Page 137 of Secret Weapon

“You have to use the magic word,” Tabby told her.

“Huh?”

“The magic word is”—Fuck—“please.”

We all owed Quinn a debt of thanks.

“Your little girl is so polite.”Laurie gave us a shaky smile.“Where did you buy the sweater?It’s Esme’s birthday soon, and I haven’t… I need to get her a gift.”

Ana nodded toward me.“My sister made it.Not the actual sweater, but she painted the picture.”

“Oh.”Now Laurie’s lips quivered.“You’re real talented.”

“When’s her birthday?If you buy a plain sweater, then maybe I could make her one similar?”

“Really?You’d do that?”

“Sure.I mean, I’m not a professional artist, though.Painting’s just a hobby.”

Shit, why was she crying?A tear rolled down her cheek, and she wiped it away, but another soon took its place.Ana nudged Tabby with her foot, and the kid took the hint.

“Let’s go play.”She tugged Esme’s hand.“I wanna meet Sammy the Shark.”

Okay, we could work with this… I slid into the seat beside Laurie and channelled Brooke.I’d learned a lot from watching her over the past year.Brooke was the sweetest person I knew, one who listed kindness as her superpower.

“Hey, are you okay?”

A dumb question, in my opinion, but apparently the correct one in these situations.

“I…I…”

“Is there someone we can call for you?”Time to push another button.“Esme’s pop, maybe?”

She cried harder.Excellent.I tucked an arm around her shoulder and squeezed as Ana held out a tissue.

“Th-th-thanks.I’m s-s-sorry.Everything just… Stuff’s been so hard lately, and when you said something nice, it… Well, I guess it just tipped me over the edge.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?”

“We b-b-barely know each other.”

“Momma always told us not to turn the other cheek.Would it help to talk things through?”

“Dede’s a good listener,” Ana put in.“I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve called her to vent.”

“I’m not even allowed to talk about most of it.”

“Not allowed?By who?”

“The cops.At least, I think they were cops.”

Ana took a step back and glanced toward the fish pool.The fish were made from foam, fifteen varieties in total, each with the name of the species printed on it.Funandeducational, or so the website claimed.

“Cops?Uh…”

“I didn’t do anything illegal, I swear.But they had questions about my h-h-husband, and…”

“Did he hurt you?Your husband?”

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