All her efforts to make her marriage work had been in vain. She had increasingly thrown herself into work, but even that was an emotional rollercoaster. As a palliative care nurse, she loved her patients, but losing them was always painful.
“Trina needs to hurry up with those shooters,” Amanda said.
Lorraine looked toward the section of the bar where Trina had ventured off to. Trina was lost somewhere in the crowd.
As Lorraine’s gaze wandered the other way, it stopped abruptly, landing on another pair of eyes. They were dark and intense and drew her in for a few glorious seconds. She stared, unable to turn away, while the man who owned those striking eyes stared back.
The air rushing out of her lungs, Lorraine felt an undeniable sizzle of heat.
She checked out the man staring back at her. Golden brown skin. Broad shoulders and seriously muscular biceps. Wow.
She glanced away, blushing.
“Who are you looking at?” Amanda asked, and shot a peek over her shoulder.
“Don’t!” Lorraine admonished, but she was too late.
“What am I missing?” Rosa asked.
“Oh, I see him,” Amanda said, her tone piquing with interest. “The guy behind me in the second booth. Wearing a pale blue shirt.”
“Oh!” Rosa’s eyes widening, she playfully swatted Lorraine’s arm. “Girl, you’re flirting?”
“Can’t I look at a man without you guys making a big deal about it?” Lorraine asked.
Trina appeared then, weaving through the crowd back toward the table. She was carrying a plate with the four shot glasses grouped closely together. Surrounding the glasses were four lime wedges. “One round of tequila shooters!” Trina announced. She placed the plate onto the table, then took her seat beside Amanda again. “Grab one, ladies.”
They each took a shot glass, but left the limes on the plate. Trina was the first to lick her hand and pour salt onto it. The rest of the ladies followed suit.
Rosa quickly raised her shot glass. “To Lorraine getting to know the hot guy in the blue shirt.”
Trina frowned. “Huh? What did I miss?”
“He’s at the table behind us,” Amanda explained.
“Don’t look—” Lorraine said, but Trina was already whipping her head around.
Lorraine glanced at the hottie again, saw him smile at her. Oh, God. He was paying attention to them. And now he knew that she and her friends were talking about him.
“I’m totally embarrassed,” Lorraine said. “He knows that I’m staring at him. Thanks to you guys.”
“To Lorraine’s fresh start,” Amanda said, raising the shooter and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
“I’ll drink to that!” Rosa enthused.
There was no point in arguing with these women, who loved her unconditionally. So Lorraine downed her shooter along with her friends. The tequila burned its way down her throat. She quickly stuffed the lime in her mouth to kill the bite of the booze. As she and her friends did the same, Rosa feigned a gagging sound. They all started laughing. Yeah, this was just like old times.
“Okay, that’s my one and only tequila shot for the night,” Rosa said. “No more.”
“As if we don’t know that,” Trina said. “Though I’m really curious to know what a two-tequila night would be like for you.”
“You’re not going to find out,” Rosa told her.
As her friends engaged in playful chatter, Lorraine glanced in the sexy stranger’s direction. Again, he was looking at her.
“If you’re going to keep flirting,” Rosa began, “you need to fix your makeup. It’s a mess from when you got teary a few minutes ago.”
“What?” Lorraine gasped, horrified.
Rosa got to her feet and reached for Lorraine’s hand. “Let’s go to the restroom.”
Lorraine didn’t protest. Not that she was interested in the man she’d noticed, but flirting was not sexy with raccoon eyes.
She grabbed her purse from the table and started for the restroom with Rosa, who was a little unsteady on her feet. Lorraine’s head was definitely lighter. The margarita was already having an effect on her. She wasn’t about to get over-the-top drunk, but being tipsy and feeling good was exactly what she wanted. Especially since she hadn’t hung out with her friends like this in such a long time. Paul hadn’t expressly forbidden it, but he’d made it clear that he didn’t like her friends. So they all needed tonight, and there was no shame in letting loose. They were all taking taxis home, so no need to worry about any of them driving while drunk.
Lorraine and Rosa entered the bathroom. The dark red walls seemed to suck up the already dim light. It was a horrible color scheme for the visibility required to reapply makeup.
Lorraine headed toward a mirror while Rosa went into a stall. Dim lighting or not, her ruined makeup was clear to see. Her mascara and eyeliner had bled around her eyes, and there was one long black streak on the left side of her face. She wondered if the hottie had been able to see her face clearly. How embarrassing!
Two other women burst into the restroom, giggling. As Lorraine tore off a piece of paper towel, the young women went right for the mirror, fixing their hair and applying fresh coats of lipstick.
“You really think he’s into me?” one of the women asked. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-two.
“He wouldn’t have bought you a drink if he wasn’t,” her friend responded.
Lorraine wet the paper towel, then started to carefully wipe around her eyes to remove the mess. She smiled as she listened to the friends chatter about the guy one of them liked. How long had it been since she’d been out like this with her own friends, happily scoping out the available men? Not in forever.
She frowned. What if the sexy stranger had been checking her out because of her black veil? She’d noticed curious looks from others tonight, but something about this man intrigued her. She hoped there was a connection between them.
The black streaks cleaned, Lorraine reached into her purse for her compact and started applying a fresh coat of powder.
Rosa exited the stall and approached a sink. When she looked at Lorraine she said, “Much better.”
“You mean the raccoon look isn’t my thing?” Lorraine joked.
“On Halloween, yes. But tonight, not so much.”
Lorraine laughed. Then, once again looking at her reflection, she asked, “Should I change my lipstick?”
“You actually have something other than the boring brown you’re wearing? That is the name of the lipstick, isn’t it? Boring Brown.”
Lorraine cut her eyes at her friend. She liked the brown color. It went with everything. And it was a good choice for her caramel-colored complexion. But as she stared at herself in the mirror, she had to admit that the color didn’t add any pizzazz. Compared to the two women at the other end of the mirror, wearing bright colors on their lips and their eyes, Lorraine’s look was...well, boring indeed.
Lorraine dug her other lipstick choice out of her purse. While Rosa went to dry her hands, Lorraine applied a coat of the red and pressed her lips together.
Her eyes widened. After her initial shock, her lips spread in a slow smile. What a dramatic difference. Her lips looked extra kissable.
Extra kissable... Good grief. Maybe it was the alcohol getting to her.
“Great veil.”
Lorraine turned to look at the two young women, who were staring at her