It didn’t use to bother her so much that she didn’t have someone. Dating around was fine. Fun even. But lately, Maggie had begun to want the kind of love and connection that Dee had with Arthur. She wanted someone to make breakfast for. Someone to plant flowers with and take long walks hand-in-hand at the lake with. She now knew she was missing something and she wanted it.

On her way back from the ladies’ room, she heard Patrick call out that their order of chili cheese fries was done. With a wave to thank him, she moved to the kitchen order window to grab them and save him a trip. Three steps from the kitchen window area someone slammed into her. Knocked sideways, the platter of gooey fries flipped over, dropping with a splat on the side of her blouse and down the leg of her pants.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

Maggie spun around, astounded at the tone. “Me? Did you just bark at me? You’re the one who bumped into me! You made me drop this food all over my clothes and the floor. Last time I checked, it’s the person walking backwards’ job to watch out.” Looking up, and then up some more, she came to the insanely gorgeous face of none other than Shane Chase.

“You were in the middle of the aisle,” he growled at her, arms crossed over his chest.

“It’s the walkway, dumbass! It’s called that because it’s where people walk.” Unable to stop herself, she used a very slow voice and her heart sped a bit as his jaw clenched at her tone. And then her inner bitch wanted to snicker. Instead she couldn’t resist. “Facing forward, I might add.” This guy took the cake! A little bit of good looks turned him into a self-righteous jerk.

Narrowing his eyes, he leaned into her personal space to intimidate her. But she refused to step back. She did work with teenagers every day after all. And the man was acting like a big baby. “Did you just call the sheriff a dumbass?”

“No, I called you a dumbass. The dumbass who wasn’t watching where he was going and slammed into me and then yelled at me, the dumbass who has NO manners—I’m calling that guy a dumbass. That you happen to be a cop is not relevant. Although one might expect a cop to actually act with civility and basic manners!” She huffed. But the impact was not as impressive as she’d hoped given that he was nearly a foot taller than she was. And all that distracting hard muscle and really nice smell. Why did a jerk like him have to smell so good she wanted to lean in and take a bite? It’d serve him right if she did. Shaking her head to dislodge the question about what he may taste like, the fog cleared a bit and she found her mad again.

“She’s got you there, Shane.” Kyle Chase approached, smiling at her apologetically. “Are you all right? That cheese stuff is pretty hot. Did you get burned?” He handed her some napkins but she just looked down at herself. If she tried to wipe it with the napkins the gooey mess would just get worse.

At least one of them had manners. He probably tasted good too. Stifling a smile she unclenched her fists and stepped back. “Thanks. It just stung a bit but my pants took the brunt. But I’ve got to go and get out of these clothes.” Swinging her head to glare at Shane, she noted he was still glowering, only this time at his brother. “And you! I have sixteen year old boys in my class who have more manners. Take a civility training class or something.” She harrumphed and spun around to stalk back to their table.

“Oh my god! What was that all about?” Liv handed Maggie her purse and raincoat.

“That moron Shane Chase slammed his gargantuan body into me and made me spill chili cheese fries all over myself! And then had the nerve to yell at me like it was my fault! Dumbass! I have to go. I’ll talk to you two later.” She tossed some money on the table.

“Now who’s the dumbass? We’re coming with you. I have plenty of take out menus at home. Let’s go.” Liv got up and Dee followed.

The three women headed out together into the evening, grousing about Shane Chase and his abominable manners.

“Well, that was really special, Shane. You were awful to that little woman. Happy now? Or do we need to go and search out some old ladies we can knock over or steal some candy from toddlers?” Kyle egged his brother on as they played pool in the back of the bar.

“She called me a dumbass!”

Kyle smirked when Shane missed the shot.

“That’s because you are one. You rammed into her, made her spill food all over herself and then instead of apologizing, you yelled at her. You’re lucky all she did was call you a dumbass. She had quite the vicious gleam in her eye.” Kyle lined up his shot and missed.

“She’s cute for someone so small. I don’t think I ever noticed that spark behind those glasses and those stuffy shirts. I’ve seen her around town but who is she?”

“Maggie Wright. She was in my year in school.” Matt looked up mildly before leaning back down to take his shot. “She’s a teacher at the high school now. History I think. Clearly a real menace to society.” He rolled his eyes as he straightened and grabbed his glass.

“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, Matt. You’re too pretty. Anyway, she’s a rude little woman.” But Shane’s voice didn’t sound so sure anymore.

“You’re rude, Shane. Mom’s gonna kick your ass when she hears about this—and you know she will. Petal being Petal, I bet the story is weaving its way across town right this very moment,” Marc taunted. “I don’t envy you Momma’s wrath, but I can’t wait to see it.”