Chapter 360

Right now, Molly’s mom had her hands tucked inside her coat, hoping her puffer jacket would cover what she was doing. She thought no one would notice, but Claire had clocked her suspicious behavior right away, and Dane was already on alert too.

“I’m fine,” Claire said, looking Molly’s mom straight in the eyes. “Even if you brought a knife, you wouldn’t dare actually use it. You wouldn’t risk ending up in jail with your daughter p>

Molly’s mother looked furious, but deep down, she knew Claire was right. She didn’t really have the nerve. She’d only brought the knife to try to scare Claire a little, but Claire wasn’t the type to be intimidated.

“Claire, maybe Molly offended you, but our family hasn’t,” Molly’s mother pressed. “Did you get someone to mess with our business on purpose p>

Their family ran a restaurant, and business lately had been awful. It was almost New Year’s, which should have been the busiest season, but while every other restaurant in the neighborhood was full of customers, theirs was totally empty. Things had gotten so bad, they were barely holding the place together. Molly’s dad was convinced Claire was behind it.

Claire, though, hadn’t even heard about any of this. She definitely hadn’t had anything to do with it, but as soon as they mentioned it, everything clicked into place for her.

“Your daughter did what she did, and the whole neighborhood found out, right? People talk,” Claire said. “So if folks don’t want to eat at your restaurant anymore, maybe you should blame your daughter instead of me. She’s the one who started all this p>

“You” Molly’s dad started to protest, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized Claire might have a point. Ever since Molly’s incident had gotten around, their business had dropped off a cliff.

With the holidays coming, Molly’s parents had planned to stay in the city and cash in instead of going

They’d

back to their hometown. They stocked up on ingredients, but barely anyone was booking tables. Instead of making money, the Charles family lost a ton. In the end, they had to close up early and take whatever food was left back home.

Back in their hometown, relatives gave them a hard time about it, which only put them in a worse mood. Even coming back to the city, their city relatives just piled on more criticism That’s when they decided to confront Claire, hoping things had blown over. Unfortunately for them, Claire was still having none of it.

“You two should just go back,” Claire told them. “Try raising your daughter better. Otherwise, who knows what kind of trouble she’ll get into next p>

Seeing Dane standing there with Claire, looking intimidating as ever, Molly’s parents realized it wouldn’t do any good to keep pushing. Claire got the police involved again, they’d just end up in deeper trouble. So, upset and defeated, they turned and left.

Once they were gone, Dane led Claire to the car.

“Why didn’t you tell me they’d been bothering you?” Dane asked, still eyeing the direction Molly’s parents had gone. “If they ever get desperate or someone encourages them, they could become actually dangerous p>

Claire shrugged. “This is only the second time they’ve showed up. And I really don’t think they’ll try anything else. Sure, they care about their daughter, but they care about themselves even more. They aren’t actually reckless, just desperate p>

“You still shouldn’t let your guard down,” Dane warned her. He didn’t push it any further, though.

Instead, he decided to distract her with food. Before long, the two of them ended up at Hearth & Kettle again, taking the chance to wish Jennifer a happy new year.