Emma cleared her throat. “I do, but I just didn’t want to do it every week. It’s nice to change things up.”
Marie sniffed her drink and took a small sip. “I’m sure Rockport isn’t nearly as exciting as the city.”
Emma gave her a meaningful look.Here we go again. You can’t even get through one night without baiting me, can you, Mom? I just wanted one night, for Jules’s sake, and you couldn’t even give me that.
Marie set her drink down and dabbed her lips. “Why are you looking at me like that? It was just an observation.”
“It wasn’t just an observation, Mom.” Emma sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Can we just try and get along, at least for tonight, for Jules’s sake?”
Her parents exchanged a long look before glancing back at her.
Together, the two of them nodded, and Emma breathed a sigh of relief.
One night where they weren’t at each other’s throats shouldn’t be too hard.
It was a good start.
“So, how’s your job going?” Marie smoothed out the napkin and linked her fingers together. “Any interesting cases?”
Emma leaned back against the booth. “I’m working on this divorce case. The father basically doesn’t want to pay any of his daughter’s expenses because he thinks it’ll teach her character. It’s ridiculous, obviously, but he’s insisting she should be the one to pay him for the years of school, her living expenses, and all of that.”
Henry scowled, and his entire expression turned serious. “You’re joking.”
“I wish I was.”
“And you enjoy working on cases like that?” Marie was frowning at her, the lines around her face even more evident underneath fluorescent lighting. “I don’t understand how you can stand it.”
“I have faith in the legal system,” Emma replied, her eyes darting between them. “It’s a lot like astronomy, actually. You just have to do your research by studying everything, and you look for a pattern. All you have to do is observe and be patient.”
Henry gave her an indecipherable look, his eyes widening slightly.
A heartbeat later, he glanced back at the menu and pretended to find it interesting.
As usual, her father had chosen to bury his face in the sand and leave them to go head-to-head.
Why had Emma assumed that he’d changed?
“How about you, Mom? Do you like working as a family support coordinator for the hospital?”
She was grasping at straws, but Emma was desperate to find something—anything else for them to talk about.
“I like helping families get access to the services they need, and the community in Rockport is very helpful with all of its resources and social programs.”
“It’s not much different than what I do.”
Marie raised an eyebrow. “I’m helping families by giving them guidelines and tools to navigate unfamiliar terrain. You’re airing out people’s dirty laundry. It is definitely not the same.”
Emma snapped her mouth shut and forced a smile when Jules bounded over.
Keep it together, Emma. Don’t say anything to ruin Jules’s night. Just breathe and ignore the taunt.
It wasn’t as if it was the first time hearing Marie belittle her work, but each time she did, it chipped away at Emma, leaving something ugly and festering in its wake.
After some pleading, she drew her grandparents to the stage, and Emma ducked into the bathroom. There, she splashed cold water on her face and gripped the sink. When she came back out, Jules and her parents were singing along to “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.” Emma kept her head lowered as she made a beeline for the bar and sank onto the stool.
A short while later, Jack materialized with a glass of red wine in hand. “Here, you look like you could use this.”
“Are you the Christmas godmother?”
