Free Start Me Up by Victoria Dahl Page B

“Six-thirty.”
    “Okay, I’ll meet you at your office.”
    “No, why don’t I—”
    “Listen, Quinn. I’m not interested in sitting here in my living room in a dress and heels for hours, waiting for you to remember our plans. I will meet you at your office.”
    “Oh. I see. All right.”
    She hung up with no added pleasantries, leaving Quinn staring at the restaurant sign for a few stunned seconds. “No chance am I forgetting this date,” he said to no one at all. “I’ll be there with bells on.”
    He was still wondering what the heck that phrase meant when he pulled up to his office two minutes later. One more date with Tessa, and then he’d be Lori Love’s meaningless fling, hopefully for a good long while.

    LORI ROLLED OUT from under the car, wiping her hands on a rag. “Joe,” she called as she stood and stretched. “Will you be okay on your own for a few minutes? I’ve got a quick errand to run.”
    After Joe gave her a thumb’s-up, she walked out and headed for the office of her Realtor. As she strolled along the cracked sidewalk, she realized how good this felt, confronting something. She’d been passive for so long, swept along by her life. Now she was taking control of a few small things. Finally. Maybe this would snowball into a real life.
    “Fat chance,” Lori muttered, but she was smiling when she opened the door of the tiny Main Street office. “Hi, Helen!” she called to the tall blonde at the back of the room.
    Helen Stowe looked up from pouring coffee, her big hair bouncing with the movement. “Hey, Lori! What can I do for you this morning?”
    “Oh, I just had a couple of questions. How are you doing? I thought you were going to meet me and Molly at The Bar last week.”
    Helen shrugged as she took a seat at her desk and waved Lori over to the chair that faced it. “You know. I just got busy.”
    “We’re dropping by on Friday. Why don’t you come along?”
    “Oh.” Helen’s heavily mascara’d lashes fluttered. “I don’t…I would, but…If…”
    “Helen.” Lori sighed. “Did you break it off with Juan?” Juan was the manager and bartender of The Bar. He was also ten years younger than the newly divorced Helen.
    “No,” she whispered, the quiet word trembling in the air. “He…” One fat tear escaped her lashes and tracked an ashy line down her cheek.
    “Oh, Helen.”
    “He said he was tired of hiding our relationship!” Helen gasped. “He said I was ashamed of him, but I’m not! It’s just…” That one tear was just the first of many, and Lori’s stomach sank.
    “I’m so sorry, Helen.”
    “It’s my own fault,” she said, as she yanked open a desk drawer and pulled out a box of Kleenex. “I never should have started dating him. He just doesn’t understand what it’s like to be a fortysomething woman dating a younger man.” She leaned forward, eyes a bit wild. “Do you know they have a word for it now? They call women like me ‘cougars’!”
    “Yeah, I’ve heard that.”
    “It’s mortifying!”
    “Well, it’s kind of trendy, actually.”
    “Trendy?” Helen screeched. “Do you know what Juan’s mama would say if she found out? She’s been after him to start making babies for years! If he brought home some dried-up old floozy like me, she’d probably call the priest over to perform an exorcism!”
    “Helen,” Lori said softly.
    Helen blew her nose and hiccupped.
    “Do you like Juan?”
    Her face crumpled again, and Lori had her answer.
    “If you really like him, don’t you think you should give it a chance? Give him a chance?”
    Though her tears continued to flow, Helen shook her head. “My husband left me, Lori. He left me after twenty years of marriage. I can’t go through that again, and you can damn well bet your ass that Juan would leave in a few years. Hell, I’m about to enter menopause. He probably doesn’t even know what that word means. ”
    Lori sighed. “He’s a nice guy.”
    Helen straightened her spine