Chapter 16 #3
“Write everything down,” she said. “Date and times included. Have Jake write his own account separately, and don’t compare them before he sends it to me.”
“All right.”
“Your uncle drove to the cottage the day after he was served and after his own attorney entered an appearance. He tried to get past a tenant who may be a witness in this case. I can use that.”
“For what?”
“At minimum, I can ask the court for an order directing him to stay away from the property while this is pending. Beyond that, judges notice how people behave.”
“Jake said that Arthur made a comment about there being something riding on this.”
“Did he explain?”
“No, Jake said Arthur let it slip. He didn’t think Arthur meant to say that.”
Rachel went quiet.
“Friday. Nine o’clock. Don’t be late.”
Emma knew she wanted to see Jake before she even finished the call with Rachel.
She could have called him again and asked if he was all right, but hearing his voice wasn’t enough this time.
Arthur had shown up at the cottage angry and determined to get inside, and Jake had been the one standing between him and the gate.
Emma needed to see for herself that he was okay.
At least that was what she told herself when she picked up her keys.
The truth was more complicated, and she knew it before she reached the car.
Earlier that afternoon, she had almost called Jake because she wanted to tell him about Gloria’s notebook.
She had stopped herself then because wanting to talk to him had felt like something she needed to think about first. Now, only a few hours later, she was looking for another reason to be with him.
She stopped denying she was developing feelings for Jake.
Her life was still in Chicago, even if she’d taken two months away from it.
The cottage wasn’t legally hers yet, and she had no idea what would happen when those two months were over.
Jake had a life here, and the last thing either of them needed was for Emma to mistake everything she was feeling about Key West, Gloria and the cottage for something she felt about him.
Except she didn’t think that was what she was doing.
She wanted to see Jake because she loved being with him. That realization stayed with her all the way to Hibiscus Lane.
Jake was in the back corner of the yard setting the fourth pergola post. Cedar shavings had been swept into a pile near his feet.
He looked up when she came around the cottage but kept the drill running for another few seconds before shutting it off.
Emma waited.
When he set it down, he wiped one hand across the front of his shirt.
“I’m glad you came.”
“So am I.”
She sat on the bench beneath the lignum vitae. Jake sat beside her, leaving the same small space between them he always did.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Emma looked toward the cottage.
“Did he scare you?”
“No.”
She turned to him.
Jake smiled a little. “He made me angry.”
“That I believe.”
“I didn’t want him near the house.”
“I know.”
Jake picked up his water bottle.
“I kept thinking about your grandmother wanting to come back here and being told she couldn’t. Then he showed up and acted like all he had to do was open the gate.”
Emma felt her throat tighten.
“He did that to her for years.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“Jake.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m going to keep thanking you for things, so you can stop telling me I don’t have to.”
He took a drink of water.
“You don’t have to thank me.”
Emma laughed.
“You did that on purpose.”
“Maybe.”
She smiled and looked down at her hands.
“Supporting what you’re doing matters to me,” he said. “Probably more than it should.”
Emma looked back at him and noticed he seemed to realize what he’d said, but didn’t take it back.
She thought about almost calling him earlier and about Leah’s advice at the bar. She had spent the afternoon telling herself she needed to know what she was doing before she came back to this garden.
Now she wondered if that had ever been possible.
“I almost called you today,” she said.
Jake looked at her. “Why didn’t you?”
“I was reading Gloria’s notebook. I found some things about me in it, and I wanted to tell you.”
“What did it say?”
Emma told him about the phone call Gloria had made while Emma was in a meeting and about the envelopes beside the sugar bowl with things Gloria wanted to tell her.
Jake listened without interrupting.
“When I finished talking to Edmund, I almost called you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Emma smiled faintly.
“I’m still working that out.”
Jake nodded.
He didn’t push.
That might have been the thing she liked most about him.
Emma looked toward the cottage again. The pergola posts stood in the back garden, two finished and two still waiting for the crosspieces. The herbs Gloria had loved moved slightly in the afternoon breeze.
Arthur had lied to Gloria and kept her away from this place. He had lied to Emma and nearly sold it before she knew enough to stop him.
Somehow, in the middle of all of that, Emma had met Jake.
She wasn’t ready to decide what that meant.
For now, sitting beside him was enough.