Page 11 of The Pursuit of Her Happiness

“Lenny, I’m sorry. I’m not sure what Betty told you—”

“She told me you were beautiful, but she—”

Holy shit, really? “Betty told you I was beautiful?” I giggle, my face heating at the compliment, “I can’t believe she’d say that, how sweet.” I forcefully shake my head to get back on track, “Not the point. I’m a divorced mother of three. My eldest is 12 years old. My life is after-school activities, homework, and forcing them to shower so they don’t smell like onions. I want to say I’m capable of casual, but I’d be lying out of my ass if I did.”

Lenny nods in understanding, a friendly smile tipping his tasty lips. Not tasty. Adolescent. He deftly slides back to his side of the booth and picks up his menu. “Yeah, I figured, that’s why I kissed you.”

“What?”

He lifts a shoulder in a shrug, “Figured I wouldn’t get a chance later, thought I’d shoot my shot now.”

I think I heard him wrong. “You want…youwant…you’re attracted to me?”

“Epic tits,” he replies casually, then flips his menu to the other side.

“Oh, well, thank you.” I sit up straight in the booth because posture is important and if said, “epic tits” happen to be thrust forward as a result, well then…coincidence.

“You’re welcome. I happen to like women who are older than me, but I’ve got a lot going on right now and I’m not in a place for any type of commitment.”

“That’s very mature of you to know that about yourself, Lenny. Most adults I know aren’t that self-aware.”

“When you look like I do, you learn to be upfront and direct about intentions. My car has been keyed, tires slashed and had piss in my gas tank one too many times.”

“How did they piss in your gas tank? I can’t even fill a sample cup at the doctors without getting it all over my hand. Who has that kind of urinary control over their vagina?”

Lenny sits back in the booth and laughs. “I think they used a funnel.”

“Who carries funnels around with them? What kind of people are you spending time with?”

“Alright, Quinn. So, I know your tits are spectacular, you smell good, and your mouth tastes delicious…but what do you know about statistics?”

Quinn 6.

This has been a strange, strange day.

I have one more stop before the night is over. I wave to the prospect on duty at the gate as I drive through. I park near the main entrance, surprised to find a spot so close considering it’s a Friday night. The parking lot is packed with unfamiliar cars and rows of shiny chrome bikes. Throwing my car in park, I grab my purse and push open the driver’s door, kicking it shut behind me. Inside the clubhouse, I ignore the moans and skin slapping, my eyes scanning the hazy interior.

“BETTY GRIMALDA POWELL!” I yell at the top of my lungs. It’s 2024 so no record scratches, but there is an unsettling silence that falls over the busy clubroom.

The first lady saunters in from the kitchen, a smirk on her face, drying her hands on a towel. “Ain’t my middle name.”

“Don’t give a fuck!” My lips twitch but I firm them, so I don’t break.

“You’re back earlier than I expected. He didn’t take too long, did he?” She’s laughing and my blood blazes.

“Why do you hate me?” That stops her in her tracks.

“What? I don’t hate you.”

We’re a foot from one another, middle of the clubroom, every eye in the room glued to the two of us. “Then why would you set me up with Bro Dude? I’m old enough to be his mother!”

Betty waves me off with a roll of her eyes, “Shut up, you’d have been a teenage mother, so that’s a stretch. And that’s precisely why…you need to get laid. Tumbled, spun, worked over, let a young one give you a night you won’t soon forget.”

Hmm. “That’s oddly sweet of you, but I don’t work that way.” I glance around the room, giving Buck a thumb’s up. He’s behind Belly, hand on one tit, and I think a thumb in her ass, but he’s not moving. When everyone realizes Betty and I aren’t about to engage in fisticuffs, they go back to their regularly scheduled program, including Buck pumping into Belly. “Where are my favorite tax deductions?” I’m willing to accept an answer from anyone, but I’m looking right at my best friend and her husband…the two people in charge of my children for the night.

Audrey grins, “Polk had an emergency at the clinic, the boys jumped at the chance to help him.”

I nod, then focus on Betty again. “I helped him with his statistics homework!” Stacy appears out of nowhere, and the two of them lean on each other as they cackle like hyenas. “We’re gonna meet on Tuesdays so I can tutor him in medical terminology!”

---