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Jackie eyed the hair dye and then my falsely serene face. “I’m sure you do. And nothing interesting is going on with me.”
“Are you sure?” I promised myself I would be fine, but I would let a little bit show for the investigation. “I’d love a distraction.”
Jackie’s brow rose, but she nodded. “Well, I get to watch my grandkids this weekend.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. Mollie and Cain deserve some time off. And I get to snuggle a newborn. Aren’t I lucky?”
My throat was tight. Usually, I could handle thoughts of families. This time, I thought about Gabriel’s.
Was he with the girls’ mom? Was she around?
Or, worse, were they alone?
“Jade?” Jackie gently pressed.
I forced myself out of my thoughts. “Sorry. Got a little lost there. That’s great.” I took a deep breath as she started putting the dye in my hair. “Anything else?”
“There’s not much with me. You know I’m either here or watching TV.”
“Really? You don’t have any secrets?”
“Me?” She laughed. “I mean, I was thinking about trying to go to the Treasure Trove, but I hate spending money.”
Finally.
“Why do you hate spending money?”
“I don’t have a lot of it, of course. My husband was broke when he died.” She rolled her eyes. “And I make just enough to live off of. If it weren’t for the STM grant, I’d be done for.”
“The STM grant, you say? You use it?”
“I do. It helped with rent for a while, though I don’t have to use it as much as I used to. I’m getting more customers since the show. Aren’t you?”
“A few. I have weird stuff, though.”
“We love your weird stuff,” Jackie said. “And your candles. I’ll buy you out of the orange honeysuckle one.”
“I’ll take it,” I said. “But it better not be out of pity.”
“Oh, I would never.” She shook her head. “Still, if you need us to jump in, we will.”
“I’m okay,” I replied. “I get regular business. I still have to use the grant, though.”
She hummed. “Don’t think too hard about a helping hand, okay? It’s not good for you.”
“But we don’t know who the helping hand is . . . right?”
I eyed her, watching for her to tense. Jackie wasn’t high on my list of suspects, but she was on it nonetheless.
But there was none of that.
All I got was a wistful sigh. “It can be, but I know whoever is behind it cares about us.”
“How do you know that?”
“Just look outside.” She pointed a gloved hand to the colorful buildings.
