Page 29 of Hank

And that sounds worse.

Why had she felt the need to share all of this?

Oh, yeah. Moral support.

"Can we forget about the janitor’s closet for a second?" Jo said over the music.

"No," her friends said in unison, after which Colleen finished with, "It’s kinda hard to forget something like that."

"Guys," Jo said, lifting her hands in an attempt to get them to stop, "this is not why I called this meeting."

"You know, if we’re actually going to be a group with meetings and such, I think we need a name." All Colleen did was smile at Jo’s glare and sigh of exasperation as she dropped her hands. "Oh," the other woman exclaimed, as she bounced up and down in her seat with distinct excitement. "I’ve got it. We’ll be the PRCs."

"And what, pray tell," Mags said, setting her glass of ginger ale down, "does PRC stand for?"

"Get this," she said, lifting her own hands out in front of her, dramatically saying, "Parson’s Ridge Cougars," as she spread them apart. Colleen’s matter of fact answer came with a gleam of anticipation filling her gaze, while Jo and Mags groaned. "Our motto could be, rawr." She said the last using her uplifted hands to claw at the air.

"No," Mags said first.

"Not just no," Jo added. "Buthellno."

"You guys are no fun."

"I kinda liked it," Faith said, while Colleen grabbed her drink. "But don’t we have to be dating a younger man to be a cougar?"

"Two down," Colleen said, lifting her half-finished sour apple martini and using it to toast toward Mags then Jo. "Two to go." She finished that by downing the rest of her drink.

"We’re losing focus on the topic at hand," Jo said, her gaze going to each of her friends. "What should I do?"

"What do youwantto do?" Mags said, like that was an easy thing to answer. "That’s the true question."

"No," Jo said, shaking her head. "What I want isn’t important." And she truly believed that.

"Since when?" Colleen asked, her brow crinkled as she crossed her arms and gave Jo a good hard stare. "What you want shouldalwaysbe important."

"But it can’t be," she argued. "I have Collin, and?—"

"Stop," Faith snapped out, surprising her into silence, and probably shocking the others at the table. Faith didn’t snap. At anyone. "Okay, I get why you stayed away from relationships while Collin was growing up. You didn’t want to bring confusion into his life. And that was pretty daggon noble of you if you ask me." To usedaggon, Faith was pretty serious, because that was as close to cursing as she ever got. "But Collin’s not that little kid anymore. He’s what, fifteen, right?" Jo nodded, completely transfixed. She’d known Faith for a couple of years and she’d never seen her so het up. "So, I bet if you asked him, he’d agree you need to start thinking more of your own happiness. You deserve it."

"How many drinks have you had," Mags asked, laughing, while a deep blush spread up Faith’s cheeks.

"Just the one."

"You should?—"

"Everything good here, ladies?" Josh Laverty pushed his glasses up on his nose and gave them a smile that could probably melt all the panties, and probably some boxers too, in the whole room. "Does anyone need another drink?"

"Sour apple martini, please," Colleen said, raising her empty glass. "And tell Jake his are the best I’ve ever drank."

"I’ll do that," he said, his smile growing while eyeing the rest of them. "Anyone else?"

Jo and Mags shook their heads, while Faith answered with, "Another gin and tonic for me," before drinking down the last contents from her glass.

"I don’t know if you should have anymore," Mags said, her sly and humor-filled eyes flashing toward Jo, then she winked before focusing back on their other friend. "They make you a little feisty."

"All the more reason," Colleen added, chuckling. "I like this side of you."

"I’ll have someone right over with your drinks," Josh said, his voice holding more than a hint of laughter.

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