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“Who all do you have who’s willing to help?” I asked over breakfast. It was the first somewhat-warm day, and we were eating on the porch to enjoy the beautiful weather.
“Tammy and Ron, Jackie, Henry, and you.”
Tammy’s husband was the only recent addition, and we were both pretty sure it was because they went home at night together and he’d figured out some of it.
“That’s it?”
He shrugged. “It’s been hard to figure out who wouldn’t tell the whole town.”
“But they’ll know eventually.”
“I’m hoping to keepsomeof it under wraps.”
I narrowed my eyes. Cain had started backsliding into some of his old ways a few months ago. I didn’t know why he was worried about everyone knowing.
I was half tempted to beg Kerry to let me into the Facebook group so I could see if anyone else knew. We’d discussed it when we’d run into each other at the square, but I’d never gotten to talk to her for long before Cain would interrupt.
There was obviously some sort of bad blood, something that Cain didn’t want to share.
“What’s the worst that can happen if you don’t?” I asked. “Sure, being in the center of gossip isn’t fun, but it’s better than ... the alternative.”
His lips pressed together. I’d caught him staying up late at night, more than likely thinking about Eric.
“Theo might be a good choice,” he said. “He’s the guy who fixed the heat at Center Point the other week.”
I nodded. “Yeah, and he talked to Eric for a bit. Seemed pretty open-minded.”
Cain nodded. “That’s one more down.”
“What about his teacher?” I asked.
“Nope. Not an option.”
“But she would be?—”
“Mollie, I’m telling you she’s not an option.”
It was rare that he got so firm with me these days. The last time it had happened was when I’d tried to feed Hennifer for the third time in a day to get her to like me.
“Would you like to tell me why?” I asked.
“Not really.”
“Fine,” I huffed. I didn’t know why he was keeping secrets, but I knew that getting him to open up before he was ready was like trying to take down a brick wall with a thumbtack. “What about Jade?”
“She . . . might work.”
“Grace seems to like you.”
“Yeah, her too.”
“And Kerry?—”
“Not her,” he cut in again.
“Lemme guess, you won’t tell me why?”
“You don’t wanna know why. Trust me.”