This time JJ didn’t correct her. “You being back here is going to make people start thinking about what happened. They’re going to start asking questions again,” she said. And there it was.
“And? Let them talk,” Emma said dismissively, though she tasted something sour in the back of her mouth.
“If the police ask you what happened, what are you going to tell them?” JJ asked, gaze fixed intently on Emma.
Behind the carefully constructed mask, behind the performance of sisterly concern, Emma saw it. A flicker of fear. “What are you worried I might say?” Emma asked.
The front door opened. JJ jumped, nearly knocking the coffee mug over as she straightened. Nathan’s familiar long stride approached, accompanied by his voice.
“Whose car is that in the drive?” he asked, and then stepped into view. JJ tucked her hands into her pockets, shoulders slightly hunched as he caught sight of her. “Oh. Hi.”
“Nathan, this is my sister Juliette,” Emma said neutrally.
Nathan processed this for a moment, eyebrows rising in surprise, then stepped forward and stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Juliette. I’m Nathan. Nathan Gates. I’ve heard all about you, of course.”
JJ took his hand and shook it slowly. “Really. How wonderful. And it’s JJ, actually. I haven’t gone by Juliette since I was a kid.”
“Right,” Nathan said with a sharp nod and a look at Emma like she should have told him. “What brings you by?”
“I just came to talk to Emma about getting the place fixed up to sell,” JJ said, her expression open and friendly.
“Excellent. That’s just what we’ve been talking about,” Nathan said. They hadn’t talked much at all, but he said it as if it were a done deal. “It definitely needs some work. But I was thinking, if you three are all on board with it, we could get a Realtor out. Come up with a plan. Right now, I’m focusing on getting things cleaned out and sorted, so we can decide what to do with it all.”
“Sounds great. You just let me know if you need help,” JJ said easily.
“Are you staying in town? Need your old room for a few days?” Nathan asked. Emma cut him a look, but his eyes hadn’t left JJ, and for the first time Emma realized just how attractive her older sister was, next to mousy Emma in her T-shirt and ponytail.
“You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to spend a night in this fucking place,” JJ said blithely. She looked past Nathan at Emma. “We’ll talk again soon.”
“That will be novel,” Emma said. JJ flinched, and Emma felt a faint flash of satisfaction.
JJ walked out without another word. Emma went to the counter and dumped out the coffee, watching it swirl down the drain. She didn’t know what she’d expected to feel if she ever saw her sisters again. Had she really hoped for an apology? She wasn’t sure there was an apology Juliette could offer that would mean anything.
What was Juliette doing here? Not checking out the house. Checking out Emma, maybe. Something about Emma coming back to the house had worried her. Spooked her, even.
Like maybe she was afraid that Emma was going to spill their secrets, and that Juliette was the one who would pay the price.
“Ah, shit,” Nathan said suddenly. Emma gave him an empty look, uncomprehending. He snapped his fingers. “We should have asked her about the carriage house keys. Think you could give her a call?”
“No,” Emma snapped.
“Whoa. What did I do?” Nathan asked, hands immediately up in surrender. The cold remove that had carried Emma through the conversation with JJ shattered.
“I’m sorry. It’s just—seeing her again…” Emma covered her face with her hands, fighting the edge of a sob.
“Hey.” Nathan stepped over to her, gathered her against his chest. “I’m sorry. You know how bad I am at subtext.”
“That’s an understatement.” Her words were edged with the tears that always seemed to be on the surface these days. She wasn’t sure how much of it she could blame on the hormones. “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to feel about her. She left us, Nathan.”
“Is there any point bringing that up now, though?” Nathan asked. He sounded almost annoyed. “We’re going to have to work with your sisters to deal with the house. You keeping grudges isn’t going to help with that.”
She pulled away from him, wiping her eyes. “You’re probably right.”
“I get that you’re emotional,” he said. “But you have to let go of the past to move into the future, right?”