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“Fries will be soggy, though.” Another waitress added her two cents.

Raging hot fire sped through my veins as I got up and walked to the kitchen where I could hear the three women talking.

“The last time I dropped her burger on the floor and then put it back into the box.”

They all snickered.

“You will make her a fresh burger, and you will not burn it. You will not drop it on the floor. You will not do a goddamn thing but your job,” I hissed as I rounded the corner and saw them all standing around looking unhurried.

The three of them jumped apart, looking guilty.

“I could book you for assault, battery, and food tampering.” I looked at the three ladies. “Was that man’s burger touched?”

“Sure was.” One of the brave waitresses tipped up their chin to glare at me down her nose.

“You’re fired.”

I turned to find Hopps there.

The woman blinked. “But Granddad…”

“Get out, Terri,” Hopps growled. “I will not allow someone so disgusting to work with food. I’m sorry for your bad luck, but seriously. That is not okay, and you know it.”

Terri yanked off her apron and threw it at her grandfather.

Hopps caught it, but the money, the order book, and the pens all fell to the floor.

The other two waitresses stared on in horror.

Terri left, and Hopps turned his gaze on the other two women. “Tell me in detail what just happened.”

They did.

Not leaving anything out.

They wouldn’t, though.

Hopps, though a pub owner, also was a Dixie Warden. You didn’t lie to a Dixie Warden and get away with it.

We might not physically harm you, but there were more ways to hurt a person than physically.

“Have you ever tampered with her food before?”

The two women shook their heads. “No.”

“But you are rude to her.”

Both nodded.

“Get her food going. Don’t fuck with it. And I better see you treat her like gold from now on, or you’re both out on your asses. And you damn well know if I fire you, you won’t be hirable again in Sawtooth. I’ll see to that.”

Which would suck for both women because they were both single mothers. Hopps even paid for their childcare while they worked.

Both women nodded, looking horrified.

“She’s a good person,” I said. “She has been struggling to live for a very long time. Eventually, after the abused dog keeps getting kicked, they fight back. Her version of fighting back was making her reputation truthful. Wouldn’t that be the same for anyone? You can only be told you’re a bad person so many times before you start to believe it.

“And Donna, didn’t your kid literally just get into trouble not too long ago?”