Free Everybody Falls by J. A. Hornbuckle

casually as I could. I'm not very good at prevaricating if you want the truth, "Uhm, Ricks? I heard one of the customers ask a lady if she wanted to go for a drive. If someone asked you to go for a ride with them, what would you wear?"
    "Was he hot?" she immediately shot back. "Oh, God, please tell me he was hot and that she was hot and that he's been secretly lusting after her for, like, months and that…"
    "Whoa! Hold on," I warned. Geez, I should've never brought it up because Ricki was like Beth in the hook-up department. "I was just wondering if you got asked out for a drive, what would you wear?"
    She put down her sandwich to consider the question as she used a napkin to wipe her hands. Ricki takes wardrobe selection seriously, especially if there is the hope that a member of the opposite sex would see her.
    "Jeans? Yep, well-worn jeans and a cute top that's not a t-shirt. A cool hoodie. Chucks or boots? Hmm," she pondered. "What kind of car?"
    "I don't know," I replied.
    "Well, the choice of car matters because would she need a hat or not? If it’s a Jeep or a convertible then a hat would be a no-brainer. But if it's just a sedan or something, then hair either in a high ponytail or loose. Car choice is a big deal, Lace," she said solemnly.
    "I can see that," I said just as solemnly back. Raspberries in December. This girly crap could be a mine field sometimes.
    She was still thinking, though.
    "Where are you?" I asked when she didn't continue. With Ricks, silence sometimes speaks louder than the sounds she emits.
    "I was wondering if it was a cleavage or no cleavage kind of drive," she answered at last.
    Cleavage?
    Uhm.
    I don't think so. I mean, my girls were cleavage worthy yet did I want to showcase them for Jack? On just a drive with Jack?
    Nuh-uh.
    "Do you know if they've dated before?" she asked finally, wrapping up the rest of her sandwich and putting it in my small fridge in the postage stamp sized kitchen of the apartment.
    "I don't think so," I finally said, looking at the rest of my chicken salad on honey wheat. Damn, I'd only eaten maybe a quarter of it and I was already full. Crap. I'd steadily been losing weight since Lilly had died and the doc had told me I needed to eat more.
    How can you eat when your heart is still so heavy?
    "Then no cleavage. But, the top has to be really cute. And instead of chucks or boots, then strappy heeled sandals," she announced with authority.
    She glanced at her phone.
    "Gotta get back, Lace, or the ol' lady will start frothing at the mouth," she said, hitching her jeans up and straightening her shirt. It was true. During working hours Ricki's mom could be a bit of a slave driver. "What are you doing tonight?"
    "I'm tired, so I'll probably turn in early," I said, not looking at my friend as I out and out lied.
    For the record, I'm a lousy liar. The kind of liar that gets busted every time I try to wiggle my way out of the truth.
    "Talk to you tomorrow?" she asked, scooping up her oversized purse and grabbing the door to go downstairs.
    "Yes ma'am," I shot back, putting my sandwich into the fridge and sucking back the last of my lemonade.
    "See you, babe," she yelled as she left.
    Whew! Got out of that one.
    I cleaned up the crumbs and went back downstairs to work as I mentally reviewed my wardrobe, trying to find the 'cute top' and 'strappy heeled sandals' that Ricki had unknowingly suggested.
    And, for chocolate's sake, did I even own a cool hoodie?

    *.*.*.*.*
    Jax did his shower thing before heading out to the workshop hoping to finish getting it cleaned before it was time to go to the early meeting of the AA/NA group that met at noon. If he wanted to be with Lacey, he needed to get a meeting out of the way early. The rules of his release said that he had to attend a meeting every day.
    Some rules were made to be broken.
    But some rules were court ordered and he wasn't going to fuck this up.
    He'd made it just in time, slipping through the doors as the speaker of this