Page 191 of Key West Homecoming

Emma studied the crack. “Or somebody dropped something heavy on it in 1987.”

Jake laughed. “Also possible.”

“And if I trip over it, I’m going to remind you of this conversation.”

“I’ll fix the step.”

They went outside last.

The garden had nearly swallowed the fence. Thorny growth filled one bed, and the jasmine along the porch needed cutting back badly. The lignum vitae rose above all of it.

Jake stood beneath the tree and looked up. Emma came up beside him.

“Well?” he asked.

“I think it’s adorable. I also think you knew I’d say that before we got out of the car.”

“I was hoping.” He looked at the house again. “I’m going to buy it.”

Emma heard the certainty in his voice.

“It feels right,” he said.

She slipped her hand into his. “Then buy it.”

Back at the cottage, Jake sat at the kitchen table with his computer, the property sheet and a calculator. He went through the numbers twice before calling Delores with an offer.

She accepted.

Jake ended the call and stared at the phone.

Emma waited.

“I bought a house.”

“You did.”

“I think I need a minute.”

Emma laughed and kissed him.

That evening, they went back to William Street so Jake could take a photograph of the lignum vitae for Nancy. He spent twenty minutes trying to fit the whole tree into the frame before the light disappeared.

Emma watched from the sidewalk.

There was something she had waited long enough to ask.

“What else did Edmund say to you the day he left?”

Jake lowered the phone.

“I wondered when you’d ask again.”

“I’ve been remarkably patient.”

“You have.”

He put the phone in his pocket.