"And you know how many places?" She raised her arm. A jumbo shrimp went flying toward Shaggy's head.
He ducked to the side. "Aw c'mon Jen! Not again!"
She reached into the container again. "At my sister's wedding!" She hurled another shrimp. This one hit Shaggy's chest and bounced onto the pavement.
From about a car-length away, something flashed. A camera? Shaggy's head whipped toward the flash. "Hey!" he yelled. "No pictures! C'mon, dude!"
"At my class reunion!" Jen yelled. "At my uncle's funeral!" She reached into the shrimp container and pulled out a whole fistful. She flung the whole mess in Shaggy's direction. It scattered across the pavement near his feet.
She stalked around Lawton's car. Her fists were clenched as she headed straight for Shaggy. He looked wildly around, like escape still might be possible. But in the end, whether frozen by terror or her threat of changing the locks, he held his ground.
Before I could blink, she was on him. She ripped the phone from his hand and hurled it to the pavement. It crashed down, shattering into broken bits.
Shaggy looked down, his eyes half-crazed. "My phone!"
Jen gave a bark of laughter. "Your phone?Yourphone?"
"Hey, you gave it to me," he said.
"No. I let you use it," she said, "It'smyphone! And what did you promise?"
"Uh—"
"You promised to leave it home tonight. Butdidyou?" She turned toward the crowd. "Did he?"
Around us, gawkers nervously shook their heads. Someone near the back was still taking pictures, illuminating the area with random flashes that made the whole sordid scene that much more unsettling.
Shaggy turned toward the source of the flashing. "Dude, c'mon!" he yelled. "Cut that out! Give us some privacy, will ya?"
Suddenly, I heard a burst of laughter. It sounded half-crazed.
Oh my God. It was coming from me. Through this entire spectacle, I'd been too transfixed to move. But now, I couldn't help it. I pushed away from Lawton and stumbled toward the shattered phone. I looked down.
"It doesn't look okay anymore," I said, with another snort of laughter.
"What's so damn funny?" Shaggy said.
"Do you really have to ask?" I turned to the redhead. "Sorry, I know it's not funny. I just –" I looked to the phone. "Oh my God. Isowanted to do that."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Weren't you our waitress?"
"She's not gonna be anyone's waitress," said a male voice somewhere behind me, "if she doesn't get her butt back to work pronto."
Chapter 15
I stifled a groan. I knew that voice. I turned around, and sure enough, there he was, the worst boss ever.
Keith elbowed his way to the front of the small crowd. He stopped and put both hands on his hips. "Break time's over," he said.
"What break?" I said. "You sent me home. Remember?"
"No," he said in a tone of forced patience. "I sent you on break."
"Get real," I said. "You did not."
"Oh yeah? Check the schedule," he said. "You've got three hours left. Or did you forget that too?"
"I didn't forget anything," I said. "You were the one who clocked me out."
