15. Boston

Well, that had gone even worse than I’d feared it might.

I hastily threw a wad of bills on the table and rushed to the front door, hoping to catch El and explain things. Again. But in a way that didn’t make me sound like such a moronic idiot. Which, I realized, might actually be impossible.

The front doors swung open just as I reached them, a very large man essentially blocking my exit.

“Pardon,” he chirped at me, stepping inside with a small army at his back.

I wasn’t sure if he was hosting a family reunion at this restaurant or something, but the timing could not have been any worse. I stood aside as what appeared to be thirty people swarmed in the doors, making it utterly impossible to exit. They crammed into the small space before the hostess stand, smashing themselves together and pressing me into a corner.

“Excuse me, son,” an older woman said as her bosoms literally pinned me to the wall. “My, it’s tight in here, isn’t it?” The woman was almost as

tall as her companion, putting