Page 173 of Key West Homecoming

She didn’t know every detail of what came next, and that was fine with her.

CHAPTER 27

The little beach at the end of Hibiscus Lane was barely forty feet of sand and broken shell. A mangrove stood at either end.

Emma remembered it differently.

When she was little, the beach had seemed enormous. Her father had taught her to swim there with one hand beneath her stomach while he told her she was doing great. She could still hear his voice.

Since coming back to Key West, Emma had walked down here twice. Both times, she stopped at the mangroves and turned around.

On Monday morning, she went all the way to the water with Jake beside her.

A heron stood several yards offshore, perfectly still as it watched the shallows.

“I booked my flight,” Emma said. “Thursday morning.”

Jake nodded. “You’re still coming back the following Thursday?”

“That’s the plan. Rachel wants an hour with me before I go. Then I have to resign properly, empty at least part of my apartment and deal with a storage unit on Clybourn I haven’t opened in nine years.”

“What’s in the storage unit?”

“My mother’s things. Some furniture. Boxes I couldn’t deal with after she died.” Emma looked out at the water. “I’ve been paying forty-one dollars a month to avoid opening the door.”

Jake smiled a little. “That’s a very specific form of avoidance.”

“I’m excellent at organized avoidance.”

“I’ve noticed.”

Emma nudged him with her shoulder.

She had already told Jake she wasn’t returning to Chicago to stay. Saying it on the porch the night before had been easier than she’d expected. Talking about leaving for a week felt strangely harder.

“I don’t want to go.”

“I know.”

“That surprises me. I mean, it’s only a week, but Chicago has been home for twelve years. I have a job there, an apartment and a best friend. I know exactly which train to take and where to buy groceries at ten o’clock at night.” Emma pushed her hair away from her face. “But when I think about getting on that plane, it feels like I’m leaving home instead of going to it.”

“Maybe that tells you something.”

“It tells me a lot.”

The heron moved a few inches and stopped again.

Jake put his hands in his pockets. “I’ve been thinking about something since Saturday morning.”

Emma looked at him. “That sounds serious.”

“It might be.”

She waited.

“There’s something I want to tell you, but not today.”

Emma thought of Leah telling her to say what was true instead of trying to work out the next five years. She had done that last night. Jake deserved the same freedom.