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“At the gas station. But the hours suck. I can’t make enough to pay bills and I got my kid to look after.”
“You have a kid?”
“A son, yeah.”
“Where’s his mother?”
“In New York, last I heard. I thought we were in love but she was just having fun. When we turned up pregnant, she wanted an abortion. She agreed to have the baby instead as long as I took full custody. And here I am.”
They were almost at the student parking lot outside the building that housed most of the chemistry labs. Mark shook his head. “How old is your son?”
“Two.”
“Are you in touch with his mother?”
The younger man shrugged. “Nope, but Abe and me, we don’t need her, either.”
They’d reached their cars. “I’m on my way to work now,” Mark said, unlocking the door of his truck. “I’ll ask around and see what I can find for you.”
“That’d be great, man.” Jon’s vehicle was a an older truck, too, but unlike Mark’s his had a car seat in the back. “I’ll sweep floors. Anything they need.”
Mark believed him.
* * *
WASHING NONNIE’S HAIR wasn’t hard at all. After rolling the old woman’s chair up to the bathroom sink, she’d draped her bony shoulders with a towel and then helped Nonnie slide down in the chair until her head hung in the sink.
Addy took extra time massaging Nonnie’s head while she lathered and conditioned and rinsed.
“I think Mark likes school,” the old woman murmured while Addy’s fingers worked gingerly on her frail scalp.
“I know he does.”
“He told you?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“He told me you applied for the scholarship for him,” Addy said. She was in Shelter Valley to do a job. And had to find out everything she could about anything having to do with Montford University.
“I told him I didn’t.”
“He thinks you lied.”
“What would be the point? He’s already here. Besides, I’m not afraid of my grandson.”
With the help of a cup, Addy rinsed Mark’s grandmother’s hair. Letting the warm water wash over Nonnie’s head as the woman scoffed.
“So you didn’t do it,” Addy asked, just to be clear.
“Nope.”
“Who did?” One of Nonnie’s friends? Someone else the old woman had wrapped around her finger?
“I’ve been wondering that,” Nonnie said. “I didn’t know a thing about it till it showed up in the mailbox. Just like Mar
k.”
