Page 113 of Spindrift

“Thereal estate agent came over.”

“Ohhoney.”

“Ican’t do it.” Emilia squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to startcrying again. Considering her empty tear ducts, her victory was perhaps notmuch cause for pride.

“Wasshe nice at least?”

Laughterbubbled up and out of her mouth. Abruptly, the situation seemed hilarious.

“She’sMorgan’s ex,” she said when she regained control of herself.

“Holyshit. You need a new agent.”

“Trustme, I know. Oh, and I burst into tears in front of her.”

AnnaMaria shook her head. “Of course you did.”

“ShouldI tell Morgan?”

“Thatyou cried in front of her ex? Maybe not. That her ex is your agent?Definitely.”

“Here’sthe thing, though.” She explained about how she’d discovered the photograph.

“Justsay you saw her picture online. Hang on.” Anna Maria’s eyes scanned the screen,and Emilia realized she must be stalking Morgan on social media, something thatshe probably should have done herself a long time ago, too.

AnnaMaria let out a whistle. “Damn. She’s hot.”

“Nothelpful.”

“Sorry.”

“Shekeeps her engagement rings next to her photo.” She hadn’t wanted to mentionthat part of the story, but she couldn’t hold it in. Anna Maria’s eyes snappedback to hers, and she knew her sister had closed out of her social media apps.

“Shestill has the rings?”

“Yes.That’s weird, right?”

“Notnecessarily. What would you do if you still had rings from your ex?”

“Tossthem into Mount Doom.”

“Letme clarify. If you weren’t Frodo Baggins.”

“Pawnthem? I don’t know, actually.”

“Shemight just not want to deal with them.”

“Ifshe isn’t over Kate, I don’t want to bring her up. Especially since I’m notstaying here.” Another lump filled her throat. “It will just make thingsawkward, and there’s no point. Can’t I just get a new real estate agent and nottell her?”

“Imean, you could.” Anna Maria sounded hesitant. “Not mentioning it won’t beweird for you?”

“Ofcourse it will be weird. I just . . . I just don’t want to ruin things.”

“Howfarhavethings progressed since I was there?”

“Um.”

“Howmany nights a week do you see her?”

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