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that Barry came to his senses and beat the flames out with his hands.
    Staring at his smoldering sleeves, Barry yelled, “You little maniac! What did you do?”
    The sneering smiles had disappeared from Troy’s and Frank’s faces. Frank scowled and smashed the bottom of his beer bottle against the counter, sending shards of glass spraying all over.
    Frank pointed the shattered bottle at me. “I’m gonna make you cry, you bitch—”
    Just then, a torrent of steaming coffee splashed across his face. His shrieks of pain only got louder when he gingerly touched his scalded skin.
    Standing in a defensive crouch, Neil brandished the empty coffee pot as a weapon.
    “All of you,” he said. “I think it’s time to leave.”
    Troy, sporting a look of astonishment, was clearly torn with indecision. A coward at heart, he flicked his eyes back and forth between Neil and his injured friends.
    Somehow, I found my voice.
    “It’s over, Barry. It has been for a long time. You should never have come here.”
    Barry glowered. “Oh, I’ll be back. Just you count on it, bitch.”
    Nursing his blistered wrists, he backed out the door, Troy and Frank following in his wake.
    Watching my three assailants stagger out of the parking lot and make their way down the street, I became aware that Neil was staring at me. As if realizing only then he still had the empty coffee container in his shaking hand, he placed it on the counter with exaggerated care.
    My heart was pounding from the altercation, and I wanted nothing more than to run into the back office, lock the door, and cry. But I didn’t want Neil to see me in that kind of condition, so I forced myself to smile as if I wasn’t on the edge of losing it.
    “Thank you. I probably could have handled it myself. But, thank you…”
    Neil let out his breath as if he’d been holding it for a very long time.
    “Yeah, sure. No problem.” He regarded me with a hesitant expression on his face, and then cleared his throat.
    “What?” I asked.
    “So,” he said casually. “You got a pack of matches and some lighter fluid behind the counter there?”
    I could feel my face flush, and pretended to be interested in a coffee-stained receipt. With a shrug, I stammered out an explanation. “Uh, no. I don’t know how that happened. Maybe he had a cigarette butt in his sleeve or something that just finally ignited.”
    Lame.
    Neil opened his mouth to say something, but then reconsidered. He gestured to the telephone on the counter.
    “You going to call the cops and report him? I can witness.”
    “Wouldn’t do any good. Frank was right.”
    “Oh?”
    “Sheriff Burke is Barry’s father. If I called this in, the sheriff would be more likely to arrest me rather than Barry.”
    Neil gave me a puzzled look.
    “It’s a long story,” I told him. “I’m just sorry you had to see that. Some welcome to Middleton, huh?”
    “Right.” He let out a dry laugh, then looked at me in concern. “Do you want me to hang out a bit, just in case they come back?”
    “I wouldn’t worry about it. Barry’s a classic bully if you ever saw one. If it looks like he’s outgunned, he’ll run. He might come back, but it won’t be tonight.”
    “You sure?” he asked.
    “Yeah. You go on, get yourself settled. I’m about to lock up in a few minutes anyway.”
    “All right, but I’m a light sleeper. If you need me—”
    I waved him off. “I can handle it. But thanks. Hey, listen, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about anything that was said here.”
    “You mean about … your parents?”
    “It was an accident.” I sighed. “It was a long time ago. I was just a kid.” I squeezed my eyes together to stop the tears.
    “I’m sorry,” he said.
    “It’s a very personal story, but if you’re going to be moving to Middleton, I’d rather you heard the truth than rumor.” I couldn’t believe how bold I was being. I could feel my face flush a deep scarlet as I said, “Maybe I can buy you a