Page 160 of Key West Homecoming

“You having a good Saturday?”

“I’ve been on this stool since one o’clock. That’s a good Saturday.”

Emma smiled.

Leah stood behind the bar in a Jimmy Buffett T-shirt Emma hadn’t seen before.

“Where’s Tess?”

“Bahia Honda. She and Jamie left at seven this morning. She forbade me from calling her and said she’ll be back tomorrow.” Leah set down the glass she was drying. “Mark my words, she’ll come home with a sunburn because that woman refuses to wear a hat.”

“She’s not the only one. I hate hats too, but I wear them.”

“If I had to guess, she and Jamie spent half the day arguing about a hammock.”

“A hammock?”

“Jamie’s been threatening to put one between two palms in his backyard for a year. Tess says if he does, he’ll spend every Sunday lying in it and never accomplish another thing for the rest of his life.”

Emma laughed. “She may have a point.”

“They’re going to argue about that hammock for another year. It’s their thing.”

“That’s a good thing to have.”

“It is.” Leah reached for a glass. “What are you having?”

“Iced tea and the tomato basil soup.”

Leah stared at her.

“What?”

“Emma, my dear, I love that soup too, but at some point you need to let loose and order something else.”

“I like the soup.”

“I know. That’s becoming the problem.”

Leah poured the iced tea and called the order back to the kitchen. Then she leaned against the bar.

“You want to talk about something?”

“Do I look like I want to talk about something?”

“As a matter of fact, you do.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“I’ve been reading rooms for twenty years. Talk.”

Emma looked down at her glass.

She had come to Max’s without admitting why. Now that Leah had asked, the reason seemed obvious.

“Jake and I are seeing each other.”

Leah didn’t so much as blink.