Page 42 of It Runs in the Family

“Hey, Iris,” he said, more subdued when I stopped in front of him. “I was going to call you today, but I got busy.”

“Oh, yeah?” I asked with an exaggerated eyebrow lift. “What were you going to call me about?”

He started to say something, then his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “I was gonna see if you wanted to go out Monday night.”

I continued to stare at him, and he took my silence as encouragement to continue.

“There’s a new taco place out on Monroe Street. I thought maybe we could go there.”

I lifted my brows again. “You mean Taco Bell?”

“Yeah, you know about it?”

“Everyone within a ten-mile radius of the place knows about it,” I said, barely holding onto my temper. “Hell, it’s made the town’s Facebook page multiple times.”

His eyes widened. “You’re on Facebook?”

I took a deep breath and decided it wasn’t worth telling him I was a frequent purchaser on Facebook Marketplace.

“Anyway…” he said after several seconds of silence. “I hear there’s a bunch of stuff on the menu. Lots of choices.”

“I know, Mannie,” I said, still keeping my voice neutral. “Just because this is Chaffney’s first Taco Bell doesn’t mean I haven’t been to one.”

“Oh.”

“Everything’s pretty cheap there,” I said, catching Lisa walking toward us out of the corner of my eye.

“I’ve heard that too,” he said, starting to get excited. “So, does Monday night work for you?”

“Oh, my God,” Lisa said in disgust. “You’re going out with Mannie?” She was all of twenty-one-years old and thought anyone over the age of thirty was “old,” but her real reason for disgust was probably that he was forty-something and had no plans other than living in his mother’s basement and playing videos game for the rest of his life.

I rested my hand on the counter and leaned closer, narrowing my eyes. “So… Taco Bell? That’s it? That’s all you got?”

“Uh…” He cast a glance to Lisa, then back at me.

The bell on the door rang, but all three of us ignored it.

“We could maybe go fishing at Lake Cosmo.”

“Taco Bell… and fishing?” I pressed, still holding his gaze.

He swallowed hard. “Yeah. I guess.”

“So, getting me fired is only worth about twenty bucks?” I demanded.

“You got fired?” Lisa screeched.

Mannie’s face paled. “Well, I guess we could go to the movies?”

“That’s another twenty bucks.”

“More like sixty,” said a man’s voice behind me. “And that’s without popcorn and drinks.”

Mannie held up his hand as he turned his attention to the man behind me. “Hold on, now. Let’s not get crazy here.”

“Okay, then fifty,” I said, lowering my voice. “So, you got me fired for fifty bucks.”

“Wait!” Lisa protested, turning a glare to Mannie. “What the fuck did you do to get her fired?”