The B Girls - By Cari Cole Page 0,5

wine. "I want my nice well-planned future back. I don't like not knowing what comes next." Especially when what came next was sure to be an unpleasant divorce battle followed by a severe cut in her standard of living.

"You want Gary back?" Jane asked.

Lucy thought about that. She should want Gary back. She loved him didn't she? The fact that she had to think about it was a hint. "No, I don't think so, but I want my future retirement back. I want to spend my golden years collecting shark's teeth in oversized brandy snifters and watching the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico from the balcony of my high rise condo."

"Doesn't that sort of go along with having Gary back?" Jane said.

"I don't know. I guess I'm thinking of him in a gone fishing sort of way."

"Well you should probably think of him as just gone," Jane said. "And good riddance. You shouldn't spend the best part of your life with someone you tolerate more than love."

"But I don't want something different. I want safe and predictable and easy. Reinventing my life at this point is just too much work," Lucy said.

"No whining allowed," Jane said.

"We're all at a crossroads in our lives. We have a chance to completely turn things around--find our bliss," Mae said.

Jane and Lucy looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Are you sure you haven't been drinking?" Lucy said.

Mae pretended to pout. "What's so funny?"

"Crossroads?" Jane said wiping tears of laughter off her face--without smudging her makeup. "Promise me the words 'find our bliss' will never pass your lips again."

Lucy was shaking her head. "Maybe she's right. Maybe we're all having a pre-midlife crisis."

"Pre midlife?" Jane said.

"Well I'm sure as hell not admitting to being middle-aged. Hell, half the time I feel like I'm just playing a grownup on TV," Lucy said.

"I always feel like a grownup. I think that's the problem," Mae said.

"I think we need a night on the town," Lucy said. "I'm not through drinking yet. Let's go to The Shitkicker."

"You're still drunk," Jane said.

Lucy nodded. "I'm also serious."

Jane tapped another cigarette out of Mae's pack. "I'm game."

"The Shitkicker?" Mae's voice came out as a squeak. "That place is full of rowdy twenty-one year olds. And it's . . ."

"Fun?" Lucy said.

"I was going to say seedy," Mae said.

"Seedy? Nobody says seedy." Jane drummed her fingernails on the table.

Mae pursed her lips in a stubborn pout. "Chip would have a coronary."

"Didn't you just get finished telling us you wanted to try new things? Break out of your soccer mom mold?" Jane said.

"And don't forget the always feeling like a grownup thing," Lucy said.

"But I don't have anything to wear," Mae said.

"Just throw on a pair of jeans and you'll be good to go," Jane said.

Mae didn't say anything but the vaguely guilty look on her face spoke volumes.

Lucy was horrified. "Don't tell me you don't own a pair of jeans."

Boot Scoot Boogie

"I can't go out in public dressed like this," Mae said. "I thought these clothes were going to be fun but I feel like I'm wearing a costume." She shuddered. "People will laugh at me."

Lucy thought Mae looked adorable in her western wear. After Mae's confession that she indeed didn't own a pair of jeans, Lucy had insisted they go shopping for Shitkicker clothes at Wild Bill's. "Look at it this way, it would have been worse if we'd opted for the square dance clothes."

"Mae, you really need to loosen up," Jane said. "You take this whole conservative suburban soccer mom thing to the extreme. When was the last time you went to the grocery store in your sweats?"

Mae looked vaguely horrified at the thought. "I never leave the house like that."

"Do you even sit around the house like that?" Jane asked.

Mae shook her head. "Too many people coming and going from my house. I like to be presentable."

When Jane arched an eyebrow, Mae got defensive. "There's nothing wrong with always wanting to look your best."

"Of course there isn't," Lucy said giving Jane the eye.

Jane ignored Lucy. "No, there isn't anything wrong with wanting to look your best but everyone has a skanky sweat and tee shirt day. No one would think less of you if you forgot your mascara every once in a while."

Mae shivered at the thought. "Easy for you to say."

"What does that mean?" Jane said.

"It means, I never see you running around in sweats and even if you did you wouldn't have to worry about anyone