Chapter 21 #2
“I’m going to tell you something I think you already know,” Maeve said. “Rachel has a strong case.”
“That’s what she says.”
“She should. From what she described, Arthur left a paper trail because he never expected anyone to question him. A judge hasn’t ruled yet, but you don’t have to carry every part of this around every hour of the day.”
Emma looked down at the water glass in front of her.
A few days earlier, that advice would have been harder for Emma to hear.
Something had shifted since her meeting with Rachel.
She still wanted the will recognized and the cottage protected, but she no longer felt responsible for deciding every consequence Arthur should face.
Rachel could handle the legal fight, and the court could decide what the law required.
Emma was beginning to understand her own responsibility. She needed to decide what happened to her life after the fight was over.
“Thanks, Maeve.”
Leah arrived with the soup before Maeve could answer. A piece of toasted bread rested against the side of the bowl.
Connie came through from the back office a few minutes later. She stopped when she saw Emma.
“I heard about Rachel’s filing.”
“Leah says most of the town did.”
Connie’s expression softened.
“I knew your grandmother well enough to know she spent a long time trying to keep peace in her family. She did what she could with Arthur. He didn’t always make that easy.”
Emma put down her spoon.
Connie continued. “You don’t have to fix everything Gloria couldn’t fix. Protect what she wanted you to have. Let the rest be handled by the people whose job it is to handle it.”
“I think that’s what I’m trying to do.”
“Good.”
Connie reached across the bar and touched Emma’s hand.
“And you’re not doing it alone. Some people here remember Gloria, and others barely knew her but they know you now. That counts for something in this town.”
Connie kept her hand over Emma’s for another second before letting go.
“Thank you.”
Connie smiled. “Now I’ve got somebody at home waiting for me, so I’ve got to run.” She looked at her niece. “Maeve, I’ll see you later. You have a good day.”
She stopped beside Lloyd on her way out and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Give her my regards, Con,” he said.
“I will.”
The screen door closed behind her.
Emma watched the door after Connie left. She didn’t know the details of Connie’s life. Still, she understood enough to know someone at home needed her.
Leah followed Emma’s gaze.
“Eat your soup.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Emma smiled and picked up her spoon.
For a while, Emma listened to the room around her. Joey played in the corner, and Tess called something toward the kitchen that made Leah laugh. Lloyd argued with Patrick about a boat motor. At the window table, a family tried to keep a toddler from feeding crackers to a dog outside.
None of it had anything to do with Emma. That was what made it feel so good.
She’d spent most of her adult life in a city filled with people. Even so, she had rarely felt as surrounded as she did sitting at this bar.
Key West had given her Gloria’s history and a house she hadn’t known belonged to her. It had also given her people who seemed willing to make room for her before she had decided whether she needed it.
Jake had become part of that too.
Emma thought about the morning at the cottage. She could still smell cedar on her hands and remembered how easy it had felt to work beside him. Yesterday, Jake had told her he wanted her to stay. Today, he hadn’t mentioned it once because he was giving her room.
“Maeve.”
“Yeah?”
“I think I’m going to be all right.”
Maeve looked at her and smiled. “I know you are.”
“I wanted to say it out loud.”
“Then I’m glad you did.”
Maeve squeezed Emma’s hand once before letting go.
Emma finished her soup and paid for it despite Tess’s objections.
Outside, she stopped beside the rental car and looked back at Margarita Max’s. The building wasn’t remarkable. The trim needed paint. Bougainvillea had taken over more of the porch railing than anyone had probably intended, and Joey’s guitar drifted through the screen door.
Two weeks earlier, Emma would have seen it as an old Key West bar.
Now she knew who sat on which stool. Tess would argue if she tried to pay for something Tess thought should be free.
Leah could tell when someone needed water before they asked.
Maeve would listen without rushing to solve anything.
Even Lloyd would move his stool two inches for someone he liked while insisting he hadn’t moved at all.
Emma smiled.
Later, as she sat on the bungalow patio with Gloria’s notebook open in her lap, she marveled at the peace she’d found living in Key West. She felt she belonged here.
Chicago crossed her mind without the familiar pull of obligation. Decisions were still waiting for her there, and she would have to make them soon. For once, she didn’t feel compelled to make them. There was time to rest with this new knowledge.
She read four pages of Gloria’s notebook before realizing she had been smiling through most of them. She knew why.
It felt like a life she wanted.