“You’ll bounce back.” Minnie slaps his bicep lightly in encouragement. “You can date anybody.”
“Not everybody.”
“Why?”
“Can’t date employees or parents.” His light brown eyes suddenly slice over to me. “It’s a damn shame.”
I stare completely frozen at him, not because he may have subtly hinted toward something, but because of what he said.
“That’s…really arule?” I force from my lips. “Or is that a suggestion?”
“Suggestion,” Minnie replies. “But they find out, Principal Simpson is going to find a way to get rid of you.”
“Why?”
Claire clucks her tongue as if the thought is as irritating as it is for me. “Work ethic and…she doesn’t want to catch anything inappropriate in the school.”
“We’re adults.”
“She doesn’t care.”
That is ridiculous.
“That’s a lawsuit,” I convey with a scowl. “Wrongful termination.”
“In this town?” Claire’s brows lift to the ceiling. “You’ll be run out of town.”
What?
“Like the time Penny Walters sued Caesar Taylor over serving her coffee too hot.”
Minnie snaps her fingers. “Or the time Herman Lewis sued Darren Callum over allegedly copying his peach pie recipe.”
“When Tara Munoz tried to sue Michael Fender because he mowed over her grass, shaving two inches more than she does.”
“Or the park goose,” Randy chimes in the chaos. “Who chased Parker Andrews, and he threatened to sue the goose’s owner . Except…no one knows if anyone owns him.”
I’ve moved to Looney Town.
“All that to say,” Claire says matter-of-factly. “Noone will serve Penny coffee. She has to pour it herself. No one will eat Darren’s pies anymore because they think he was being childish and insanely weird with the whole incident and Parker…”
“Will forever be trying to figure out the goose owner. It’ll haunt him for the rest of his life.”
“Sueing people in this small town,” Randy explains, “gets everyone involved.”
“But she’s firing people over their personal lives.”
“Yes. But if it involves the school, she’ll win. All the Karens want their children to be educated without the fear of teacher drama and something the kids could see. I would’ve dated you if not for the rule.”
My annoyed expression at this conversation drops. “What?”
“Randy, no,” Minnie chimes in. “She’s out of your league.”
My eyes clench at her. “I never said?—”
“And too smart, too,” Claire tacks on because let’s take another shot at Randy’s ego while we’re at it. “Sienna is looking for a man who doesn’t still eat Fruity Pebbles for breakfast.”
“No, I’m not,” I defend because, I mean, there’s nothingwrongwith Fruity Pebbles. Is it probably a bit—okay, I might look at it a little sideways maybe.
