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She couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her mouth. “Look, Helen, I’m sorry that I forced you to make sweet, sweet love to Juan last night.Andthis morning.”
“Oh, cripes.”
“But I told you before, I think you should give it a chance. You two have obviously got some serious chemistry.”
“We’re from two different worlds.”
That struck close to home, so Lori just shrugged. “I am sorry. I’m walking into The Bar right now if you want to meet us here tonight.”
“Are you insane?”
“Should I tell Juan you said hi?”
Helen screeched. Then she huffed, “I hate you,” and hung up. Poor girl. She had it bad. If only she could relax and embrace the hot sex as Lori was doing.
After checking to be sure the phone was still on that lovely vibrate setting, Lori stuffed it into her pocket and tugged open the heavy oak door. The thick odor of beer drifted over her, happily lacking the stale cigarette stench of years past. Stepping into the dim room, she idly wondered if there were any states where you could smoke in bars these days. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud inhalation.
“Lori,” Molly barked from a few feet away.
Lori squinted toward the bar, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Just as she picked out Molly’s blond hair, her friend sprang to her feet and pointed.
“Lori Love, who are you having sex with? And don’t you lie to me!”
The whole bar froze—of course it did—and all eyes turned toward her. As she looked around in horror, one of the gentleman had the courtesy to tip his cowboy hat, but the rest of them were too busy smirking or ogling her body. “Molly, are you crazy?” she hissed, rushing toward the stools.
“Me?” Molly countered. “Ben hinted you’d been on a date last night and I didn’t believe it. But look at you!”
Panicked, Lori looked down to be sure a boob wasn’t hanging out again. “What?”
“You’re practically…dewy!”
“Dewy?”
“You’re all aglow. You think I can’t see that? No wonder you canceled yesterday. You probably still had rug burns on your knees. Oh!” She gasped, pointing toward Lori’s legs. “That’s why you’re wearing jeans!”
“You’re insane, you know that?”
Molly threw her hands in the air. “Who is he?” she demanded just as the jukebox faded to a new song. The bar watched, collective brow rising higher.
“He?”someone whispered from the vicinity of the pool table.
Great. Just great. Lori collapsed onto a stool and glared at her best friend. “Either keep your voice down or I will go home, pack up my things and leave this town without telling you anything, ever. Got it?”
Molly blinked and then glanced toward their observers. “Oh, sorry. My bad.” She raised her voice again. “Nothing to see here, people! I was just kidding around.” Then she plopped back into her seat, leaned close and waited.
Clearly, her best friend was a lunatic.
Lori tried to rub the embarrassment from her face. “I need a drink.”
Molly gestured frantically for Juan to hurry, then tapped her shoe against the footrest of the bar.Ping, ping, ping.Juan grinned and waved before he started mixing Lori’s favorite: a green apple martini with three maraschino cherries crowding the bottom. Molly crossed her arms and chewed her lip.
“You’ve got the patience of a two-year-old,” Lori observed, leaning nonchalantly against the bar just to annoy her friend.
“Whatever.”
“What did Ben tell you?”
“Not enough.”
