“Where are you, again?”
Laura glanced up at the sign of the bar. “Blue Moon.”
Her daughter, Katie, released a loud sigh into the cell as Laura tried not to lose her patience. Katie clearly wasn’t on board with Laura’s desire to reinvent herself. Her daughter had criticized her new clothing, remarking that it looked “a little young” for her.
Now this…
Laura shouldn’t have answered the phone when she spotted Katie’s name on the caller ID, but if she hadn’t, she would have worried all night that something was wrong.
“So what are you doing? Barhopping? Prowling around for guys?” Disapproval dripped from Katie’s tone.
“Actually I think this is the only bar we’re hitting. We’re just going to have a few drinks and then head home.”
Georgie rolled her eyes, then shook her head, mouthing, “No, we’re not.”
“Listen, we’re here now, Katie. Why don’t I call you in the morning? Maybe we can go shopping or something.”
“I’ve got plans with Dad tomorrow.”
Laura tried to ignore the dig. “Great. I hope the two of you have a good time. I’ll talk to you later. Okay?”
“Fine. Bye.” Katie clicked off before Laura could offer her usual parting, “Love you.”
“You okay?” Kristen asked.
Laura nodded and tried to shake off her sudden sadness. The past year had been strained for her and Katie. Regardless of how many times her daughter hurt her feelings, Laura simply wasn’t able to adjust to the new normal. She missed the relationship she’d shared with Katie before the divorce.
“Come on.” Georgie opened the door to the bar.
“Five dollar cover,” a man sitting on a stool said.
Laura handed him money, then followed Georgie and Kristen into the club. She ran her hand through her hair, trying to get used to her new haircut. She’d spent two hours and an ungodly amount of money this morning with Kristen’s hairdresser. While her friends went mad, oohing and aahing over the new ’do, Laura was struggling to adapt. The hairdresser had taken seven inches off the back, adding wavy layers and a few blonde highlights to her boring brown tresses. Her whole head felt lighter. God only knew what Katie would say when she saw it.
“Stop fooling with your hair.” Kristen grasped Laura’s wrist, pulling it away from her head. “It looks gorgeous.”
“Damn,” Georgie muttered. “College band night.”
“What’s that mean?” Laura’s question instantly became rhetorical as she looked around the bar. It was wall-to-wall twenty-somethings, all drinking and dancing as a band played on stage. They stepped off to the side as more people came in. They’d be hard-pressed to find a table.
Georgie frowned, raising her voice so they could hear her over the music. “It means this isn’t the night I was expecting. Sometimes it sucks not living in a bigger city. There just aren’t enough things to do on the weekends around here.”
“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Kristen asked.
Georgie shook her head. “Nowhere else to go if we want to dance. McMillan’s and Brew Pub are just restaurants with bars. We’d sit at a table all night drinking wine and staring at each other. No thanks. We can do that at home for a hell of a lot cheaper. Then there’s Shotsky’s, but that place is a redneck dive with pool tables, scary biker dudes and country music blaring from a jukebox. Tried that with Shelly and Zoey once. I didn’t mind it, but they weren’t entirely comfortable there. So that leaves us here at Blue Moon with the college kids.”
“What about the other nightclub you and the girls went to before the holidays?” Laura asked.
“Cracklin’ Rose? Closed down right after Christmas. They lost their liquor license for serving to minors. Jackasses. This place is cool. Most nights it’s just a deejay and people our age, dancing and drinking. Rob’s band used to play here a lot before they hit the road. Unfortunately, with the university so close, the owner also does college nights every now and again to showcase young bands and draw in a different crowd. Good for him, but not so great for us.”
Kristen looked around. “I must admit I’m more the pub type. Prefer sitting down in a comfortable booth with my wine, quiet conversation and softer music.”
Georgie gave her a rueful grin. “You’re not going to get that tonight. I won’t allow it.”
Unfortunately Kristen didn’t press the issue. Laura wished she had. She couldn’t hear herself think over the blaring music.
Georgie looked around. “I told Josie about this place. She came here for her first full-moon adventure last weekend, but I haven’t heard how it went. Wonder if she hooked up with a college guy. How awesome would that be?”
Kristen shrugged. “After Zoey dropped her bomb Thursday, none of us remembered to ask Josie about her first night of howling.”
Laura’s stomach clenched as she recalled Zoey reporting the results of her first doctor’s visit. Her second-chance goal had been to get healthy. Instead she’d discovered she was sick. A mammogram revealed a tumor in Zoey’s breast and the biopsy proved it was cancerous. They’d spent most of Thursday night reassuring Zoey she’d be fine, but Laura had struggled to swallow her wine through the lump in her throat. She was terrified for her friend. Her own father had passed away from brain cancer three years earlier, and now she couldn’t stop remembering it.
Georgie started off into the crowd. “Well, we’re here and we paid the five bucks. We may as well make the most of it. Let’s see if we can find a table.”
Laura struggled to keep up with her friends as they pressed through the throng of people. After nearly being knocked down and having her foot crushed twice by two staggering drunks, Laura began to think there was something to be said for being a grown-up. Maybe she hadn’t missed much after all.
Georgie found them a tall table near the dance floor. Partiers at surrounding tables had swiped all the stools so they stood around it. “This will work.” Georgie smiled, obviously pleased with where they’d landed. Then her gaze drifted over Laura. “Oh my God. What the hell is on your arm?”
Laura looked down, confused, until Georgie pointed.
“My purse?”
Georgie rolled her eyes. “Why did you carry that gargantuan thing in here?”
Laura shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought we were going to get a table, sit down, have a few drinks and talk. I didn’t realize it would be like this. Besides, everything I need is in my bag.”
Georgie shook her head. “Give it to me.”
Laura knew better than to deny her friend, so she handed the purse over. Georgie pulled her cell phone out. “Put that in your back pocket.”
Laura tucked the phone into her new jeans, as Georgie dove back into the bag and produced her wallet. Opening it, she slipped out Laura’s driver’s license, a credit card and some cash.
“That all goes in your front pocket. And that’s all you need.”
Laura tried to push the cash and cards into her jeans. “Carrying stuff like this would have been a lot easier in my mom jeans. Jesus, these things are tight.”
Georgie ignored her complaint and turned away. “I’m going to go put this back in the car. You two try to score us some drinks while I’m gone. And don’t let anyone steal our table.”
Georgie pushed her way back through the crowd, disappearing from view quickly.
“Why are we friends with her?” Laura asked.
Kristen laughed. “Because she’s awesome. And she’s perfect for both of us. We’ve been getting too settled in our ways lately. Georgie is forcing us to shake up our routines. I intend to take advantage of her help. Maybe some of her energy and enthusiasm will rub off on us.”
Kristen made a good point. Hadn’t Laura been depressed by her lack of initiative lately? Twelve months since her divorce had been finalized and she didn’t have a damn thing to show for it. It was time to shake off the dark clouds and live a little.
“I’m going to hit the bar and grab us a round of drinks. You guard the table. It’ll be nice to have somewhere to put our glasses while we’re dancing.”
“I’ll take a glass of red wine,” Laura said. Kristen waved her hand to acknowledge she’d heard and walked away.
Laura studied her surroundings. While the band was loud, she actually enjoyed the music they were playing. The fast, upbeat rhythm had Laura swaying in time. The band looked very young. Given the college crowd, she suspected the performers were probably students from the nearby university that was well known for its Conservatory of Music program. Laura used to take Katie to the school’s
Nutcracker
performance every year over the holidays.
“Here we go.” Kristen returned to the table.
“What’s that? I asked for a glass of red.”
Kristen placed three shot glasses on the table, then took the small plate of lemons she’d been balancing on top and set it next to the drinks. “You need to loosen up. Wine makes you lethargic. One glass of it and you’ll be yawning and trying to convince us to leave before ten o’clock.”
“What’s on the lemons?” Laura asked.
Kristen picked one up and took a tiny lick. “Sugar.”
Georgie returned from the parking lot. “Hey! Lemon shooters. Great call.”
Laura loved the taste of lemons. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. “What’s a lemon shooter?”
Kristen winked at her. “Vodka, and a great way to get the party started, according to the hot bartender.” She lifted her glass, so Laura and Georgie followed suit. “Here’s to second chances.”
Laura grinned, then lifted the drink to her lips. She paused before she tasted it, the smell of alcohol hitting her hard. Kristen and Georgie downed their shots in one swig, slammed down the glasses and chased with the sugarcoated lemon.
Shit.
Before she could talk herself out of it, Laura threw hers back, putting her glass down with as much force as her friends.
“Lemon,” Georgie said, handing her one. “Quick.”
Laura was afraid it was too late. The liquor was burning a path down her chest. She stuck the lemon in her mouth and sucked on it, amazed by how quickly the vile flavor of the vodka changed. “Wow. It tastes like a lemon drop.”
Georgie laughed then hooted loudly. “Hot damn. Tonight is going to rock. I can feel it.”
A waitress stopped by the table. “Another round?”
Kristen nodded as Georgie said, “Hell yeah. Thanks.”
“Are you two trying to get me drunk?” Laura asked.
Kristen shook her head. “You need to loosen up. You’re too tense.”
Her friend was right. Her shoulders were in a permanent state of tightness these days. She needed to shake off her stress, her depression.
They listened to the music for nearly an hour, marveling over the talented girl playing the keyboard. They drank two more rounds before Laura realized Georgie was matching them drink for drink. “How are we getting home? I thought you were the designated driver.”
“We’re cabbing it,” Georgie answered quickly. “I just let you think I was driving because I knew you’d offer to DD if I said we were taking a taxi.”
Georgie knew her very well. It seemed strange to think these women had been in her life less than a year. She’d come to think of them as her best friends, and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t known them forever.
Georgie started dancing in place at the table. “This music kicks ass. I might have to see if the band is selling CDs during a break.”
The waitress returned to offer another round at the same time three guys approached.
“Hey,” one of the men said, “we’ll buy this round if you’ll share your table with us. This place is fucking packed.”
“Deal,” Kristen said, sticking out her hand.
All three of the men were attractive, but Laura instantly dismissed them as way too young. Hell, they were probably younger than her son, who’d just celebrated his twenty-third birthday.
“I’m Kristen and these are my friends, Georgie and Laura.”
“Nice to meet you. Frank, Wade and Randy.” Frank offered the introductions.
Georgie immediately started chatting with them. Laura’s suspicions were confirmed when the guys said they were seniors at the university and here to see the band because they took an anatomy class with the drummer.
The waitress delivered another round of shots. Laura was feeling the effects of the liquor, but not in a bad way. She was warm and pleasantly fuzzy. The music didn’t seem quite as loud as it had when they’d arrived at the bar. In fact, she felt like dancing.
The three guys at their table hit the dance floor as a fast number started and Laura let loose, laughing as she moved in time with the beat.
“Oh fuck, what’s that?” Georgie asked, giggling.
Laura tilted her head, confused. “Dancing.”
Georgie shook her head. “Never do that again. Um, hello, George Michael. Nobody swings their arms around like that anymore.”
Laura continued to sway, taking no offense at Georgie’s joke. Now that she was here, she was getting into the spirit of rediscovering her younger side. She’d let too many years slip by, allowing herself to lose touch with the world around her, while she changed diapers, drove to Little League games and made Homecoming dresses. “Show me what I’m supposed to do then.”