Maisie pokes the door open and peers out, tapping me on the shoulder a moment later. “Your friend doesn’t seem like a guy who does polite things a lot,” she says, stepping aside for me to look.
Enzo is standing by the table where Walter and Andrew were sitting. Andrew is yelling at Enzo, pointing a finger at him and hurling curses while Walter tries his best to drag him back toward the exit. Enzo is just standing there, doing nothing, that smirk on his face that I’ve seen so often.
“You hit my dad!” Andrew yells as they reach the door. “No one hits my dad and gets away with it.”
Enzo still says nothing. Walter manages to get him outside, yelling at him, and telling him to get in their car.
With the sheriff and his son gone, Enzo takes their table, grabs a fork, and starts tucking into the eggs on the plate in front of him. He stops, spinning in his seat to look straight at me like he knew I was watching him this whole time.
He beckons me over but I can’t move. He puts the fork down, storming over, pushing the door wide open like he owns the place.
“Do you mind?” Maisie says. “This is staff only. Says so on the sign.”
“Out,” he says to her. “I need to talk to Chloe.”
Maisie looks at me and then at him. “Should I go?” she asks me.
“I’ll be all right,” I tell her. “Speak to you in a minute.”
She goes, slowly, watching Enzo through narrowed eyes as she passes him. “Got my eye on you, bud,” she says as she disappears.
“What were you talking to the sheriff about?” I ask as he stares at me, his eyes burning coals of darkness, making me think of the bear again.
“I told Andrew to leave. He didn’t want to.”
“You told him to leave. Why, exactly?”
“Don’t want that piece of shit anywhere near you.”
“Jealous of him, are you?”
He shakes his head. “Of that worm? I don’t want to see his face after what he said about you, that’s all.”
“What did he say about me?”
He looks like he’s already said too much. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Don’t keep doing that. What did he say about me?”
“You sure you want to know?”
“I’m sure, now tell me.”
“He said you were a dumb bitch for believing he’d bought that necklace as a gift for you.”
“And you didn’t like that?”
“Nope.”
“Threw him out because he said it.”
“Encouraged him to leave.”
“Whatever.” I smile despite myself. “I think that might be the most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
“So let’s eat.”
“One more thing. The sheriff is scared of you, why is that?”