“I’m fine,” he said softly. “I thought it would have been exciting, is all. But the organizers know what’s best for the fair. Obviously they want it to succeed. I know this must not have been personal. And I’m sure the printing press exhibits theywillhave will be nothing short of wonderful.”
Emma took a few steps toward him before suddenly stopping. It looked like she was unsure whether or not she ought to hug her father. Arthur himself looked unsure about how he should act, too.
