lead you astray.”
“Is God gunna pay your bill, too? ’Cause I need thirty-two bucks.” The bartender leaned against the bar with a bored expression.
Sara and Christie both reached into their bras for money. Neither dress had pockets.
After the bartender got an eyeful, and then a stink eye, he lumbered away to get change and a water. Sara didn’t miss his eye roll when she’d asked for a water.
She let a big sigh tumble out of her mouth. “Well, God’s will or no, I’m here and battling through it. I’d lean on Mikey regardless, because when he’s around I don’t know any other way. Just wish I was the same woman as that girl he used to know.”
“You are. Somewhere in there, you are. You just need to let her back up to breathe, is all.”
Sara didn’t know. She hadn’t been that girl for a very, very long time. She didn’t even remember that girl’s dreams or aspirations.
“’Kay, ready?” Christie said, holding up a shot of gooey black liquid.
“No. I don’t wanna,” Sara whined.
“Do it!”
Sara dropped her hand to the bar and pinched the sticky shot glass with her thumb and forefinger. Liquid dribbled out of the glass and onto the bar.
“My stomach’s already turning,” Sara muttered, bringing the evil glass closer to her lips. The smell wafted past her nose—licorice infused with gasoline. Her stomach flipped over, a precursor to future events should that stuff make it all the way down.
“Nope.” Sara paused and put a hand on her stomach. “I don’t know that I can go through with this.”
Christie grabbed Sara’s shoulder, wobbling a bit more alcohol out of the glass. “Cowboy up. You can do this.”
“Shouldn’t we do this with Sam?”
“Nah. Shots are a girls’ affair. C’mon.”
“Why?” Sara stalled.
“Because guys make a show, and girls make it fun. C’mon!”
There was no way Christie could make this fun.
And what kind of parent and role model would Sara eventually be if she couldn’t ward off peer pressure at thirty? How could she tell her eventual teenager to stay strong, and do what was right, when she couldn’t do it herself?
But then, with Sara’s choice in men, what were the odds she’d have a teenager…
“Screw it. Let’s do this.” Sara raised her shot in the air. “To new beginnings.”
“Hallelujah!”
The bottoms of the shot glasses saw the ceiling.
Liquid fire scratched down Sara’s throat and clawed through her esophagus. It turned to acid in her stomach. “Oh gross, oh gross, I’m going to—” Sara held the back of her hand over her mouth as her stomach rolled.
Christie eyed her with an evil grin. “C’mon, girl, do it like a champ.”
Sara shook her head adamantly. Her grimace took over her face. “That was…” She had to pause for her stomach to gurgle. “Ugh.”
“And the night has begun.” Christie patted Sara on the back again before heading back to the table.
Sara breathed fire as bile rose in her throat. Her stomach gurgled, very unhappy. Very, very unhappy. She’d never been a serious drinker.
“Hello again. Haven’t seen you around in a while.”
Wonderful timing, as ever.
Hand still on her stomach, Sara straightened up and turned to the speaker. Unspeakable handsomeness looked back, his muscular chest a foot from hers, rock hard and cut from stone. Good Lord this man had a nice body.
“You’re in the mood to party tonight, huh?” Duke said.
“You need something, Duke?”
Relief washed over Sara as Mikey stepped to her side, slipping his arm behind her back and resting it on the bar. His hazel eyes held something she’d never seen before. Hard and sharp, they cut through Duke’s resolve like a blowtorch through paper. Duke’s back bowed and his cockiness ebbed. His eyes, exactly the same level as Mikey’s, glared. Mikey stared right back, his body flexed and taut, causing Sara’s small hairs to stand on edge.
“You lookin’ to go, man?” Duke asked.
One pec twitched on Mikey’s body. He cocked his head to the side. “You sure that’s what you want to do?”
Duke’s fists clenched. He held his ground, but his muscles were lightly trembling. “Really, bro? You’re gonna take a stand on this chick? What about that Brazilian broad you didn’t bother with… You want to rumble over some average brunette?”
Sara’s insides shriveled. A picture of the young, beautiful intern Phil left her for flashed in her head. Then her own face, worn and lined, the glow of youth faded.
The breath exited her lungs as Mikey said, “Move on, Duke. Or I will remove you.”
Duke paused for a moment. He stared at