I ran upstairs to change and refresh my hair and makeup. I had worn a yellow sundress with a white cardigan to the doctor’s appointment. I couldn’t wear that out for a night of drinking.
Opening up my closet I looked around. Finding a white frilled button up shirt and my favorite skinny jeans I slid those on and reached for red heels. I finished the look with matching red lipstick and applying some fresh eyeliner and mascara. I was letting the dogs out one last time when Stacie called me and said a ride was coming. I hurried to make sure they had food and water and right when I went to the hallway to wait, I saw a familiar car pull into the drive.
Thomas. I stood frozen to the spot while I watched him get out and walk up to my door. He was dressed in all black. Black dress pants, shirt and sports coat. His hair was slicked back, and he had a hint of five o clock shadow.
His knocking on the door knocked me back to earth. I shook my head and moved to answer the door. He greeted me with a charming smile.
“Hey stranger. You ready?” He said cheerily.
“Yeah, thanks for coming to get me.” I said as I locked the door behind me.
“No problem. I was the only one without a full carload. It helps that I don’t live as close as the rest of them do.” We buckled in and moments later we were speeding off to the restaurant.
“Where are we going?” I asked, realizing we were headed into a part of town I wasn’t too familiar with.
“It’s called Moe’s. I don’t know. Erin and Justin said it was good cheap food with good cheap beer,” guilt rushed over me. Since marrying Mark, I had grown accustomed to eating and shopping at more expensive places. I had almost forgotten what it was like eating at the cheapest place you could find and wearing clothes you grabbed from the free stores. Uneasiness settled over me. I didn’t like the feeling of being some rich snobby millionaire’s wife. That wasn’t me.
We pulled into Moe’s bar and grill about fifteen minutes later, just as Thomas had promised. He unbuckled himself and turned to me.
“You ready?” I nodded and stepped out with him. When we walked in and the hostess took us to our booth the group cheered and held up their beers.
I ordered a beer right away and quickly joined in the conversation with everyone. It was easy since I knew everyone. It was so nice to see my old friends.
Due to us being the last ones to show, Thomas had to sit next to me. Which wasn’t too bad until Laurie, Vanna, and Michelle showed up. They had to add another table and push the rest of us even closer together. Thomas and I had taken the table at the far end, but now we were squished even tighter. He gently pushed my shoulder with his and chuckled. I smiled back, it wasn’t a big deal, I argued with myself. Everyone was a sardine in here.
Erin and Stacie sat across from us. When the waitress came back around, we started looking at the menus for appetizers.
“I want nachos. This place has the best salsa,” Stacie said.
“You wanna split something Renee?” Thomas asked, not taking his eyes off his menu. I opened mine and started searching through the list. Nachos, pretzels, potato skins, mozzarella sticks, pretty standard stuff.
“I like mozz sticks,” I offered. “Ooh and onion rings.” Thomas chuckled and shut his menu.
“How about you order one, I’ll order the other, and then we share?”
“That works. Best of both worlds,” I said cheerily. The waitress took our orders and we relaxed back into conversation.
“Ugh, I am so glad the kids’ production is over. It’s fun, but so much work keeping all the little kids on track,” Erin said. We all drank to that.
“I can not wait to start the next production,” Stacie added.
“Especially with the overkill budget,” Justin piped in from next to Erin. I looked at him curiously.
“What happened?” The small group around me started smiling ear to ear.
“Well we went looking for sponsors like we always do for any production. We weren’t having much luck because of the title. Well Lizzie,” he tipped his beer in the direction of a petite blonde on the other side of the tables. “She had the idea of going into a toy store and ask. They were so excited about it they doubled what we were asking for.
“Toy store?” Everyone around me chuckled. Thomas nudged me. I turned. He looked slightly uncomfortable. He took a long gulp of his beer.
“Uh, adult toy store, Renee.”
I could feel the heat coming to my face as I mouthed an O. Once everyone stopped laughing at me, I opened my mouth again.
“That’s awesome though. Who would have guessed?”
Justin beamed.
“We just need to put them in the playbill and mention them before and after each performance. So worth it.” Just as many of us were finishing off our first beers the waitress returned with the appetizers and took more drink orders. I noticed that Thomas declined another beer and asked for a coke instead. He saw the look I was giving him, and he shrugged.
