Page 56 of Stay for Forever

“Naturally, darling.” He stands and walks away without a word to me.

What the hell? Is he ignoring me?

As I wait and watch and seethe, he takes selfie after selfie with the girls. Once the pictures are finished, the autograph signing begins.

“Do you want us to chase them out of town?” I startle at Sage’s question.

“What?”

“Chase them out of town,” she repeats.

“I thought no one knew he was here. Do you think someone told?”

“They said something about a picture on the Insta,” Clove answers as she sits down across from me in Mav’s spot.

I frown. Mav’s spot? He hasn’t sat there for at least fifteen minutes while he attends to his fans. This is supposed to be our first meal together as a couple. Some couple we are.

“What’s the Insta?” Feather asks as she joins us.

“Shouldn’t you be serving ice cream?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “No more than Clove should be serving coffee or Sage should be at the police department.”

Sage checks her watch. “My shift doesn’t begin for another fifteen minutes.”

“The Insta is social media,” Clove answers Feather’s earlier question and I raise my eyebrow at her. “What? Clove’s Coffee Corner has an Instagram account.”

“Uh oh.”

I frown at Sage. “Uh oh what? How can this get any worse?”

She points outside the window where another group of young women are rushing down the street. “Come on.” She stands. “Let’s chase them out of town. This should be fun.” She marches out of the diner with Feather and Clove on her heels.

I should help, but I can’t leave Mav on his own. I scan the room to discover him laughing and joking it up with the teenagers. I guess I won’t be leaving him on his own after all.

I follow the gossip gals out of the diner where they’re confronting the women.

“What are you doing here?” Sage asks.

“We know Maverick Langston is in town.”

Sage scratches her neck. “Who?”

“Never mind, you old bat. You wouldn’t understand.”

Old bat? I hurry forward to defend Sage, but I don’t make it.

“Who you calling an old bat?” Petal asks and throws her purse on the ground. “I’ll show you who’s an old bat.” She raises her fists. “Or are you afraid to fight?”

What in the name of Eostre is going on? Petal doesn’t fight people. No one in this town does. We’re lovers, not fighters.

“I respect the elderly. I don’t fight them.”

Elderly? Oh shit. I push my way through the gathering crowd intent on separating the two.

“Who are you calling—”

Petal’s husband, Orion, swoops in and lifts his wife before carrying her away. “I’ve got her, Lyric.”

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