“Where are we going?” she asks me.
“To talk to a lawyer.” I’ll need to call Miriam to let her know we’re going to be swinging by her office, but I’m sure she won’t mind.
Jade tugs out of my grip, her face a mask of confusion. “Why? I didn’t do anything wrong. I wasn’t even here.”
“I wasn’t there when Miranda died, and I’m still dealing with the fallout twelve years later. It doesn’t matter if you’re innocent. All that matters is whether or not these peoplethinkyou’re guilty.”
She glances over her shoulder to where two women with matching canes are watching us with a little too much interest. “That won’t happen,” she says. “Most of these people have known me my entire life. They know I wouldn’t do something like that.”
As if that matters when the Still Springs rumor mill gets hold of some juicy gossip. Back when I was twenty-one, I ran into my little league baseball coach in Austin, and I heard him call me a shitbag under his breath. “I really hope I’m wrong about this, Jade. But you need to be prepared, just in case. This could turn really fucking bad.”
She shoves her hair back from her flushed face, a blush blooming up her throat. “I can barely afford groceries most of the time. How in the world do you expect me to pay for a lawyer?”
She couldn’t pay for fucking groceries? I had no idea things werethatbad. Why hadn’t she told me?Because she doesn’t trust you. My teeth clench so hard that my jaw creaks. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll handle it.”
Jade’s golden strands of hair fall right back when she starts shaking her head. “No. I don’t need you to take care of me.”
This woman. Of all the times for her to dig in her heels, why does it have to be today? I rake my hands through my hair, ready to rip it all out. “When will you get it through your beautiful head that Iwantto take care of you?”
Her eyes widen, and she blinks up at me, her expression carefully neutral. “Why?”
What kind of question is that? Why does anyone want to take care of someone else?
“So you can tell your sisters all about my failing store?” she asks.
I did what, now? “Jade—”
She holds up a hand. “It’s fine, Dylan. I feel like a fool, but I’m not mad at you.”
“I didn’t tell them anything. Iris knew about the financial problems before I did. You know this town. People talk.” All the more reason to make sure Jade doesn’t end up getting raked over the coals after this fire. “Please, Jade. Let me help you.”
More tears fill her eyes as she lifts her head toward the gray sky. “You heard Nate. This could take months. By the time they finish the investigation, you’ll be long gone.”
That had been the plan, but I’m not so sure it is anymore. “What if I’m not? What if I stay? What if we try to do this thing for real?”
At first, Jade looks stunned. But then she sighs and blinks away. “That’s a lot of ‘what if’s’, Dylan,” she says sadly, running her finger under her eye to catch a falling tear. “And I have enough of those in my life already.”
A tall firefighter steps around the corner. When he sees us, he waves a gloved hand at Jade. “Miss Quinn? Do you mind coming with me?”
She lets out a long sigh before walking over to him. I’m about to follow her when I start wondering if I should. She didn’t ask me to come with her. Is that because she doesn’t want me there?
Jade’s constantly using the fact that I’m supposed to go back to Austin as an excuse to keep her distance from me. I’ve offered to stay several times, but she’s never actually said that she wants me to.
Maybe that’s because she doesn’t.
My throat flexes hard.
Instead of returning to the mayhem on Main Street, I continue up the hill, away from it all. How easy would it be to hop on my bike and leave for good? That’s probably what I should do, but I don’t. I continue around the corner, not really having a destination in mind but knowing that I need some space to breathe and think.
I don’t stop until I can no longer smell smoke other than what’s left on my coat. When I glance around, my eyes catch on the town playground across the street. There aren’t any kids playing today, so it shouldn’t look creepy for me to sit on the bench by myself. Only I don’t sit on the bench. I plop down on the uneven merry-go-round and give the rusted old thing a shove with my boot.
Leaves whirl through the air, landing on the wood chips beneath the slide and swings.
My head falls back against a metal bar, and I lift my eyes to the gray clouds looming above. Around and around I go, my thoughts spinning faster through my mind.
The more I think about leaving Jade, the harder it is to breathe.
My therapist’s words come back to haunt me.“If you aren’t willing to give her what she needs, you need to let her find someone who will.”
