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“I’ll owe you one,” she said. “But I also need to work on the candles. Someone”—she gave me a hard look—“has kept me busy.”

“We’re definitely even,” I said. “You don’t owe me anything.”

She hummed. “You’re right. I did save your ass with Agnes and Beatrice.”

I wouldn’t disagree with her. I was about to tell her I would even treat her to food, but she was focused on putting candles out. Her brow was creased, and it was so rare I saw her so focused on something.

Turning, I started on what she’d asked me to do. We worked in a content silence for a long while, broken only by her bringing over a candle for me to smell.

Every one of them smelled incredible, and I’d always loved them when I burned them in my apartment in San Francisco. The girls had fought over one and nearly broken the glass container before I took it away.

I wondered if they knew that Jade was the one who made those. I wondered what they would think if they knew now. I needed to bring them in and let them pick out a few things.

“Done,” I said hours later. “What do you think?”

She looked up. “It looks great.” Then she frowned. “Did you reorganize them?”

“Guilty. I thought alphabetical order would be nice.”

“You nerd.”

“Want me to put it back?”

“No. It looks good.” She put two more candles on a shelf before standing fully. “And I’m done too. Now I can focus solely on selling. Speaking of which, do you need any candles?”

I had tons. Too many even. “What do you recommend?”

“Finally. I’ve been waiting for this moment.” She took a breath before going to the back shelves. I wasn’t sure if she even looked at the labels before she pulled them. She had a stack within a minute.

“These are for you.”

“Did you have this planned?”

She shook her head. “Only one of us can be a loser.”

“So, you didn’t?”

“I plead the fifth.”

I laughed and looked at what she’d brought over. I loved the idea that she thought of me as much as I thought of her. The first one I picked up was vanilla, which I didn’t expect. Atticus mostly got the woodsy scents for me. This wasn’t something my stepfather would grab, but it was something Jade would pick for me. Back when we first met, she had vanilla-scented shampoo. This reminded me of those times.

“This one’s good.”

“I knew you’d like it.” Her lips curved into a smile. “Try this one next.”

I grabbed the candle and inhaled. This one was a different scent. It was clean and fresh and took me back to my office in San Francisco.

“Alice would have loved this one.” I said it softly, and then wondered if I should have kept my mouth shut.

Jade was still smiling. “She had good taste.”

“She was a neat freak. Very organized. The detergent she used smelled like this.”

“I don’t know how, but I can see it. I have a feeling Beatrice will grow up to be just like her.” Her smile faded. “I wish I could have met her.”

“You two would have gotten along. I’m sure of it.”

“You should have brought her by.”