“You have every reason not to trust me.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know where your mother worked before she became a nursing assistant.”
“She cleaned rooms at the Lakeview Inn.”
“Before that.”
Emily shook her head.
Nora had refused to speak about the years before Emily’s eighth birthday.
When Emily asked why they moved so often, her mother said that some places became too painful to stay.
When she asked about Peter, Nora changed the subject.
It had seemed like ordinary grief after a disaster.
Now Gideon was telling her that grief had been shaped by a secret.
“What do you want from me?” Emily asked.
“Nothing you don’t freely choose to give.”
“You went looking for me.”
“Yes.”
“You dressed like you couldn’t afford dinner.”
“I didn’t dress to trick you into being kind.”
Gideon glanced at his coat.
“This was my brother’s coat.”
He rubbed a worn seam between his fingers.
“I wore it because he was there that night.”
The admission did not make the situation clearer.
It made Emily aware of how little she knew.
Outside, wind pressed water against the windows until the highway disappeared.
Rosa came out from behind the counter with Emily’s purse.
“Take it,” she whispered.
“You don’t owe anybody your story because his car costs more than my apartment.”
Emily accepted the purse gratefully.
Gideon rose slowly.
“She’s right.”
He placed a business card on the table.
“My son will arrange transportation if you want to hear the rest.”
Victor found his voice.
“Mr. Mercer, I had no idea this young woman was personally connected to you.”
Gideon looked at him without anger.
“That was the point.”
“I followed the rules.”
“Then we need to examine who wrote them.”
Julian asked the woman carrying the second case to document Emily’s dismissal and obtain Victor’s written account before any records could be altered.
He gave no orders about humiliating Victor or shutting down the diner.
Emily noticed that restraint because she had expected a rich man’s public revenge.
Instead, Julian looked worried about something far beyond a manager’s cruelty.
Emily asked Rosa to walk with her to the staff entrance.
They stopped beside the old freezer, where the motor vibrated through the tile.
“Do you know anything about Briar Hollow?” Emily asked.
Rosa’s face changed.
“My uncle drove an ambulance during the flood.”
“Did he talk about it?”
“Only once.”
Rosa pulled the freezer-room door shut to block the kitchen noise.
“He said the official report counted one bus.”
