Free Happy Hour by Michele Scott Page B

I’ll go take some riding lessons from
him myself.”
    “You are so bad,” Kat said.
    “Yeah and you’re not?” Danielle smiled. “And don’t you look at me like
that.” She pointed at Alyssa. “I got a feeling you got more diva in you than
you let on. You all act like a bunch of old women. Get with the program. Good
wine, hot guys, and sex. That’s what I want to talk about, because God knows
I’m not having any.” She glanced at all of them. “Oh. No one else is either?
Old women. Goddamn. We need to get crazy. That’s what we all need. And you Kat,
you’re the married one, I suspect you’re at least having sex. And your husband
with that Irish lilt? The dirty talk must sound so melodic.”
       Kat picked up
another handful of grapes and pelted Danielle with them. Jamie and Alyssa
followed suit.
    “Now that’s better!” Danielle said, laughing. “It’s not sex, but at least
it’s fun.” Before long they were all in a fit of laughter, tossing grapes and
acting like schoolgirls. Pure escape and total fun. And that was Sunday happy
hour.

 
CHAPTER SIX
May
Danielle
    Danielle took out the bottle of wine, now aged for a little over two
years. This could be it. The one. The winner . Her first bottle of Déesse . Goddess wine. The grapes started out as Bastillia grapes
and, if Al had honored his marriage vows a few years ago, they likely would
have gone into a Bastillia wine. Doubtful though that the Bastillia wine would
have been this wine, because this wine had been hand crafted in
artisan fashion by Danielle herself.
    Guess it was a good thing that, unsatisfied, Al had cheated and left her
for Stacey—Stacey the vixen—who’d evil-eyed Danielle at that charity event over
three years ago, as if she were the witch. Now the twentysomething luscious
redhead had to keep up the image for good old Al these days—an image
that took a big hit when his big news wove its way through the valley.
Stacey could have Al’s money, and the paunch around his waistline, as well as
his lame sense of humor.
    Al had been unsatisfied. That one stupid word brought Danielle to
tears many times over the last few years, wondering if she’d really aged all
that badly. She didn’t think so. At forty-five, she thought she was still
attractive. Men glanced her way and even smiled at her. Her friends told her
she looked a lot like Julianne Moore. Not a compliment to turn down. Granted it
came from Jamie, Kat and Alyssa, but still.
    Now when the word unsatisfied entered a conversation or crossed her mind,
all she could do was laugh. Unsatisfied . Yeah, well how about now, Al?
How satisfied are you with two toddler girls in diapers running around whining
and crying all the time, and a baby on the way? She doubted Al was getting much satisfaction these days from Stacey. The woman had to be exhausted.
After seeing Stacey and babies in the grocery store the other day, she’d
actually felt sorry for her. But thoughts of Al, Stacey, and babies needn’t
take up residence in her head.
    This was her time now, and in some ironic twist of fate, Al’s
unfaithfulness and aftermath turned out to be a good thing. There were moments
when she wondered what it would have been like to be married to someone for
fifty some odd years or more, share all those memories, and know everything
about each other. Sweet little old people holding hands out on a stroll and
such. At forty-five, with no love life and no prospects, growing old alone
looked like a possibility, and interestingly enough that didn’t scare the hell
out of her like she thought it might.
    She held the bottle of wine in her hands and closed her eyes for a
moment. This had to be the one. Taking it into her office, she grabbed a
corkscrew out of the drawer and inserted it. Twisting it down into the cork,
she slowly pulled it up out of the bottle. She took a glass from the cabinet
and wiped it out, making sure it sparkled clean. After all, this merited
a special occasion. As she poured,