In the kitchen the first thing that caught her eye was a big plate of fresh-baked chocolate cookies. She helped herself to one and it was incredibly d...licious, though with a little bit of a funny aftertaste, something she couldn’t quite identify.Olivia was finishing her fourth cookie as Claire and Lexi came into the kitchen. Seeing Olivia standing next to the cookies, Claire winked and said, “Be careful with those. They’re pretty potent.”Olivia gulped. Suddenly she was incredibly thirsty. She. " Well, nuts," she smiled. "I guess that means I'll have to tell Bill I'm staying a while longer. I'm sure he won't mind. So how did the hearing go?" All right, we think," Catalina explained, giving the gist of the story, and that the judge had ordered the land sold at auction and the proceeds split."Well, that gives you the chance of getting out of it all right," she shook her head. "But if Delmer is involved, there's something underhanded brewing. You better watch your step. I wish I had been. While we sat there, I got us a reservation on my Open Table app. She was impressed with my IT skills, but she already knew I worked in the field.I told her with a chuckle, “I promise I’ll try to be as unlike you ex-husband as I can.” That evoked a laugh from Joan. “I’ll try to win you over.”Joan said, “You’re already way ahead of the curve. I like you – a lot. I can’t wait for Saturday.”We parted and I headed back home to do some client work. I had no qualms about taking over two hours for. But if you are free tonight I’d like you to come over tonight, maybe have dinner with me and my mom.”“Why the invite?” Emma asks, genuinely curious. “I haven’t exactly been mean to you the last couple of years.”“Because I like you and I have had a crush on you for a while,” the young girl answers. “Besides I know you don’t really mean any of that stuff, you’re just trying to run from the fact that you like girls but don’t want to admit it.”It sounds logical, but not the reason Emma suddenly has.