What The Heart Knows by Jessica Gadziala

to a half or third
staff so we have to multi-task.”
    “Well,”
James said, tilting his head. “I think I can handle some
sweeping. A broom... that's the long stick thing with bristles,
right?” he laughed. He looked at Emily for a second. “You're
not visiting your family for the holiday?”
    “Well,
that's my queue,” Devon said, walking out from behind the desk
and going toward the kitchen, patting Emily's shoulder as he passed.
    “Sore
subject?” James asked, stepping back and gesturing toward the
front porch.
    Emily
followed him out, unsure why she was. “Well happy households
don't usually lead sixteen year olds to hitchhike for weeks to put a
few states between them.”
    James
turned to her, watching her face: guarded, hesitant. But she was
telling him anyway. That seemed like progress. “You have no
contact with them?”
    “Well
my father was always in and out of the picture. And my mother died a
few years ago.”
    “I'm
sorry,” he said, feeling a pang at the memory of his own
mother, dead in a car crash before Elliott became the massive success
he was.
    “Don't
be. She died in the bottle of a bottle. It was where she was always
happiest anyway.”
    “No
siblings?” he asked, a little uncomfortable with the cool
detachment she had with regard to the death of the person who gave
her life.
    “I
had an older brother. He flew out of there the day he turned
eighteen. I never really heard much from him again.”
    There
was a sadness in her voice then. A certain level of fear at the idea
that she had no clue if her brother was even alive. “Well, it
seems like you found a new, better family here,” he said. At
her surprised look, he gestured out toward the town. “Stars
Landing. You seem to know everyone and them you. It's like one big,
crazy, super close family around here.”
    “Yeah,”
Emily agreed, shifting her feet a bit. He was right. He touched on
the feeling she had always had with regard to Stars Landing. No one
had rejected her when she showed up penniless and a bit wild as a
teen. Everyone had just taken her in with open arms, like she had
been there all along, like her sharp edges didn't cut them every time
they tried to get close to her. Stars Landing was her family. Every
kooky, warm, silly, outrageous, funny, serious member of that town
was a part of her ridiculous family tree. Marion had always been
right there, the epicenter of her world. Mother. Mentor. Then Hannah
was like a sister, Eric like a brother. Maude had been the crazy aunt
who told her all about sex and the divine art of making men eat out
of the palm of your hand. Hank The Friendly Grocer and Aiden had
always gone out of their way to try to protect her, offer unwanted
advice, and altogether act like father figures to the orphaned girl
who needed direction.
    She
couldn't imagine a life anywhere else. A family any less absurd and
varied. It made her heart hurt to even consider it.
    “You
made a really nice life for yourself, Emily,” James said,
sounding uncharacteristically serious. Her eyes found his, deep and
almost unhappy. “I mean it. I cant imagine having been so
decisive and responsible at sixteen. Hell, when my mother died, I
went into full-on angsty teenager mode. Being a dick to Elliott who
was trying to put himself through college and get a life together for
us. I really should say thank you for that. Or, you know, show up to
work in a suit once in a while.”
    Emily's
hand reached out and found his, squeezing. “You were a kid,”
she said.
    “So
were you,” he said, attempting a small smile.
    “I
was never a kid,” she said, pulling her hand away and moving
away from him. She walked back toward the door. “You should
sleep for the next few days. You're not accustomed to the kind of
work you are going to need to do on Thanksgiving.”

    –

    He
actually surprised her. He surprised everyone. Including himself
probably. He had already been up before everyone else, standing in
the kitchen with the coffee