“I’ll dismiss it as the pain talking and not your glowing personality.”
“Or you could just call it what it is. I don’t like you,” she spat back.
“Most people don’t.”
“Now that I believe.”
With two fingers tucked between my lips, I blew and let out a whistle that had every patron turning our way. Not really my intention, but that was the only way to get Scooter’s attention.
The retired fisherman popped his head up in the pass and glowered. “What?”
“Maisy’s taking five.”
“She’s the only one out there.”
“Ahh, let her go. We can get along for a few minutes,” Milton said with a wave of his hand as he sipped away at his coffee.
“Five minutes. That’s it,” Scooter said, pointing his greasy spatula at us through the pass.
“Come on.”
“You’re nuts.”
“And you’re maddening. Now move it.”
“Yes, Coach,” she said with a roll of her eyes. But I noticed the way her steps faltered with the snide comment.
Because…the rib.
I was going to take care of that sucker and say farewell to Mayhem once and for all.
I led her through the side exit the employees used. The same one I used for a year washing dishes as a teenager here at night, when the menu switched from gut-busting breakfasts to fried fish and seafood fresh from the ocean.
The spring-loaded door slammed shut behind us, reminding me of all the times I used to cut out here to kiss my girlfriend, Shelby.
Okay, putting that memory away now.
I gave the railing a hard shake to make sure it was solid. Falling fifteen feet to the lower parking lot, probably not the help she was looking for.
Not that she wanted any help, but she sure as hell was going to get it, whether she liked it or not.
She hugged herself against the cold. “I’ve seen this part in the movies. This is where you toss my ass over. Let me tell you something, I go, you go.”