The Last Single Girl by Caitie Quinn, Bria Quinlan Read Free Book Online

creamer. "And cheated on."
    You'd think with all the small stuff gone, she'd be out of weapons. But Ruth was obviously an aggressive woman. She picked up the now empty tea tray and swung at Hank's head like he was a fastball coming at her in the seventh inning.
    The first swing made a solid connection with his shoulder.
    "Hey!" Hank ducked away, trying to outpace his enraged wife.
    The next swing caught him across the back of the head.
    "Ruth, stop it."
    But she kept swinging, chasing him around the coffee shop while he tried to stay out of her way. After a minute, she had him cornered, the tray raised over her head, when a voice came from behind us.
    "Put the tea tray down and back away. I won't put up with any more of this nonsense in my shop."
    I half turned, still afraid to give the crazy people my back, to find John standing there, balancing on the balls of his feet like he was ready pounce.
    Everyone froze—Hank with his hands blocking his head, Ruth with the tray over hers, and Drea looking smug.
    "That is more than enough. I don't go into your home and tear it up. If you have a personal issue with one another, this is not the place." John strode across the café, picking up the broken pieces of porcelain as he went, and wrenched the tray out Ruth's hands. "That's going to be five dollars for the cup, twelve for the creamer, and twenty-five for the wrecked tea tray. Whose card do you want to put that on?"

EIGHT
    DATING TRUTH #4: There's always another fish in the sea… it's just that we keep dumping toxic waste in the water so who knows what you'll catch next.
    I STOOD WHERE I WAS, too scared to move as John rang Hank up, charging him for all the broken items and my tea. The two women waited at the door, identical expressions of rage on their faces.
    The irrational part of me was annoyed yet another date had been a failure. The irrational part also wanted an apology for the assault.
    The rational side just wanted them out of there as quickly as possible.
    Once they left, John scanned the room, his gaze hard.
    "You." He pointed at me. "Sit over there and don't move."
    I headed toward the far side of the room where he'd assigned me and collapsed into a chair, just glad to have something under me.
    "You." He pointed at the teen audience member who had enjoyed every second of my torture. "Clean that up and then you and I are going to talk."
    Abby grumbled as she grabbed a broom and dustpan. I slumped over the table, setting my head on my crossed arms and hoping John would go have that word with Abby first.
    Instead, a light touch brushed my shoulder, pushing my hair to the side and letting the light into my little self-made cave.
    "Are you okay?"
    "Yes." I mumbled, barely able to hear myself.
    "Sarah, look at me." He squatted next to me leaving no option but for me to meet his gaze. "Are. You. Okay?"
    I nodded, realizing I was more embarrassed than anything—and guilty. I felt so guilty about John's lovely coffee shop getting torn up like that.
    "John, I'm so sorry about all the craziness. I had no idea."
    "Of course you didn't. You're not the type of girl who goes out with married men."
    Well, at least someone realized that.
    "And your poor tea tray. I can't believe she broke your stuff."
    "Don't worry about that. I bought everything in bulk. I have at least two boxes of stuff in the basement I haven't even opened."
    "But you charged them for it…"
    "Of course I did. I wasn't going to let them off the hook. You can't reinforce crazy behavior with dismissive attitudes."
    That made sense, in a weird John kind of way.
    "I think maybe I'll start doing my meet-ups somewhere else."
    Because I didn't like the idea of putting John out like this again. And also because I couldn't stand the thought of him seeing me in yet another humiliating situation. He was seeing me at my lowest, over and over again, and then once more.
    "Absolutely not. You'll meet the rest of those guys here. I don't want you out of my sight until we know