Simon chuckled at the way Slade screwed up his name.
For the next few minutes, Simon tried to keep up with Slade’s ramblings, but he was talking nonsense. He felt bad for the guy but didn’t know him well enough to understand why. Evidently, he was in a bad place at the moment. At least, that was the impression Simon was getting.
“Hey,” a cheerful voice said from behind him.
Simon peered back to see Violet’s friends standing there, their full attention on Slade.
Slade spun around and nearly fell off his stool. It took both Simon and the woman to keep him from face-planting onto the floor.
“Uh-uh,” Slade snarled, pointing at the man. “You get the fuck away from me.”
The man held up his hands and backed up.
“I’ve got this, Spence,” she told the man. “I’ll call you later.”
The man she called Spence backed up a few more steps before pivoting and marching toward the door.
“I think it’s time you get home,” the woman acknowledged.
“Don’t wanna go home,” Slade mumbled.
“Too bad. We’ve got work tomorrow.” The woman glanced Simon’s way. “Hi. I’m Elana.”
Still holding Slade’s weight with his shoulder, he reached out to shake her hand. “Simon.”
She reached around Slade and grabbed his fingers in a quick hello, then flashed a smile. “I know who you are.”
He couldn’t help but hope she’d learned because Violet had been talking about him. Just thinking about the bookstore owner had him glancing toward the table where she’d been sitting a short time ago.
“You just missed her,” Elana told him with a chuckle. “She snuck out. Somethin’ about you stalking her.”
Slade lifted his head and frowned. “What now?”
Simon went on the defensive. “I wasn’t—”
Elana laughed. “Kidding.” She patted Slade’s chest. “Come on, big guy. Let’s get you home so you can sleep it off.”
Simon helped Elana get Slade to the car. Not an easy feat, considering the size of the man. It wasn’t so much his height as it was the breadth of his shoulders and the size of his arms and legs. The guy could likely bench-press a car. Simon didn’t consider himself a small man, but compared to Slade, he was.
“It was nice to meet you,” Simon told Elana as she walked to the driver’s side.
“Likewise.” She paused to look at him. “You’re a nice guy.”
It sounded like an accusation, so Simon wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“She doesn’t date nice guys.”
“As a rule?”
“More like a curse,” Elana offered. “Her words.”
“So if Iwasn’ta nice guy?”
“You’d need to be unemployed. Or on the verge.”
Simon laughed. “So if I was an asshole and a mooch…?”
“She’d be all over you.”
