Jayne beamed, her smile warm and unguarded. “Your father and I hardly spend any money on ourselves. This is exactly what it should be spent on, so don’t you worry

about it!b” /b

Edith linked her arm through Jayne’s, her own smile soft and content.

She nced up, only to lock eyes with two all–too–familiar faces.

Edith’s brow furrowed as she tightened her hold on Jayne’s arm. “Mom, let’s go take

a look over there instead.”

Jayne had spotted Heather and Salome as well. Her face stiffened, and she was just about to turn away when Heather’s shrill voice rang out.

“Well, if it isn’t my dear inws!”

Jayne managed a polite smile, maintaining herposure. “Hello, Heather. What a coincidence running into you here. Out shopping as well?”

Heather looked down her nose at them, her posture radiating the smugness of a peacock.

“I’m not sure I can call you inws anymore,” she replied with biting sweetness. “Didn’t Bet say Edith’s nning to remarry?”

Salome shot a sidelong nce at Edith and Jayne, her expression dripping with

disdain.

Edith wore a simple white dress, while Jayne was in a pale green dress suit–both understated, both elegant in their own way. But Salome only saw inness, cheapness, iand /ihad always thought the Sumners looked like they’d stepped out of

a thrift storei. /i

After the iwhole /iiincident /iwith Bet and the police, Salome’s dislike for the Sumners had soured into outright contempt. Her precious Bet had only been trying ito /idrop off a few keepsakes of Beckett’s–a kind gesture, she thought, tofort Edith in her grief. But Edith, shameless as ever, had turned around and started seeing an older man. And the Sumners, equally shameless, reported Bet for “disturbing the peace” in the middle of the night.

With a cold sneer, Salome hissed, “So that’s how you can afford to shop here–using the dowry money from your new sugar daddy, huh? I never pegged you for the gold–digging type, Edith, but I guess you’re not even pretending anymore, now that Beckett’s gone.”

15:00

Before Edith or Jayne could respond, Heather jumped in, her voice syrupy with fake concern. “Edith, the Vance family always treated you well, didn’t we? I would have thought someone raised infort wouldn’t be dazzled by a few trinkets. But look bat /byou now. I guess it must have been exhausting, keeping up that act all these years.”

Edith’s frown deepened. What a small world–it was just her luck to run into these

two.

She couldn’t help wondering if there was something in the water at the Vance house; one by one, they all seemed to go rotten in the head.

She used to put up with it all, for Beckett’s sake–swallowing every slight to keep the peace. But now, there was no reason to pretend.

With calm rity, Edith turned first to Heather. “You called us inws, and my mother responded politely. Then you turned around and said you can’t ept us as inws. If that’s the case, why bother calling out to us at all? As for how the Vance family treated me, I think you know the answer better than anyone.”

Jayne squeezed Edith’s hand, quietly urging her to let it go, not to escte things. Jayne had always been gentle, the type to believe there was no need for fireworks if you could part ways peacefully. Even if they weren’t part of the Vance family

anymore, they all lived in Northcrest, and there was no need to burn bridges.

But Edith tightened her hold on Jayne’s hand. It was precisely because they’d always been too soft that the Vances felt entitled to walk all over them. Now, they were twisting the truth, trying to humiliate them in public.

Heather was momentarily stunned. She hadn’t expected Edith–always so mild, so hopelessly devoted to her son, and never one to talk back–to actually stand up for herself.

Edith didn’t bother waiting for Heather to recover. She shifted her gaze to Salome, her voice steady and cold. “How much money I receive and where I spend it is none of your business. Maybe you’ve had too much vinegar, Salome, because all I can smell off you is bitterness. If you have so much time to worry about my life, maybe you should spend it keeping an eye on your husband–make sure he doesn’t show up at my family’s house in the middle of the night again.”