Chapter 14
“Did you check to see if they had something going on tonight?” Parker asked Jay.
“No. What does it matter?”
“We’re going to disrupt their business,” Parker said, irritated. And they were going to disrupt his equilibrium.
“We’re just on the sidewalk, man. We’re not even blocking the door,” Jay pointed out.
Still, Parker didn’t like it. “We need to move.”
“Too late. Here comes your first man. Hello there,” Jay greeted the man coming their way, cell phone in hand. He wore jeans
and a parka and boots—perfect footwear for slushy weather. And his whole outfit cried, “Testosterone!”
He looked up from his phone and gave Jay and Parker and their crew a suspicious once-over.
“Game on,” Jay said to Parker.
Okay, Jay was right. Game on. They’d do their interviews and then get out of there.
“I’m Parker Black from KWOW’s Jock Talk. We’re conducting some man-on-the-street interviews. Got a minute?” Parker asked him.
“Sure,” the guy said with a smile.
“What’s your name?” Parker asked.
“Drew.”
“Drew. Great name. Don’t worry. We won’t use it. I’m gonna ask you a question and all you got to do is be honest. You got
a girlfriend?”
Drew took a step back. “That’s the question?”
“No. Just wondering. I don’t.”
Drew frowned. “Yeah, same here.”
“So, you’ll be able to give an unbiased answer when I ask if you think women need to back off dissing men so much? I mean,
you’ve seen all the stuff online, right?”
Drew’s frown dipped lower. “Yeah, I have.”
“Well, we just want your honest opinion about that,” Parker said.
Drew looked confused. “Not about sports?”
“You think what women are saying about men these days is sportsmanlike?” Parker asked. “All you gotta do is let us know.”
And so, the interview began. Parker smiled for the camera. “Here we are, checkin’ in with the man on the street to see what
the average guy thinks about the way things are with women these days.” He turned to Drew and pointed the mike at him. “If
this was a game, who do you think would have the most points on the scoreboard, men or women?”
The guy half laughed and spoke into the mike. “Women.”
“Do you think there’s a lot of us guys in trouble with women these days?”
Parker’s question wiped the genial smile from the guy’s face. “Uh, yeah.”
“See, ladies? I’m not the only one,” Parker said, and smiled. It was a good line. And safe. No dissing certain books or a
certain store that sold them.
He finished his questions, then thanked the man.
“When’s this gonna air?” Drew asked after they finished.
“Probably day after tomorrow. It’ll be on my podcast.”
“Cool,” Drew said with a nod.
“Thanks for stopping, man,” said Parker.
Drew gave him another nod and continued on his way.
Okay, no harm, no foul. Nobody had come out from the store and asked them to leave.
“Do you think women today are team players?” Parker asked their next man on the street.
“Uh, I don’t know,” said the guy.
Parker was willing to bet the man had a wedding ring on underneath those thick winter gloves. “You married?”
“Yeah.” He looked almost embarrassed to admit it.
“Got a good one?”
“Yeah.”
“Is she a team player?” Parker asked.
“You bet.” This guy was no fool.
“You got any advice to us single guys who’ve been burned?” Parker asked.
The man shrugged. “Pick a good one?”
“And good luck with that,” Parker said, smiling for the camera.
Another man came rushing up. “Parker Black, oh, yeah. I’ve been wanting to meet you.”
“You one of my men?” Parker asked. Of course, he was. With his Seahawks jacket and his eager smile, this guy had crazed fan
written all over him.
“Oh, yeah,” he said.
Parker pointed to the jacket. “A twelfth man?”
That produced a “You bet.”
“Pretty awesome our boys are headed for the Super Bowl this year,” Parker said, showing they were just a couple of buddies,
shooting the bull.
The guy nodded and grinned, gave two thumbs-up. “Go Hawks!”
“All the way,” said Parker. “Hey, you up for a man-on-the-street interview?”
“That’s why I’m here,” the guy said, bouncing on his feet. “Lay it on me.”
“So, if life was a championship game, who’d be winning, men or women?” Parker asked.
“The women.” Then, before Parker could go on to his next question, the dude continued. “And I’m with you on those romance
novels. My ex was always reading them and always giving me a hard time about how I wasn’t romantic enough.”
Parker was aware of two women in the background moving toward the bookstore and giving him and his crew the stink-eye. He
hadn’t planned on talking about romance novels but their judgmental looks were like a red cape to a bull. He relapsed.
“Have you ever read one of those books?” he asked.
“No,” replied his interviewee, offended.
“Looks like there’s something going on in the bookstore tonight. You could go on in and see for yourself.” What was going
on in there? Parker hadn’t had a chance to check it out.
The guy let out a snort and made the sign of the cross like he was warding off a vampire. “No thanks, man. No woman’s gonna
make me her carpet.”
“Stand strong,” said Parker, and his new best friend gave another two thumbs-up.
Parker was pulling the mike away to end the conversation, but the guy grabbed it and talked into it, looking at the camera.
“Any woman out there who likes beer and pizza and isn’t gonna rag on me to help do the dishes, look for me, John the man.
I’m on Facebook and I won’t scam you.”
That would get cut out. “Well, thanks, John,” Parker said, reclaiming his mike.
“Love you, man,” said John, and gave Parker a hearty bro hug.
“Bromance,” teased Jay as John made his way on down the street, maybe in search of pizza and beer. And probably a woman who
liked to do dishes.
A couple approached. The woman was hot, a Latina with a beautiful face and raven-black hair under a pink knit cap. She could
have been a model. Maybe she was. Her husband wasn’t as good-looking, a little shorter than her but fit. She had her arm threaded
through his and he was smiling like a guy who’d won the lottery.
She had been smiling, but at the sight of Parker, her eyes narrowed to slits and her mouth compressed into a thin line. Uh-oh.
“I know who you are,” the woman greeted him. She might as well have added, “The Dark Lord of Seattle.”
It was a challenge. Parker had to accept. “Well, then, maybe you two have a word to say about how things are going between
men and women these days,” he said, and pointed the mike at her husband.
She grabbed it and redirected it at herself. “They’re going great between us because my man is a hero. He’s hardworking and
loving and a great father,” she said, her voice intense. “And he’s great in bed,” she added.
“So, a real player,” Parker teased.
“A real man, who knows how to respect women. Which is more than I can say for you and your show,” the woman snapped. “You
know, we all love this bookstore, and we love Alice and what you did to her was positively evil.”
That would be edited out. “I didn’t make that meme,” Parker said.
“Right,” she sneered. “First you attack her on your show and then that. Come on, Eduardo,” she said, tugging on her husband’s arm. “We don’t need to be talking to this idiota.”
Parker couldn’t resist, goading, “So I guess you go wherever your wife drags you, including chick bookstores?”
He met Parker’s sneer with a smirk. “If it makes her happy it makes me happy. And let me tell you, she reads those hot books
and then tries everything out on me, so no complaints.”
Parker scowled as the woman led her husband away. Yeah, sure, do whatever she wants. There’ll come a time when nothing you do will be enough.
Two older women were right behind them and had heard part of the conversation. They did an about-face and started walking
the other direction. Great. Parker was driving away business from the store. Time to draw the line.
“We’re done here,” he said.
“You wish,” said Jay, pointing to yet another man hurrying their way.
Lina was sharing about her verbal exchange with the evil Parker Black when Bettina reported to Nola that two of the women
planning to attend Genevive’s book signing had seen Parker and were going home. “He’s scaring people away.”
Jen Johnson, who ran the Closed-Door book club, was standing nearby and overheard. “Someone needs to put him in a romance
novel,” she said. “He’s like a real-life Mr. Grumpy.”
“Yes, but no Miss Sunshine would ever come near him,” said her friend who’d come with her. “I’m glad we got here before he
set up camp out there. He unnerves me.”
Alice had been busy setting out food and greeting people so hadn’t seen what was taking place outside.
She looked out the store window and sure enough, there was Parker Black with his crew, his microphone stuck in some old man’s face while the man threw his arms around and raved.
Parker Black, the black plague, back in their lives again, on the very doorstep of their romance fortress.
“I’ll deal with him,” said Nola just as the store phone rang again.
“Nola, it’s for you,” called Bettina.
More readers reporting that Parker Black was scaring them away? Alice looked to where her mother stood, talking on the phone
and frowning. Their guest author Genevive Eden was at the front of the store, visiting with a reader, blissfully unaware that
Parker Black was out there, sabotaging her signing. Someone needed to chase him off. Where was Scarlet? She’d be the perfect
one to do it.
Alice pulled out her phone and called her sister. “Where are you?”
“Running late. I’m on my way.”
Which probably meant she wasn’t even out the door yet.
“We could use you right now,” said Alice.
“Why? What’s going on?”
Alice told her and heard a growl in response.
“Mark had better not be down there talking to that creep,” Scarlet said.
“I haven’t seen him,” said Alice. But she hadn’t been looking. She hoped she wouldn’t see him even if he turned up.
“If he’s there when I get there I’ll slap him.”
Alice wasn’t sure if Scarlet was referring to her husband or Parker Black. Maybe it was for the best Scarlet hadn’t arrived
yet.
“And why is he there when Genevive is?” Scarlet wanted to know. “Oh, wait, she must have dumped him. Now he’s out getting
even.”
Georgia Bishop walked in. “That awful man is doing a man-on-the-street interview right in front of the store,” she reported as her husband drifted over to join Eduardo at the punch bowl. “He as much as told Bill he’s a wimp for coming with me tonight.”
“Bill is a brave man,” Lina assured her. “He tried to intimidate Eduardo, too, but Eduardo doesn’t intimidate. Unless it’s
me doing the intimidating,” she added.
“Alice, you really should do something,” Georgia said.
Her mother was still on the phone. “No, the streets aren’t bad, just a little slush on the edges. But if you’re nervous, don’t
risk it. We can have Genevive sign a book for you and you can pick it up later. What? Oh, yes, we have her other books, too.”
How long was that conversation going to go on? Was her mother going to read half of Genevive’s book to the person?
Another woman walked in. “Who are those men?” she asked. Obviously, she was the only woman in Seattle who didn’t know about
Parker Black’s vendetta against romance readers. “Someone needs to shoo them away.”
“I’ll take care of it,” said Alice.
The last thing she wanted was to confront Parker Black. She was not good at confrontation. She’d learned that from their debate.
But she’d survived their encounter at the gala.
Get in touch with your inner heroine, she told herself. This is not that hard. All you have to do is go ask him to leave. As if he’d leave simply because she demanded it. This man was a brick wall who wouldn’t be pushed.
But someone had to try, and as part owner of the store that someone had to be her. She took a deep breath and moved toward
the door. Slowly. Hoping her mother would get off the phone.
She did. But it rang again. “HEA Books, where we help you find your happily-ever-after,” Nola answered.
Everyone deserved a happily-ever-after, especially women who’d been bullied and made fun of. And those women had to stand up for themselves. Crouching and cowering only encouraged bullying, right? Alice took in another breath and marched out the door.
He turned when she tapped him on the shoulder and the smile on his face fell away.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, forcing herself to sound fierce. “As you can see, we’re having an event tonight,
and you’re intimidating our customers. Honestly, considering who the guest author is, you should be ashamed of yourself.”
He looked confused. “Who is it?”
“Parker!” called a male voice Alice knew well. Oh, no. Mark.
Mark hesitated for a moment at the sight of Alice, then closed the gap between him and Parker. “Hey, Alice,” he said stiffly,
giving her a nod. “Man, I love your show,” he gushed to Parker, then stole a guilty look at Alice.
“Mark, this is a bad idea,” she hissed. “Scarlet will be here any minute.”
Mark shrugged. “So? I’ve got a right to be here. It’s a public sidewalk. I heard you were doing man-on-the-street interviews,”
he said to Parker.
“You two know each other?” Parker asked.
“She’s my sister-in-law,” Mark said, and Alice noticed his face was taking on a reddish tinge that probably had nothing to
do with the nippy night air.
“Does your wife know you’re here, dude?” Parker asked.
“I can be anywhere I want,” Mark said, and jutted out his chin. He turned to Parker. “Parker, thanks to you, I have seen the
light.”
He’d be seeing stars if Scarlet found him there. “Mark, you really need to leave. So do you,” she said to Parker.
“Don’t listen to her,” said Mark. “Stand your ground, bro. It’s a free sidewalk.”
An older woman bundled in stylish boots and a coat with a faux fur collar had been coming down the street. At the sight of Parker and the men, and hearing Mark ranting, “Women don’t rule the world even if they think they do!” her steps slowed.
Oh, no. Parker Black and his goons weren’t going to scare away any more customers if Alice had anything to say about it. She
would personally escort this woman into the store.
“Are you here to meet Genevive Eden?” she called.
“Genevive Eden?” Parker repeated.
He sounded like a man about to go into shock. If he did, he’d have to look for someone else to give him CPR.