Chapter 13 - The House Roman Had Refused to Enter)
Winter came early.
Boston turned silver and white.
Beacon House remained empty.
Roman avoided it.
Emma noticed.
She waited until December before saying anything.
"You should go back."
They were sitting in the rear office of the pet store.
Titan slept beneath the desk.
Roman looked up from financial documents.
"Why?"
"Because you've turned your sister's house into a crime scene in your head."
"It was a crime scene."
"Not for most of her life."
Roman leaned back.
Emma continued.
"You told me about the dog biscuits. The books. Her yellow raincoat."
Roman's expression changed.
"You're remembering the last week because it hurts the loudest."
He stared at her.
"Are you secretly a therapist?"
"No."
"Good."
"I'd charge more."
Roman smiled.
Three days later he asked Emma to come with him.
Beacon House felt different in snow.
Quiet.
Bright.
Roman entered without stopping at the door.
Titan came with them.
The dog immediately ran to the kitchen.
He sniffed the ceramic bowl.
Roman laughed.
"Three years and he still remembers."
Emma took out three fresh biscuits she had brought.
"Then don't disappoint him."
Roman placed them in the bowl.
Titan ate all three.
They spent the afternoon cleaning.
Not investigators.
Not attorneys.
No evidence bags.
Just Roman, Emma, and Titan.
Roman opened windows.
Emma dusted shelves.
Titan followed them from room to room.
In Nora's hidden records room Roman stood for a long time.
Then he carried the boxes downstairs.
"What are you doing?"
"Grace has copies."
"Yes."
"I'm done keeping this room exactly the way fear left it."
Emma smiled.
By sunset the small hidden room was empty.
Roman placed one thing inside.
A framed photograph of Nora and Titan.
Emma watched.
"That's it?"
"For now."
On the way downstairs Roman stopped near the photograph wall.
He took down one picture.
Nora and Roman at the charity race.
The one where he was smiling.
He handed it to Emma.
"What?"
"Take it."
"Why?"
"You keep accusing me of never smiling."
Emma laughed.
"I don't need evidence."
"Apparently I do."
They ate dinner at the kitchen table.
Nothing expensive.
Emma brought soup.
Roman burned bread.
Titan begged.
For a few hours Beacon House became a home again.
After dinner Roman walked outside.
Emma followed.
Snow fell over the harbor.
"You were right," he said.
Emma looked at him.
"That's becoming one of my favorite things you say."
"Don't get used to it."
They stood beside the railing.
Roman's voice became quieter.
"I spent three years thinking grief was loyalty."
Emma waited.
"If I stopped being angry, I thought it meant Nora mattered less."
Emma looked toward the lit windows.
"And now?"
"Now I think she'd be furious that I wasted three years."
Emma smiled.
"She sounds smart."
"Annoyingly."
Titan pushed between them.
Roman rested a hand on his head.
"I've been thinking about the foundation."
Emma immediately became suspicious.
"That's never a harmless sentence."
Roman ignored her.
"The independent trust needs a director."
"No."
"I haven't asked."
"You were about to."
"You don't know that."
"I absolutely know that."
Roman smiled.
Emma shook her head.
"I own a store."
"You can keep the store."
"I don't want your boardroom."
"You'd hate the boardroom."
"Correct."
"The trust can be headquartered somewhere else."
Emma looked at him.
"Roman."
"No corporate reporting. Independent board. Veterinary oversight. Rescue funding. Enforcement grants. Training reform."
Emma's expression slowly changed.
Roman continued.
"Nora wanted the foundation to protect animals. It became a machine that hid what was being done to them."
He looked toward Titan.
"I want someone in charge who notices when a dog is afraid."
Emma stared at the snow.
"You could hire a professional nonprofit director."
"I could."
"But?"
"I trust you."
The word hung between them.
Emma looked at him.
Months earlier she would have mocked him for it.
Now she understood the cost.
Roman was not saying she was useful.
He was saying he was willing to become vulnerable again.
Emma looked toward Titan.
"What do you think?"
Titan sneezed.
Roman nodded.
"Compelling."
Emma smiled.
"I'll consider it."
Roman looked genuinely surprised.
"That's not a no."
"Don't ruin it."
They returned inside.
Before leaving, Roman placed Nora's yellow raincoat in a storage box.
Not a sealed evidence bag.
A box.
A memory.
At the front door he turned off the lights.
Titan waited outside in the snow.
Roman looked at Beacon House one last time.
Then locked the door.
May you like
Not because he was abandoning it.
Because he finally intended to come back.
