Page 76

“Or how terrible it was?”
“Not really.”
“Interesting. Sounds like you enjoyed it.”
“I have nothing to say about that.”
“I have to go get the salon open for some afternoon appointments,” Jackie said. “But I hadsomuch fun. When this starts up next year, we’ll have to go again.” Then she turned to me. “Come talk to me after you help Mollie.”
“Can’t you just say it here?”
“Nope.”
Well,shit.That didn’t mean anything good.
“Come on,” she said. “I won’t keep you from whatever thing Jackie has to tell you.”
“This time, you can keep me. I have a feeling I won’t like it.”
“Yeah!” Eric added as he skipped across the street. “We should stay with Mollie.”
Mollie gave him a smile as we neared her car. I started to load the bread, cakes, and sauces she’d gotten, wondering what Jackie needed to tell me.
“There you are!” a loud voice called. “I’ve been dying to meet you!”
I sighed.Kerry.
I knew she’d been here. I’d figured as much when I had seen Tommy, but we’d been lucky enough not to run into her. Until now, it seemed.
“Hi,” Mollie said, completely unbothered by the stranger currently running toward her. “You must have heard of me.”
“Oh, I know everything that goes on in this town.”
I dropped the last of Mollie’s things in her SUV before closing the trunk.
Thatwas when Kerry finally saw me. Her jaw dropped.
“Or not everything. Cain, is that you?”
“Yep,” I said. “Just putting some stuff away. Nothing more.”
Kerry hummed, appraising us. Eric was right next to Mollie, smiling away without a care in the world. That wasn’t unusual. He didn’t hate people like I did.
Thankfully, I had a healthy distance from her. Just minutes ago, when we were on the crowded street, that hadn’t been the case. I’d gravitated to her like she was a source of comfort.
It was the candle thing. She smelled too much like my favorite one. It had to be that.
“Cain didn’t tell me the farmers market was a thing, so I made him hang out with me as punishment.”
Kerry laughed. “Is hanging out with you a punishment?”
“For him? It definitely is. We get along like two roosters fighting over the same hen.”
“There’d be a lot more violence if that were the case,” I corrected. The last thing Kerry needed to think was that. She already had a low enough opinion of me.
“Hm. Cats and dogs?”
“No. Those can get along.”