While Emma knew there wasn’t much room for her to grow without a partnership on the horizon, she wasn’t sure she was ready to give that up.
Not just yet.
Still, the thought of staying in Rockport and working on the newest astronomical findings with her dad held some appeal.
It was a chance for them to make up for lost time, time she wouldn’t get back, no matter how hard she tried.
“Sweetheart, you can be a lawyer anywhere,” Henry said after a lengthy pause. “I swear this is not me trying to influence you or steer you or whatever. I just want you to ask yourself if you’re happy, if you can see yourself heading back to Boston and going on with your life there.”
Emma opened her mouth and slammed it shut.
She hated that he was right.
Because more and more lately, Boston was beginning to feel like a weird fever dream.
Rockport, on the other hand, felt like stepping back into her old pair of boots, only to find they still fit.
They fit her like a glove.
Abruptly, Emma stood and wandered over to the window. She stared at the flakes of snow falling outside and frowned. Then, she wandered over to the fireplace and searched the flames, praying for answers to a question she didn’t know how to phrase. When she looked over her shoulder, her father was leaning forward, fingers linked together and an expectant look on his face.
“If I stay, and I’m not saying I will, we would get to work on the research together, right?”
“Of course.”
“We’ll have to give Marley and Jack credit for helping us bring all of the new information to light, and we need to share our findings with the scientific community.”
Henry’s smile lit up his whole face. “That goes without saying.”
“You can’t become obsessed though,” Emma added, pausing to give him a meaningful look. “And you can’t expect me to base my whole life around the research either. We have to go out and do things, and you need to spend more time with Mom. Also, you can’t do this at the expense of your health.”
“You might want to write all of this down so you don’t forget,” Henry joked, his eyes brimming with amusement and excitement. “I don’t disagree with anything you said. There’s just one problem. What are you going to do about your job?”
“I have one more case that I need to see through, and after it’s done, I’m going to take a break.”
Henry exhaled. “Are you sure you want to do that? I can’t ask you to walk away from a big career like yours…”
“You’re not asking. I need a break. It hasn’t felt right in a while, and maybe when it’s all over, I’ll go back to it.”
Or maybe she wouldn’t.
Either way, it was her decision, and taking a few days to process everything was exactly what she needed before she committed.
In silence, Emma went to sit next to her father and pat his hand.
A heartbeat later, he draped an arm over her shoulders and squeezed.
Emma’s chest was tight with emotion as she leaned into his side and closed her eyes. The smell of him—like soap and old cologne—washed over her. It made her feel like a little girl all over again.
With a sigh, she tucked her legs under her and smiled when her father pointed the remote at the TV, and it came to life.
Henry was dozing peacefully when Jules came back home, Kyle nowhere to be found. She left her scarf, gloves, and bootsbehind the door and went upstairs without talking to anyone. Frowning, Emma carefully removed her father’s arm from around her shoulders and crept up the stairs after exchanging a quick look with her mother. In their shared room, Jules sat perched on the edge of the bed, one hand threaded through her hair and the other lying limply at her side.
The door creaked open when Emma pushed it, and she lingered in the doorway. “Is everything okay? Where’s Kyle?”
“He wanted to explore a little longer, but I told him I wanted to shower and relax, so he dropped me off at home.”
Emma pushed the door open the rest of the way. “You seem upset.”
