Page 15 of Crossing the Line
As soon as she was sitting down Caroline handed her a Happy Hour menu but Janice waved it off. "I've got the menu memorized."
Taylor passed on a copy of the menu itself. "I'm getting one of everything to start us off at the table." She sat back in her chair and shook her head, letting her auburn hair fall back over her shoulders. "My treat. I'm feeling a little wild today." She waggled her eyebrows at the others.
Janice leaned forward on the edge of the table. "I'm sure with our appetites, we'll make it through a second round, my treat."
Caroline leaned in and spoke quietly under her breath. "I've got thirds." She winked at her friends. "Just don't tell Lucas. He's on a healthy kick at home. I mean, we rarely eat crazy stuff, but he's really tightening the belt on us now that he got a mailer from AARP."
Taylor snorted a laugh. "Tell me about it. I'm a member through Vance and damn, I think I started limping the day after I got my card. I swear, I felt older," she lifted her hand to her glorious hair, "and grayer."
Janice knew all too well that she had streaks of gray in her own hair and she was loving it.
She'd had people suggest that she dye her hair but she didn't care to. She was going to age from head to toe and love every minute of it.
She liked to look good, she liked to keep fit, but dying her hair seemed like a waste of time in her opinion.
Besides, the gray felt like something she'd earned after living past her forties, she felt even more fabulous!
Caroline pulled out her phone and looked at the screen, smiling, she typed something and sent the message.
"Good news?"
Caroline turned the screen around and showed it to them at the table.
Janice leaned in and squinted a bit at the screen.
Nadia was wearing a gorgeous midnight blue gown and dainty white gloves and standing beside her father, her armlinked to his. With Lucas' silver hair and his fit form, he made his tux look even better than it would have on its own.
"They went to look at colleges in the UK. Lucas keeps waffling about whether or not he wants Nadia to go to school there."
Taylor nodded. "I thought she was already planning to go to school here in the U.S."
Janice smiled, knowing she wasn't going to get to ask about Nadia's plants again. This conversation was much more interesting. "Nadia mentioned Stanford the last time she was in the market. Then she mentioned Wellesley, or was that Lucas?"
Caroline nodded. "Lucas mentioned Wellesley because it's a women's college."
Janice giggled a little as waitress came up to take their order.
Taylor made her smile with her order of the entire Happy Hour menu and a pitcher of Margaritas.
Then, Janice offered her suggestion. "If she wants a women's college, there's always Scripps near Los Angeles. That's a woman's school."
Caroline nodded. "I mentioned that to Lucas and he thought it was great until he found out there were four other schools along with Scripps. He doesn't like that idea, either."
"Fathers and their daughters, I guess." Janice's heart warmed at the idea. "But I thought Nadia already had a boyfriend."
"She does. Cameron's a sweetheart and Lucas likes him about as much as an overbearing father can like his teenage daughter's boyfriend."
Janice chuckled and sat back as the waitress brought over a tray of food. There was just enough room on the round tabletop for the pitcher of margaritas that followed. Janice breathed in the heady scent of fried food and then looked at the other women at the table. "I really needed this. Thanks for coming with me."
Taylor reached out and took her hand. Caroline did the same on her side of the table, taking Janice's hand in hers and then reaching for Taylor's.
"Sometimes..." Taylor murmured her words softly, "you just need your friends-"
"And fried food," Caroline shuddered with joy. "Now, let's dig in."
Janice reached for the onion rings first, taking a bite of the golden brown ring and savoring the flavor even if the heat did burn a little on her tongue. "So good," she wasn't sure how much of the words the others heard since she had her lips pressed lightly together while she chewed. As she swallowed, she set the rest of the ring back down on her plate and reached for the ketchup and pepper. "Delicious. And just the right amount of crispy. You know," she sprinkled pepper over the ketchup she'd squeezed out onto her plate, "it reminds me of the Star Trek cafe that we went to in Vegas. They had a huge stack of onion rings... I think they called it the Rings of Betazed." She grinned at the memory. "Our server was Ferengi, you know the guys with the big ears?"
Caroline was chuckling softly and trying to fan her mouth to ease the heat of the newly fried deliciousness on the table.
