Page 43 of It Runs in the Family

I tilted my head. “Why don’t you tell her how I got fired, Mannie?”

He swallowed again as he turned to her. “Iris said she couldn’t go out with me because we worked together.”

“So you got her fired?” Lisa shouted.

“Seriously?” said the guy behind me. “You got her fired so you could take her to Taco Bell?”

Mannie’s gaze shifted between the man behind me and Lisa. He must have decided convincing Lisa of his innocence was more important because he settled on her and whined, “I said we could go to a movie.”

“Wow. Big spender.” She gave his chest a shove. “What did you do to get her fired?”

Mannie stumbled a step backward. “Um… I may have told Jimmy that Iris stole from the register.”

“YOU DID WHAT?” Lisa screamed like a banshee.

While I knew she’d take my side, I hadn’t planned on her going full warrior on my behalf.

The man behind me ran out the door and the bell rang wildly.

Mannie’s eyes filled with terror. “Iris said she wouldn’t go out with me since we worked together.”

“If you’re so fucking desperate to go out with her, then you quit, you imbecile,” Lisa said, shoving him hard again.

He stumbled backward, but the cigarette display kept him upright. “But I need my job to pay for a new computer. Mine’s a couple of years old.”

“And Iris doesn’t need her job, you fucking asshole?” she growled.

The bell chimed again, announcing a new customer, but I didn’t turn around to see who it was. It was no longer my concern.

“She fucking lives on her own,” Lisa continued, poking Mannie in the chest. “You live with your mother. How’s she supposed to pay her rent?”

He glanced toward me and the surprise on his face confirmed he’d never given it a moment’s consideration. Then his face brightened. “You could move in with me.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“Are you fucking serious?” Lisa demanded, shoving him again.

I decided Lisa had things under control. I planned to call and thank her later, so I turned around to head for the door and almost ran into a guy standing by the door. I hadn’t heard the bell ring again.

“That guy’s a real piece of work,” he said, flicking his gaze to Mannie before looking back at me. He looked like he was in his thirties, but the dress shirt and pants threw me off. Definitely not from around here, even with the top two buttons of his shirt open.

“Yeah, he’s a keeper,” I said as I brushed past him and headed out the door, feeling slightly vindicated but still unsatisfied. Lisa would tell Jimmy that Mannie had lied, and while Jimmy would likely call and offer me my old job, nothing would happen to Mannie. His mother was Jimmy’s cousin, and nepo babies weren’t just in show biz.

“Hey,” the guy called after me as he burst out the door behind me. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

Groaning, I turned to face him as I reached for my car door. He was tall, with dark blond hair and a seventies’-porn-style mustache. A diagonal line ran through his left eyebrow, which I presumed was from a scar and not a social media trend. “While I appreciate the support back there, I’m not interested in a hook up.”

He laughed as he walked toward me and pulled something out of his jacket pocket. “I’m not here to ask you out, although I’m sure that guy would be grateful to have a comrade in being shot down.”

My face flushed with embarrassment. “Sorry. It’s just that guys don’t usually go chasing after women unless they want something.”

“I want something, just not that.” He lifted a folded piece of paper and showed me a photo printed on it. “Have you seen this person?”

A quick glance told me the image he was holding up was a photo of Selena, wearing the dress she’d had on last night. Where had he gotten that? At the club or somewhere else? “Are you with the police?”

He held it up higher. “Do you know who this is?”

I propped a hand on my hip. “Do you?”