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“Aiya, stop talking,” Vera says. “You are not helping.”
“And I was a stay-at-home mom stuck in an abusive marriage,”Julia says. “So we definitely know what it’s like to feel stuck.” She gives Aimes a warm smile, and Vera spots tears glimmering in Aimes’s eyes before she turns away.
After clearing her throat, Aimes says, “But—I don’t—I don’t actually know what I want to do. I did study English Lit at Cal, but I don’t know if it is something I wanna do. Sorry.”
“Why you are sorry?” Vera says. “Don’t be sorry. You are young, there are million jobs out there, of course you don’t know what you want to do. Is okay. That is why you have me to tell you what to do. And what you should do is the hang out with these two ladies.”
Aimes’s eyes dart from Vera to Sana to Julia and back to Vera. “I mean, I don’t want to be a bother…”
“No, you’re not,” Sana says. “We hang out all the time, and we’d love for you to join us. Come on, we’ll get ant cupcakes and chill at the wharf.”
“Ant cupcakes?”
Julia rolls her eyes. “It’s Sana’s latest thing. She thinks we should be eating bugs.”
“They’re low carb, high protein, and friendly for the environment.”
Vera smiles cunningly. “Get one extra, I give to Winifred. Now off you go! Bye-bye!”
She gives Aimes a little push and waves them off.
“Call Selena,” Julia says over her shoulder.
“Stop nagging,” Vera calls back. Then, with a happy sigh, she goes back inside her tea shop and gets to work. She’s not about to let a good vandalism go to waste.
Nineteen
TJ
“This is pretty bad,” Lomax says.
“Can’t believe some asshole did this to Vera,” Kit says, as she climbs the ladder with an electric drill in her hand.
“Oh, I always say when people get angry like this, it mean you are doing the right thing,” Vera says.
TJ pinches the bridge of his nose. “Or it means you’re pissing the wrong people off and you should stop for your own safety.”
Vera shares a look with Robin. “Your father is very boring man, isn’t he?”
Robin grins. “Yep, I’ve said that to him like a million times.”
TJ watches as Kit unscrews Vera’s old sign. Kit has mentioned in the past that one of the classes she took back at the juvenile facility is woodshop, but he never really appreciated it until now. He has a newfound admiration for Kit, and he’s feeling extra useless, and he’s really freaking stressed out about Vera’s insistence on continuing her investigation. And he’s just finished doing his books and there’s no way around it, he’s going to have to close up shop.
Everyone cheers as the old sign comes down. Putting on the new one requires more than a pair of hands, and TJ is surprised by how tiring the work is. He’s never going to look at a store sign the same way again. Afterward, Vera invites them all inside for some Korean-French pastries and some Chinese tea.
“This kimchi cheese croissant is so good, Grandma,” Robin says.
“Is it? Is okay, I guess.” Vera frowns at TJ. “TJ, you okay? You not eating very much.”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” TJ takes another bite of the croissant just so Vera won’t start prying. They really are very good, but he doesn’t have an appetite.
“Have you reported this to the police?” Lomax says.
“Aiya, of course I have.”
“And what did they say?” Robin says.
Vera pauses for such a long time that even TJ notices.