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On her part, it’d been more like two or three, but his wife had died only four years before, so he’d probably still been grieving then. Which made her a terrible person. Even more terrible than the fact that Jake and her ex-husband were good friends. “You know why I can’t.”
“Oh, my God, your divorce was eight years ago! As long as you don’t have sex with Jake on your ex’s dining room table during Christmas dinner, I think you’re ethically okay.”
Lauren just shrugged, but she knew it wasn’t okay. That was probably why Jake had never asked her out. That or the fact that even forty-six-year-old men didn’t typically date forty-three-year-old women. Stupid youth culture.
“Fine,” Sophie said. She glanced over her shoulder and spoke in a lower voice. “Then just take one of the younger guys home for a discreet evening of fun. Firefighters love adventure, you know. They’re risk-takers. And they stay in such good shape. Close to home is a bad idea, but there’s a reason I couldn’t resist. Have a little fun, Lauren.”
“I’m too old for that.”
“Please,” Sophie snorted, then ran a careful hand along the chignon she so often pulled her pretty red hair into. “Thanks to all the talk about cougars, those guys are totally into older women. They’ve heard you fortysomethings are insatiable.”
“We are,” Lauren grumbled, but she couldn’t help but smile as Sophie broke into peals of laughter. “Shut up.”
“All right. But let’s do a girls’ night out tomorrow. Mountain-bike season is almost over. Maybe you need a quick and dirty hookup with a tourist you’ll never see again. If you don’t do it now, you’ll have to wait for ski season.”
“Maybe you need a quick and dirty hookup, if you think it’s such a good idea!”
“It’s more complicated for me. You know.”
Lauren did know. Sophie’s family had a history in this town, so she was extra careful about her reputation.
“Anyway,” Sophie went on, “maybe I will, too. Maybe we’ll pick up a whole group of guys and split the difference.”
Lauren grinned at her. Sophie was awfully fun to work with, and Lauren was thankful they’d gotten so close. It had been a long time since she’d had a friend as close as Sophie, and now Isabelle, too, the one who’d come up with girls’ night out six months before. “We already canceled girls’ night because Isabelle isn’t done with her commission.”
“Isabelle won’t care if we go without her. She doesn’t care about anything when she’s finishing up a painting. Let’s go. Just us.”
Lauren hesitated for one more moment before giving in. “Okay. Fine. Tomorrow.”
Sophie jumped up with a squeal. “Yes! After work. Dinner and then fun. Wear a cougar dress.”
“I don’t even know what that means!”
Sophie shrugged. “Something that says you’re putting out.”
“But I’m not putting out,” Lauren croaked.
“You never know.” Sophie exited the room with a wink.
Lauren swallowed hard. She considered chasing Sophie down to say she’d changed her mind. She wasn’t putting out. She didn’t even feel fun anymore.
But she had been once. She’d been fun and sexy and childless long ago. It felt as if that had been another person’s life, but now that Sawyer had left to drive across the country for college, she was childless again. And single.
Even if she wasn’t young anymore, she was hornier than she’d ever been. That had to count for something. Maybe it was time to find out exactly how much she could make it count.
* * *
“ANNABELLE!” JAKE CALLED. “I’m on my way out.”
His daughter popped out of the bathroom and flashed her endearingly wide smile as she waved a curling iron. “Whatever happened to twenty-four on, twenty-four off? You worked yesterday.”
“I’m captain now. That’s what happened.”
She set the curling iron down and hurried toward him, her blond curls bouncing. He was struck, as always, by how beautiful she was. It still amazed him, even after twenty-four years. “I’m worried about you, Dad.”
He scowled. Hard. This again? “I’m great.” It was nice having his daughter back in the house, but she wouldn’t stop with this.
“You need to have some fun.”
