I fought an outward cringe. Susie could be really harsh given just a little rope to hang herself with, and while I understood she was feeling a bit raw due to an overabundance of hormones, and Luca probably didn’t care about Mitzy’s death as much as he’d pretend for the vloggers and news reporters, when she took a shot, she aimed to hurt.
“Go away, Luca! Leave me alone!” Susie yelled at him, gripping my arms.
Her fingers dug into my flesh, and her hands were shaking. She was afraid of him—and that angered me. I wouldn’t have him terrorizing her in my very own store.
Lifting my chin, I gave Luca my scorched-earth look. “I think it’s best you leave, Luca. Susie will contact you if and when she wants to talk. I’m only going to ask once…” I warned with a finger pointed toward the door.
He shifted from foot to foot in a jittery hop of nervousness. “Who are you to tell me whether she wants to talk to me or not? She’s gonna have my baby!” he yelled. “I have a right to talk to her!” He made another move to reach over my shoulder, but Goose grabbed him by the wrist.
His gnarled fist gripped Luca’s flesh, and his eyes narrowed when he growled. “The lady doesn’t want to talk. If the lady says no, the answer is no. Skedaddle, boy, or I’m gonna show you how we talk ’round here. You understand?” Goose gave him a pointed look. “Now, you get on outta here before you frighten my customers and I have to call the po-lice.”
Luca yanked his hand out of Goose’s iron grip, his eyes glittering with rage. “Fine, but I’ll be back, Susie! I have rights, too! I have rights!”
“Get outta here, boy!” Knuckles hollered in a tone I don’t think I’ve ever heard before as he ran toward Luca, who crashed through the door and out into the pouring rain—running right into Higgs’s solid frame.
“Whoa! What’s the rush, buddy?” Higgs asked with a furrowed brow, gripping Luca’s shoulders with strong hands.
But Luca shrugged him off. “Get off me, dude!” he shouted before shrugging his way out of Higgs’s grip and taking off.
Higgs entered the shop and looked at me with concerned eyes. “What the heck was that about?”
I let out a deep breath and shook my head. “Higgs, this is Susie Masters. Come have some tea with us and I’ll explain.”
He gave us all an expectant look, as though he wasn’t moving an inch until we gave him an explanation, but I held out my hand and shot him a coy smile. “I have donuts.”
He grinned that handsome grin and took my hand, sending a small tingle along my wrist. “Well, then,” he growled, deep and resonant. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
I chuckled. Men and their stomachs, right?
Chapter 12
As we sat at family dinner later that night, Coop was still down in the dumps, her appetite virtually nonexistent, and to boot, it was roast chicken night. Coop loved Knuckles’s roast chicken, glazed in a lemon sauce that left the skin crispy, coupled with tiny new potatoes basted in butter and rosemary, roast carrots, stuffing, gravy and hot buttered rolls.
Who am I kidding? I loved Knuckles’s roast chicken, and I could probably eat Coop’s if she wasn’t interested. But it was her disinterest that worried me, and I’d mentioned as much to Higgs this afternoon once we’d sent Susie home safely.
We’d sat with her for a while, having some tea and donuts and talking about her options at this point. She was furious that Corinne had outed her, but when I showed her the page for her channel, and all the lovely comments of support, she’d calmed a bit.
Sure, there were tons of jerks who had something to say about her age, but there were far more who supported her. She’d left us to go home and consider what to do next with her publicist and manager in a much better frame of mind.
Higgs had offered to escort her home, but she’d grabbed an Uber with the promise she’d let us know she’d arrived home safely.
So far, there hadn’t been any new information from any of the YT gossip vloggers. What there had been a lot of vloggers sending love to Ames and tons of speculation on his diagnosis and a huge debate over how serious his injuries were.
Anyway, Higgs had compared Coop’s response to the events of the past couple of days as the phases of adolescence, and that made perfect sense.
“Pass the carrots, would you, Coopie?” Goose asked as he wiped his mouth.
She did so, but with very little energy, her arms limp, her shoulders slumped.
“Hey, Coop. You okay?” Higgs asked from across the table, where he dumped a big spoonful of Knuckles’s stuffing onto his plate.
Folding her hands in her lap, Coop sighed. “I’m fine, thank you, Higgs.”
Wow. We really were going full-on teenager here. Though, it was an odd mix of teenager laced with a very adult view. On the one hand, she was mopey as all get out. But on the other, she was very polite about it.
“Would it help if I told you I heard a little gossip about Ames today, Coop?” Higgs asked hopefully as he poured a big glob of delicious gravy over his stuffing and grabbed a third helping of potatoes.
She shrugged listlessly. “I’m not sure, Higgs. Trixie says to gossip is bad.”
Higgs paused a moment, peering at her over the short candles we’d lit, his dark hair gleaming, his eyes concerned. “Okay, how about we call it a small clue then? Actually, it’s two small clues.”
I wanted to jump up and scream, “Yes! I want to hear the gossip,” but I restrained myself, stuffing a piece of deliciously moist chicken into my mouth to keep from appearing too eager.
Coop dragged her fork
