Page 105 of The Emma Special

He didn’t want a roommate anymore, he wanted a wife.

Daniel stowed his rod and the super soaker in the locker and retrieved his sandals from the back of the boat. “You think she’ll make us lunch?”

James’s stomach growled at the mention of food, and his phone dinged in his pocket.

Emma: Are you coming home soon? Does Daniel eat sloppy joes?

“She said we’re having sloppy joes.”

Daniel shook his head. “I’ve got to get me a wife.”

Chapter 30

Emma Doesn’t Believe

“It’s not a game trail. I would know,” Summer said. “This has to be a human. Someone sneaky enough to not get caught, but not careful enough to hide their trail.”

“You’re a chicken-loving, goat-wrangling florist, not a tracker,” Emma pointed out.

“I prefer Cottage Farmer or Naturalist.” Summer gave an exaggerated flip of her long straight hair.

“How can you tell it’s not animals?” Katie asked.

Summer squished her nose. “If I tell you, you won’t believe me.”

Emma laughed. “Now we have to know. Was there a bent twig?”

Allison and Katie mirrored expressions of pretend shock while Summer shoved an entire snickerdoodle cookie in her mouth. “Shmuther effimense wiff,” Summer mumbled with a shrug.

“Write that down, Allison,” Katie said, elbowing their leader.

Allison broke a bite off a cookie and dunked it in her milk. “Got it.”

The four girls sat around the island in James’s kitchen. He kept reminding Emma that it was her kitchen too, but no matter how many meals she made in it, it still felt like she was living someone else’s life. A fun and wonderful life, but one that didn’t belong to her.

The past month, she’d done nothing but heal and do everything she could to make James’s life easier. Was she doing enough to earn her keep? He was an easy man to take care of, so it was hard to tell.

Allison strolled around the island to put her cup in the dishwasher.

“Oh! I’ll wash that.” Emma ran warm water into the mixing bowl to start washing the dishes they’d used to make cookies.

“Something wrong with the dishwasher?” Katie asked.

“It works fine,” Emma said, squirting soap into the water. “I like to have them all dried and put away before James gets home.”

She washed and rinsed the measuring cups and laid them on the hand-towel. When she turned to gather their plates, the girls were looking at her oddly.

“What?”

Allison looked at Katie and back at Emma. “Does James,” Allison started, then pursed her lips. “Does he—is there a problem with us hanging out here?”

Emma smiled at her friends. Why were they all looking at her like she’d said something wrong? “No, it’s fine. He’s not even here. Why would it matter?”

“So… if James came home and found a mess here… that would be a problem?” Katie asked.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Summer cocked her head. “Then what did you mean?”