be difficult.”
“That just means that you’ll have to play catch-up with me and Sandra,” Janelle said. She signaled a waiter, who was at their table in an instant.
His pen poised over his notepad, he asked, “The usual?”
“Yes,” Vicki automatically answered. Then she thought better of it. “Actually, no. I’ll have a vodka martini with two olives.”
The waiter’s brow shot up. “Okay, then. Coming right up. I’ll have that fried calamari appetizer out in a minute, ladies.”
Vicki looked across the table to find both Janelle and Sandra staring at her with their mouths open.
“What?” she asked.
Sandra put her hands up, her eyes wide with shock. “First the new hair and makeup, and now a vodka martini instead of a white-wine spritzer?” She slanted Janelle a questioning look. “Can you tell me what’s happening with our girl over here?”
“I’m not sure, but I like it,” Janelle said.
Even as she waved off their teasing, Vicki could feel a warm blush turning her cheeks red. She knew these changes were a shock to her friends. They were used to her being demure, staid.
Dull.
The fact that a simple change in her drink order could elicit that kind of reaction from them was as telling as anything.
As they snacked on crisp calamari tossed in a sweet ginger sauce, Sandra filled Vicki and Janelle in on the plans for her and Isaiah’s belated honeymoon in Paris in a few months.
“It just makes sense to wait. We’re both looking forward to several art exhibits, and I’ll have the chance to check out Fashion Week. Besides, we can do what we’re going to spend most of our honeymoon doing right here in Wintersage,” she said with a wicked grin. She batted her eyes and added, “Wink. Wink.”
“Subtle,” Vicki said with a good-natured eye roll. She laughed, but deep down it was hard not to feel the tiniest bit jealous. Of the three of them, she was, by far, the romantic at heart. She was the one who had always believed in one true love, happily ever after, the whole nine yards. Yet she was the one who was perpetually single. Both Janelle and Sandra, cynics to the core, had found love. Where was the fairness in that?
Vicki squelched a groan. When had she turned into such a complainer? She was beginning to work on her own nerves with all this bellyaching.
The waiter came over to take their orders. Vicki bypassed her usual Caesar salad in exchange for the almond-crusted cod in a lemon beurre blanc sauce, garnering yet another pair of baffled looks from her friends.
Seriously? Was she that predictable that they could be so surprised at her ordering fish instead of a salad? It looked as if the decision to become the “new Vicki” couldn’t have come fast enough.
The discussion around the table soon segued from Sandra’s honeymoon plans to Vicki’s plans for the float she’d entered into the Wintersage Holiday Extravaganza Day float competition. Her submission had yet to be accepted, and now Vicki was starting to regret ever telling her friends about it. If Petals wasn’t chosen as one of the businesses to contribute a float to this year’s extravaganza, it would leave some serious egg on her face.
“Building this float won’t interfere with the decorations you’re putting together for the Kwanzaa celebration, will it?” Sandra asked.
“Absolutely not,” Vicki said.
The Woolcotts’ Kwanzaa celebration had become an institution in Wintersage. As had been the case for the past few years, Janelle had been hired as the event coordinator and Vicki was, once again, in charge of decorating. Janelle set her fork on the edge of her plate and folded her hands. “Speaking of the Kwanzaa celebration.” She paused for a moment, and then continued, “Things were a bit, well, strained at the dinner table this Thanksgiving when my dad asked if Alluring Affairs was still involved in the planning of your parents’ party.”
“Because of the election?” Sandra asked. “Does he expect you to give up a job you’ve taken on for years just because of this thing with Jordan?”
A few weeks ago, Janelle’s father, Darren Howerton, had claimed victory in a statewide election against Oliver Windom, the candidate Jordan had campaigned for. The ensuing fallout had caused much tension between their families.
“Can you blame him? My dad should be celebrating his victory as the new state representative and preparing to head to the legislature. Instead, there’s a huge cloud hanging over the election now that your brother has called the results into question.”
“You can’t put the entire blame on Jordan,” Sandra retorted.
“Who else is to blame? He’s the one who won’t let this go.”
Vicki held her hands up. “I thought this topic was off-limits? We’re Switzerland, remember?”
“You’re right,” Janelle and Sandra murmured in unison.
“I’m sorry,” Janelle continued. “We did agree not to talk about it, but I do wish Jordan would drop this.”
“I know.” Sandra blew out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t see that happening anytime soon, though. Jordan took an extended leave of absence from the law firm. He was so confident Oliver Windom would win the election and would need Jordan to work on his transition team.”
“So should I tell my dad that Jordan plans to be a pain in the ass until he returns to practicing law?” Janelle drawled.
Sandra shrugged as she tipped her wineglass to her lips.
“It sounds as if he needs something to occupy his time now that the election is over,” Vicki said.
“I think he needs to get laid,” Sandra said.
Janelle pointed the lime wheel from her cosmopolitan at her. “Bingo. Has he even been on a date since his divorce? It’s been long enough.”
Sandra waved her hand. “His pat response is that he’s too busy to get involved with a woman, but Jordan’s not fooling anyone. He could find the time to go on a simple date if he really wanted to.”
“What about his wife?” Vicki asked.
“Ex-wife,” Sandra stressed. “And let’s not even go there. I don’t know the last time Jordan spoke to Allison, and as far as I know, she’s made no attempt to contact him, either.”
“Not even about Mason?” Janelle gasped. “That’s ridiculous. I don’t understand how a woman could leave her baby and not even bother to see how he’s doing.”
“Especially a sweetie pie like Mason,” Vicki agreed.
A smile broke out across Sandra’s face at the mention of her nephew. “He is the most adorable child on the face of the planet, isn’t he? He takes after his auntie Sandra.”
“It’s a good thing he doesn’t have his auntie Sandra’s attitude,” Janelle said with a laugh, and then laughed harder when Sandra flipped her
