"To the people who show up," Tommy said. "Not the ones who say they will and don't. Not the ones who mean well but can't be bothered. The ones who actually show up, every time, no matter what." He looked around the table, meeting each of their eyes in turn. "Ray, who built something worth being part of and then filled it with the right people. Claire, who somehow convinced Gator to act like a human being and who keeps Emily from disappearing into her own head. Emily, who walked into Jake's life and changed everything about it without trying, and who turned out to be exactly what this crew was missing." He paused, and his gaze landed on Jake. "And Jake. Who finally stopped holding back. Who finally let himself want what he couldn't lose without it destroying him. Who finally figured out that showing up isn't enough if you're not all the way in."
Ray was staring into his bourbon with the faint smile of a man who'd just heard exactly what he'd hoped to hear. Claire had her hand over her mouth. Emily was looking at Jake across the booth, and he could see her eyes were bright.
"That was actually good," Claire said.
"I have depths."
"You have moments." But she was smiling, and her eyes were bright. "To the people who show up."
"To the people who show up," the table echoed, and glasses clinked, and Jake caught Emily's eye across the booth. She was looking at him with that same look she had that first day in Ray's office, except now there was heat underneath it. Tempting. The kind of look that made promises about later.
"I hate you," she mouthed.
"Liar," he mouthed back, and her smile turned wicked.
The night wound downas nights at The Anchor always did. Tommy left first, citing an early morning that nobody believed in. Ray followed an hour later, stopping to clap Jake on the shoulder and say nothing, because Ray never wasted words when a gesture would do. Claire hugged Emily at the door, the kind of hug that was a whole conversation, and then she turned to Jake.
"Take care of her."
“I will."
"I know you will. I'm saying it anyway." She smiled. "She's different with you. Good different. The kind of different that sticks."
"She makes me different too."
"Also good different?"
"The best kind."
Claire nodded, satisfied, and headed for her car. Jake watched her go, then turned back to the bar where Emily was saying goodbye to Gator. The older man was doing what Jake had almost never seen: he was hugging her. Brief, one-armed, barely a gesture. But real.
"You're good for him," Gator said, low enough that Jake had to read his lips. "Keep him honest."
"Always," Emily said.
She crossed the room to Jake, and he caught her hand. The bar was nearly empty now, a few stragglers and the sound of Rick collecting glasses. The string lights cast everything in gold.
"Ready to go home?" Jake asked.
"Yeah." Her thumb brushed across his knuckles. "Take me home."
They walked out into the Florida night, the gravel crunching under their feet, the stars scattered across a sky that was never quite dark enough to see them properly. Emily leaned into his side as they crossed the parking lot, and Jake adjusted his strideto match hers without thinking about it. That was the thing about Emily. She'd become part of his rhythm without either of them noticing it happen.
The Range Rover was waiting where they'd left it, the black paint catching the glow from the string lights. Jake opened her door, and Emily paused before climbing in.
"This was good," she said. "Tonight."
"It was."
"I didn't know it would feel like this." She was looking at the bar, at the string lights and the weathered wood and the neon sign still flickering in the window. "When I moved to Tampa, I thought I was coming for the job. For the cases. For the chance to build something professionally. I didn't know I was coming for this."
"For what?"
"People." She turned to face him, and her expression was open in a way it hadn't been when they met. All the walls down. All the defenses set aside. The woman underneath, the one she'd been so determined to protect, standing right in front of him without flinching. "A place. A life. You."
Jake felt the words settle, making a home for themselves alongside everything else she'd given him over the past month.
"You can have whatever you want, Em. You always could."
