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Emma squeezed her eyes shut and took in another shuddering breath. “Rachel is great. She’s the best at her job.” When she opened her eyes, she wasn’t surprised to find Sophia studying her. “It’s just that sometimes she can be a bit… much.”
“That tracks.” Sophia lifted her shoulders, then let them drop. “So, what now? I take it you told Caleb and it didn’t go over all that well?”
“You could say that,” Emma muttered bitterly.
“What happens next?”
She shrugged. “What do you think happens? I’m going home. I have a lot of things I need to set right and a lot to put back into motion.”
“You mean with your tour.”
Emma gave her friend a double take. “I keep forgetting that you knew this whole time and didn’t say a single word.”
Sophia grinned. “I could tell you needed to feel normal for once. If I admitted to knowing who you were, then there was no chance you would have trusted me.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Okay, so you’re going home.” Sophia shifted, then got to her feet and wandered through her room. “You’ll go home, and you’ll forget all about us.” There was a disappointing lilt to her voice. She didn’t seem thrilled with the notion.
Emma moved across the room toward her. “I don’t think I could forget about Copper Creek even if I tried. This place? This whole town? I love it here.”
Sophia nodded. “It’s pretty great. But that doesn’t mean you will ever come back.”
“Says who? I know where this place is. I know how to get here. Maybe one day in the near future I’ll get tired of my life, and I’ll just leave it all behind.”
They both knew that wasn’t going to happen. She would never walk away from her career—the one she spent so many years creating. There was zero chance of that happening. Even if she decided to take a step back from all her public appearances, she’d still want to write music and perform occasionally. It was where her heart was.
Emma swallowed hard. “I will come back,” she promised. “I don’t know when, but I will make sure I come back. When I do, we’ll have to try going on that ride again.”
Sophia laughed. “I don’t know if I’m willing to believe that.” She pulled Emma into a quick hug. “I’m so glad I got to meet you.”
Pulling back, Emma frowned. “You’re really not upset about me lying?”
She scoffed. “Technically you didn’t lie. You gave me your name. You’re not a criminal. Why would I be upset?”
“Because—”
“Hey,” Sophia hushed her, “don’t listen to what Caleb said. You don’t owe us anything. We were strangers when we met, and I didn’t need your life story to know that you needed help.”
Tears stung Emma’s eyes. She couldn’t seem to get past all the emotions that threatened to overtake her. She closed her eyes, but it didn’t help the burning sensation subside. Sophia wrapped her arms around her again.
“Sophia!” A deep voice from the first floor called up to her. “We have a problem!”
Emma withdrew and shot Sophia a concerned look. “What do you think that’s about?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she assured her. “I’ll go check it out and be right back.”
Emma nodded, hovering in the doorway as Sophia hurried downstairs. There were hushed, anxious voices—more than just Mateo and Sophia. Emma couldn’t hear a thing, even with how much she strained to listen.
Footsteps raced up the stairs and a very worried Sophia materialized. “There’s a reporter at the door.”
Emma gasped. “A reporter?”
She nodded. “Do you think Caleb…?”
Emma shook her head. “I don’t think he’d do something like that. He might be really mad at me, but I don’t think he’d intentionally try to hurt me. What about Charlie?”
This time Sophia shook her head. “The Keagans might be a lot of things, but they wouldn’t intentionally hurt anyone. I doubt this has anything to do with them.” She moved to the window and stared down at the front yard. “Mateo is out there talking to him. He said he’d tell him to leave and that you’re not here. Does anyone else know?”
