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“Um, yeah, sure,” I said.

“What’s your number?” she asked, and I gave it to her. My phone buzzed with a message from her a moment later.

“There. Now you can send me your address.” She absolutely could have gotten both my number and my address from Layne, but she’d decided to do it this way and I didn’t know why.

She reached behind me and plucked a candy bar from the display.

“See you tomorrow,” she said.

“See you,” I said, leaning on the display for support.

Chapter Seven

“A friend is picking me up to go to dinner tomorrow night,” I said when I was eating with my parents.

“A friend?” Mama said, her eyes bright with excitement.

“Yeah, she’s, um, staying here for the summer and Layne asked me to help her get out of the house,” I said. I’d practiced what I was going to say on the way home from the store.

“That’s nice of you,” Mom said. “Does she have social anxiety too?”

“No, she’s just new in town.”

“Is it Ryan Jewel?” Mama said.

“How do you know about Ryan Jewel?” I asked.

“Just about everyone has been talking about her,” Mama said. “You have no idea how many people want to see if they can sell her a house here and make a commission.”

That made sense.

“Well, it’s her. She’s Mark’s—Layne’s boss—niece, so Layne has known her forever. I’m not really sure why she singled me out to talk to her,” I said.

“You’re a kind person with a good spirit,” Mama said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Remember when you used to volunteer at the animal shelter? You were the only one who could work with the most hopeless cases,” Mom said. In high school I used to volunteer at the local animal shelter, both for my college applications and because I loved doing it. I guess I’d been kind of drawn to the animals that needed a little bit of extra love.

“I guess,” I said.

“Can you do one thing for me?” Mama asked.

“Sure,” I said.

“Can you ask her why they discontinued the Fall Frolic candle two years ago? It was my favorite. Oh, and ask her if she has access to any. I’m willing to pay,” she said.

“I’m not asking her for candles, Mama,” I said.

“Just work it into the conversation. I really miss the scent of that candle,” she said.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Later that night I sent Ryan my address.

See you tomorrow she replied.

I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed by her simple response, but maybe she didn’t want to talk.

Sighing, I set my phone down and went to take a shower. When I came back to my phone, I had a notification.