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Kerry Winsor: WHAT!!! I KNEW HE WAS IN A BAD MOOD TODAY. Well, worse than usual of course.
Tammy Jane: It feels good to be the first to know.
Jackie Anne: Sorry to burst your bubble. I knew this morning.
Kerry Winsor: You’re an insider. You don’t count. AND WHERE WAS YOUR POST?
Jackie Anne: Cain was green in the face at the thought of everyone knowing. It was only a matter of time, but I couldn’t betray him like that. At least not that bad. I think he thinks she’s pretty, though.
Tammy Jane: She’s fucking gorgeous, Jackie. Your boy is in trouble.
The food was incredible, and I was tempted to return to the house and fall into a food coma, but there was a whole town square to enjoy.
I walked around it once, taking it all in. There was an antique shop that had probably furnished Papa Bennie’s decor, as well as a clinic and store. I passed by a bar that wasn’t open yet, and tucked in a small corner was a shop that I’d never seenbefore. There was a crystal on the sign, and it was called Jade’s Goodies.It was so out of place that I had to go in.
The inside smelled like lavender, and there were crystals on the shelves in the back of the store. In the middle was a mixture of incense and candles.
“Oh, hi!” a woman’s voice said. “Sorry, I’m not used to new people coming in. Usually, I can ignore everyone until they come to the front.”
When she walked out, the first thing I noticed was her bright pink hair. Her eyes were a deep brown and she had a nose ring.
“Hello,” I said. “This place is so ...”
“Weird? Yeah, that’s what I was going for. You must be Mollie.”
“You’ve heard of me?”
“There was a Facebook post,” she said as she checked her phone. “Ten minutes ago. It’s big news.”
“So, you know everything I told Tammy?”
“You’re Bennie’s granddaughter and you live with the biggest grump in town. Well, second biggest.”
“There’s someone worse?”
“Hugh Jeffries. He owns the antique shop. The only reason he’s first is because he’s old as hell.”
Hugh Jeffries. The name sounded familiar. I wonder if he?—
“I’m Jade, by the way,” she continued, interrupting my thought.
“Mollie, but you knew that.”
“Sorry. I promise not everything makes it to the Facebook page. But this is just too good. I mean, a woman? Living with Cain Smith?”
“He has that big of a reputation?”
“Anyone who’s as big of a recluse as he is? Yes. You’re ourgateway into his life. Or at least what you’ll share.” She leaned forward with an eyebrow raised.
“I’ve only been here a day. So far, all I’ve seen is him stalking to the animal section of the farm and falling on marbles in the hallway.”
“Oh, I wish I could have been there for that.”
“And he keeps a very clean house,” I said. “My ... Someone I used to live with definitely did not.”
“I’d find it hot if I didn’t know him in his angsty teenage phase,” she said. “But that’s definitely good info.”
“Will it be in the Facebook group in ten minutes?”