Happy Hour

  Dedication

  To my best friend, Lisa. There’s no one I’d rather share a happy hour with more than you.

  Chapter One

  “Another pitcher,” Jamie Fisher called out to the waitress.

  “And some wings,” Grace added.

  Jamie laughed as Grace raised her glass and quickly finished off her beer to make room for a fresh cold one.

  “Take it easy, Ms. Wright,” he teased. “We have all night if you need it.”

  She grinned and nodded, hoping Jamie couldn’t see the flush she felt heating her cheeks as his all night comment sent her mind straight to the gutter. After such a long sexual dry spell, she had the feeling she’d definitely need all night, especially if it was with him. “Oh, I need it all right. I’ve been living for this happy hour all week. It’ll be a miracle if I make through exams without killing a senior.”

  “Yep. Same thing every year. Seniors check out at the end of April and it’s hell trying to teach them anything until graduation,” Jamie agreed.

  “At least you have some underclassmen classes to break up the insanity. I’ve spent eight hours a day for the last few weeks trying to teach literary theory to AP kids and I’m fairly certain I’d be doing as much good if I just stood in front of the classroom and beat my head against the whiteboard.” Grace taught six classes of advanced placement English to seniors, a futile task in May as their minds were already focused on the after-graduation party, senior beach week and college.

  “Well, there’s your problem,” Trey Donovan chimed in. “I don’t even know what the hell literary theory is and you’re trying to teach it to a bunch of kids with senioritis.”

  Grace rolled her eyes, mainly to keep from letting her gaze wander over Trey’s pecs. His firm muscles pushed their way through his tight gray T-shirt. Ever since they’d entered the bar, she’d been fighting back some serious arousal issues as she considered slipping her hands beneath the soft cotton and touching the firm muscles and chocolate-brown skin taunting her. She took a deep breath and cast the thought aside…again.

  Trey and Jamie were both teachers in the physical education department at her school, and while she’d never considered them dumb jocks, they liked to play the part whenever she started talking about literature or writing, teasing her about her highbrow lessons and bragging about how they got to play games all day. Lately, her feelings of friendship toward them had been laced with more than a healthy bit of desire. She needed to stop reading spicy romance novels. They were clearly leaving her too horny—and planting some pretty wicked seeds in her psyche. She’d hit the library on Monday and check out a murder mystery—the bloodier, the better.

  “Should I launch in to today’s lecture about existentialism?” Grace asked.

  “Jesus,” Jamie said. “I can’t even spell that word. We’re in the tennis unit this week.” He raised his short sleeve polo and Grace tried to ignore the purely female part of her that wanted to melt as she was treated to a glimpse of his muscular arm. “Been getting paid while working on my tan.”

  She laughed, fully aware of the fact Jamie was much brighter than he pretended to be around his male friends. They’d had more than a few discussions about books while alone and he had a very sharp mind. Of course, tonight wasn’t about intellect. It was about talking, laughing and unwinding over a few beers with friends. As she glanced around the table, she knew she was blessed.

  Lucas, a fellow English teacher, and her best friend, Cheryl, the librarian, were also casting off the stress of work at happy hour. The group had been coming to Tully’s Bar for the occasional Friday afternoon decompression as long as Grace could remember. She had worked with most of the teachers around her for years, and they’d become much closer than mere colleagues to her. They’d seen her through one of the darkest periods of her life and she sometimes wondered how she’d gotten through the daily stress of teaching without them.

  Cheryl leaned toward her with a mischievous grin. “Looks like the Cougar Club rides again.”

  “Oh jeez,” Grace muttered.

  Cheryl had given their little group the nickname last summer when they’d all gotten together to celebrate Grace’s fortieth birthday at Jamie’s house. When a discussion on age ensued, they’d learned Trey and Lucas were in their late twenties, a fact that delighted Cheryl so much she’d henceforth referred to them as The Cougar Club. The guys loved it. Grace, not so much.

  Jamie laughed at Cheryl’s comment when Grace complained. “Do you have to call it that?” she asked. “You make me feel like a dirty old woman.”

  Jamie winked at her and she tried to ignore the completely inappropriate Mrs. Robinson-like feelings his handsome face always provoked.

  “I wouldn’t mind getting dirty with you.” He leaned closer as he spoke, running a finger along her arm seductively. Grace resisted the urge to glance down and make sure her suddenly tight nipples weren’t poking through her blouse. One touch and the man had her panting like a dog in heat.

  They all laughed, but there were times when Grace wondered if there wasn’t some veiled invitation behind Jamie’s teasing comments. He joked about sex all the time with her. His playful words never offended her, but instead fanned the small flame he’d lit inside her. He made her feel young and attractive and desirable.

  She dismissed the thought.

  Wishful thinking.

  Jamie wasn’t as young as the other guys in their group. She and Jamie had worked together for nearly eight years and they’d been close friends half that time. It seemed like lately she was seeing him more often. Not that that was surprising. She’d begun to instigate ways to run into him because she enjoyed his company more than she cared to admit. The past few months, she’d been suffering from this lingering sadness she knew was loneliness. It disappeared any time Jamie was with her, so she contrived ways to be around him. Still, at thirty-two, he was almost a decade younger than her forty. “Behave yourself, Mr. Fisher,” she teased, “or you’ll be singing alone tonight.”

  “Jamie alone?” Cheryl asked. “Our resident Casanova?”

  Jamie shook his head and threw up his hands. “I think you have me confused with Trey or Lucas here. Pretty sure they’re pictured in the dictionary under the term player, not me.”

  “If the shoe fits,” Lucas joked.

  Grace laughed. “Oh, it fits, hotshot. Hey, Trey. What are you doing here anyway? I thought you were going to a Jay-Z concert tonight.”

  “Nope, the concert is tomorrow night,” Trey replied. He was sitting next to her and she could swear when they’d claimed their chairs earlier, his had been farther away. He was close enough now she could smell the faint scent of his cologne and his leg kept brushing against hers beneath the table.

  She accidentally moved hers until her knee touched his thigh. She left it there. Trey looked at her and gave her a knowing grin. She returned it and suppressed a tiny giggle. She was flirting with him—pure and simple. She wasn’t sure why, but like everything with Trey, it was fun.

  Jamie looked at Trey, then at her, his gaze curious. He moved closer to her, casually draping his arm along the back of her chair. In Grace’s sex-deprived mind, the gesture seemed charmingly possessive and hot.

  She took a deep breath, resisting the urge to drag Jamie or Trey or both of them to the parking lot for some serious backseat fucking. Her hormones were out of control and she knew something was going to have to give…soon. Bottling up sexual desires for so long couldn’t be healthy.

  Jamie picked up a strand of her hair and began looping it around his finger gently. “I dragged him out tonight because the bartender dumped him.”

  “She didn’t dump me,” Trey replied. “It was a mutual decision. By the way, thanks for bringing it up, bro.”

  Jamie laughed. “
What are friends for?”

  Grace could see Trey wasn’t really upset about the break-up and laughed at Trey’s “bringing it up” line. It was a Jamie and Trey standard. The two men constantly entertained the rest of them with stories of their adventures—in and out of the classroom. They were inseparable and lately she’d lie in bed each night playing out some pretty hardcore fantasies about the two of them taking her on a little adventure between the sheets.

  “I’m sorry, Trey. I was starting to think she might be the one,” Grace said.

  Cheryl rolled her eyes. “These guys wouldn’t know the one if she walked up and bit them in the ass.”

  Jamie grinned wickedly. “Believe me, if a woman bit my ass, I’d pay attention.”

  Cheryl narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

  “Now you’re in trouble,” Grace muttered, but Cheryl never paused, never missed a beat.

  “Dammit, Jamie. At least Trey can sustain a respectable amount of time dating the same person. Every time I see you out, you’re with a different woman. You’re not getting any younger, you know. What’s the fun of getting married and having babies if you’re too old to pick them up?”

  “Whoa.” Jamie threw his hands up. “Don’t even mention the ‘b’ word to me. I work in a high school because the kids there are old enough to wipe their own asses. I was not made for little kids.”

  Cheryl conceded that point and latched on to the first. “Don’t you ever think about getting hitched?”

  Trey piped up, obviously enjoying the fact Jamie was now on the hot seat. “Yeah, Jamie. Don’t you want to settle down?”

  Jamie narrowed his eyes at his best friend and then shrugged. “I guess I do.” He looked around the table and then grinned at Grace. “If you want the truth, I’ve just been biding my time with those other women until Grace comes to her senses and realizes how much she wants my hot bod.”

  Grace rolled her eyes. He was a master at dodging subjects he didn’t want to discuss. “Such conceit,” she said. And such truth. She allowed herself the small pleasure of letting her gaze travel over his sexy physique.

  “Now,” Jamie said, leaning closer to her, “about our duet…”

  Jamie was a hopeless flirt, but she had to admit he was good for her ego. There wasn’t a single inch on his body that was hard to look at. Not that she’d seen much of his body anywhere besides her unprofessional fantasies.

  The last few times they’d gotten together for happy hour, he’d dropped a quarter in the jukebox and managed to shanghai her into singing the Diana Ross part in “Endless Love” while their friends cracked up at his overdone Lionel Ritchie. To make it even funnier, they used their thumbs as microphones.

  “I only sing while under the extreme effects of alcohol.”

  “Even better,” he replied, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “I’ll get you drunk and have my wicked way with you.”

  “Good luck with that,” she teased.

  He picked up the pitcher and topped up her mug. “Drink up.”

  She swatted his hand away from her glass playfully while Cheryl laughed. “What’s Maddie up to tonight?”

  “Oh, didn’t I tell you? She went away for the weekend with Jessica’s family. They own a cabin on the lake. Sort of a last hurrah for the two of them before graduation.” Grace’s heart gave a painful lurch as it always did when she remembered her days with her daughter were numbered. Maddie would graduate from high school in one month. For weeks now, Grace had suffered from pre-empty nest syndrome. Her colleagues who’d already sent their children off to college had assured her it would only get worse before it got better. Some consolation. On top of that, there was a tiny part of her that was terrified about the prospect of being alone for the rest of her life.

  “Good for her,” Cheryl said. “She’s worked hard this year. She deserves a little fun time.”

  Grace nodded, acknowledging the truth behind her friend’s words. Maddie was a straight-A student, active in too many clubs to list as well as the pitcher for the Varsity Softball team.

  “She’s a good kid,” Jamie added and Grace realized that over the past two years, her daughter had become less child and more friend. They’d always been close—fate and circumstance had pretty much assured that. Losing a husband and father had bound them together in ways no one should ever have to experience. Maddie had only been twelve when they’d lost their beloved Drew in a car accident. Since then, Grace had taken on the role of both mother and father, and now friend.

  “She sure is. I’m lucky.”

  Cheryl shook her head. “Nope, you’re a good mom. Luck had nothing to do with it.”

  “Amen,” Jamie whispered low enough that Grace was certain she was the only one who’d heard. She gave him a grateful smile and thought for a moment he was blushing. “I’m going to go throw a few quarters in the jukebox.”

  Grace nodded as he stood up. One of the best things about Tully’s was the old-fashioned jukebox. She wondered how much money their small group had thrown into the machine at these Friday afternoon get-togethers.

  “You sure you don’t want a beer, Cheryl?” Trey offered.

  “No way. I’m Grace’s DD tonight. She drove my drunken ass home last time and I still have the headache to prove it. Remember?”

  “Hey, that was a special occasion,” Lucas said. “We won the state basketball championship. It was your God-given duty as a teacher at that school to get ripped.”

  Cheryl shook her head. “Yeah, you suckered me in with your line of bull that night, hence the hangover. I’m too damn old to drink like that. I’m fine with my diet soda, thank you very much. Besides, Jeff is still teasing me about the way I acted that night. Gonna take years for the man to forget about it.”

  “That sounds like your hubby,” Grace joked. “You really were funny that night. I had no idea you could dance like that.”

  “Christ,” Cheryl muttered. “Don’t remind me.”

  “Come on, Trey. We better make sure Jamie picks some decent dance music. Otherwise, we’ll be listening to fucking Jimmy Buffett all night,” Lucas said. He and Trey walked across the room to where Jamie was bent over the machine, making his selections.

  “So I totally think you should try to hook up with Jamie.”

  At Cheryl’s unexpected comment, Grace choked on the sip of beer she’d just taken. “W-what?” she asked.

  Cheryl gave her a wicked grin. “Thought that would get your attention. I’ve been watching you two lately and I think he’s got the hots for you.”

  “Yeah, right. And the Pope is Jewish.” Grace spoke the words lightly, trying to hide how much she wanted Cheryl’s observation to be true.

  “I’m being serious.”

  “He’s young, handsome and definitely not looking for an older widow with a teenage daughter. I’m toting too much baggage. Trust me.”

  Cheryl shook her head. “I don’t think that’s true. I swear sometimes it’s like he seeks you out. There could be twenty teachers standing around in the cafeteria and he’ll make a beeline for you.”

  “We’re friends. We have the same twisted sense of humor. Plus, have you ever considered the idea that I’m not a threat to him? You’ve seen how the new female teachers flitter around him like a swarm of flies around a sugar cube, hoping to get his attention. He’s probably just using me as a buffer to keep them away.”

  “How many single guys do you know who try to keep hot young women away from them?” Cheryl scoffed. “He doesn’t want them because he wants you. You two are perfect for each other. Mark my words.”

  “Well, I hope you’re wrong because I’m not interested.”

  Cheryl burst into a fit of loud laughter. “Jesus. Sell that shit to someone who doesn’t know you, sweet pea. I’ve seen you flirting tonight. You’re as hot to get in his pants as he is to get into yours.”

  Grace narrowed her eyes. “Why am I friends with you again?”

  “Because you don’t want to grow up any more than I do, Peter Pa
n. Neither one of us is going down without a fight.”

  Grace had to agree with Cheryl’s assessment. The older she got, the younger she felt. She wondered lately if there was something wrong with her. Wondered if by being widowed so young, something inside her had been broken and it stopped her from maturing the way she should. Of course, Cheryl was definitely going through the same phase, which proved that assumption false as her friend was happily married. If anything, Cheryl had it worse than her. At forty-five with two kids in college, it seemed sometimes as if Cheryl was reliving her youth all over again, attending rock concerts and even getting a tattoo.

  Grace sighed. “Unfortunately I think the cruelty of nature is going to win this battle. I’ve got crow’s feet around my eyes and my breasts are definitely succumbing to gravity.”

  “You’re gorgeous, Gracie. I’ve known you for nearly fifteen years and it’s safe to say you’ve never looked better. After Drew’s death, you made it pretty clear to everyone that raising Maddie was your number one goal. You made that girl the center of your universe because she needed you and you needed her. But she’s going to go away to college in a few months and that’s going to leave you on your own for the first time in your life. It’s time to open yourself up to some new experiences.”

  “Cheryl—” Grace interjected, but her friend waved her off.

  “Hear me out. All I’m asking you to do is consider what I’m saying. You’re a beautiful woman with a lot to offer any man lucky enough to snatch you up. You’re smart, funny and sexy. Hell, if I wasn’t happily married and getting sex three times a week from Jeff, I’d do you.”

  Grace laughed.

  “Forty is the new thirty,” Cheryl continued, “so stop hiding behind that number and get out there again. Besides, you weren’t made to live alone. All that nurturing and loving shit would come bursting out at the seams if you didn’t have someone to smother with it.”

  Grace considered her friend’s words and knew they were the truth. She’d never lived alone, leaving her parent’s home for a college apartment with roommates. She’d married Drew shortly after graduating from the university and since his death, she’d had Maddie to come home to. Cheryl’s words struck a chord as she realized some of her sadness over Maddie’s leaving was the idea that she would be alone and she dreaded it.