Page 32 of Key West Homecoming

“Did I?”

“You did.”

Emma shook her head. “Nothing.”

Marisol gave her a look that said she didn’t believe her, but she didn’t ask.

The machine stopped.

Marisol gathered the pages and handed the original back to Emma.

“Two copies?”

“Please.”

While the second copy ran, Emma slid Jake’s letter back into the envelope. She checked that the pages were straight and pressed the flap down even though it wasn’t sealed.

She’d promised him an hour.

She looked at the clock behind the desk.

Twenty-three minutes.

There was plenty of time.

Still, she felt better knowing exactly how much of it she’d used.

Marisol handed her the second copy, then reached beneath the desk and came up with a manila folder.

“You need this.”

“I do?”

“You’ve got papers sticking out of your bag.”

Emma looked down. A corner of her legal pad was caught beneath the zipper, and two sheets from the property records were folded behind it.

She laughed. “Apparently I do.”

Marisol handed her the folder.

Emma put one copy of the letter inside. Before closing it, she looked at the first page again.

The letter was so ordinary.

That was what bothered her.

There were no threats and no demands. Nothing that would have given Jake a reason to question it. Whoever had written it had known exactly what he needed to hear. The house was being sold, but nothing in his life had to change.

He could stay.

Emma thought about him asking her yesterday if he should start packing.

She’d said no before she’d even thought about it.

At the time, she’d told herself she was trying to calm him down. Now she wasn’t so sure that was the whole reason.

She didn’t want Jake to leave the cottage.