Page 111 of Key West Homecoming

“Then it keeps.”

They both smiled, and the ordinary little question of what to do with the second flan gave them somewhere easier to focus on.

Eventually Emma took her hand from his knee.

She didn't want to. That surprised her less than it would have a few days ago.

Sitting beside Jake after everything he'd told her, Emma was aware of him in a way she hadn't allowed herself to be before. She wanted to move closer. She wanted to put her arms around him, and if she did that, she wasn't sure she would stop there.

Tonight wasn't the night for any of it.

Nora had been part of this evening. Emma didn't want Jake's first time telling her about the woman he'd planned to marry to end with him kissing someone else on the porch.

She could wait.

The realization made her heart beat a little faster because waiting meant she had finally admitted there was something she wanted.

When it was time to leave, Jake walked her to the gate.

Emma turned to him.

“Thank you for telling me about Nora.”

“Thank you for dinner.”

“You're welcome.”

He looked into her eyes. “And for listening.”

Emma wondered if he was going to kiss her. Part of her wanted him to. A larger part didn't want it to happen tonight.

Jake seemed to understand. He reached for her hand instead and held it.

“Drive carefully.”

“I will.”

He let go.

Emma got into the rental car and drove back to Winslow's.

By the time she reached the bungalow, she had held herself together long enough. She sat on the patio in the dark and thought about Nora, a kindergarten teacher who had wanted a house with a lemon tree and afternoon light in the kitchen. She thought about Nancy in Seattle writing a check she couldn't bear to keep. And finally, Jake putting the money into an account because he hadn't known how to give it back.

There was more Emma wanted to know, but she wouldn't ask. Jake had given her what he was ready to give, and the rest belonged to him.

She cried a little for all three of them. Then she thought about the moment at the gate when Jake had taken her hand. Emma had wanted him to kiss her. There was no point pretending otherwise.

She went inside, changed for bed and lay awake for a long time thinking about the man who lived in her grandmother's cottage and the woman he'd loved before Emma ever knew his name.

When she finally fell asleep, she slept better than she had in a very long time.

CHAPTER 18

“Are you busy?” Jake asked.

Emma looked at Gloria’s notebook open beside her coffee. “I’m reading my grandmother’s notebook and drinking coffee that went cold twenty minutes ago, so no.”

“Would you come over? I’m working on the pergola and could use another set of hands.”