24

Why do Friday's never go as planned? Based on my schedule, I should've been able to finish my day by 5:30 at the latest. Instead it was seven o'clock and I was doing damage control with a guest who had been given a key to the wrong room. Not normally a situation that needed my attention, but the guest had walked in with their entire family, including two children under eight to a room with a young couple engaged in doggy style coitus. The family was too stunned to walk out and the couple was too stunned to stop. The offending key giver? Rian.

Finally, after comped nights, free meals, and my dignity, all parties involved were appeased. I sent an email to Holly and Priya that I wanted to see them in my office first thing Monday morning and gave the front desk supervisor strict instructions that Rian was not to give out any more keys. Nikki agreed profusely and Rian didn't argue, just stood there looking guilty, knowing this was a big screw up. I had gone through all of the room and check in information looking for how the mix up could've occurred and came to the conclusion it was simply carelessness.

"I'm leaving now. If either of those guests has anymore issues, I want to hear about it first, understood?" Nikki, Rian, and the other two front desk staff nodded emphatically. "Good. No more errors." I went back to my office to grab my stuff while firing off a text to Lola.

'Finally done. I'm so so sorry. Be there soon.'

'You owe me dessert.'

'Yes, anything you want.'

'One of everything.'

'You can't eat all of that.'

'It's the principle.'

'Fine. One of everything.'

'And you buy all the drinks.'

'Okay I will buy all the drinks.'

'And you do my laundry for a month.'

'I would rather be burned alive.'

'Couldn't hurt to ask.'

***

When I finally got to the Cafe, it was packed. Lola had been sitting at a table the whole time waiting for me. Luckily, the wait staff loved her and were willing to allow her to tie up a table for a couple of hours without ordering food.

"Geez do you know how many dirty looks I got from people when I wouldn't let them take your chair for their table?" Lola grumbled as I sat down.

"I'm sorry, I really couldn't leave until I resolved the issue," I apologized.

"Perk of being the boss," Lola said taking a long sip of her drink.

"I'm not a huge fan of correcting mistakes that shouldn't have happened. There are even redundancies in place and they were just completely ignored."

"Did you fire anyone?"

"Not this time, but I'm going to be looking at our training protocol that's for damn sure."

"You get 'em tiger."

Mickey dropped a Dr. Pepper on our table as she walked by. "Did you order this?" Lola shook her head. "Bless that woman."

"Well while you were playing commander-in-chief, I was trying to figure out who Courtney's mystery man could be," Lola said, leaning in conspiratorially.

"Ooo, did you find anything?"

"No. She's already pretty tight lipped on social media and if she's not talking to us about him, she's not talking to anyone."

"Bummer. I guess we'll just have to find out the old fashioned way."

"Water boarding?"

"Waiting until she tells us," I said, frowning.

"Yeah, I suppose," Lola agreed. "Not a lot of fun in that."

We ordered and the conversation turned to my date the next day.

"How long has it been since you've been on a date?" Lola asked.

"Like a year, maybe, give or take a month or so."

"So I'm guessing it's been that long or longer since you've had sex."

"I love how you're 'guessing' but you know that I haven't had sex in forever."

"I was trying to be polite." I snorted. "Okay fine, I know you haven't had sex since you left Michigan." I cringed. It was one thing to know it had been four years, it was another thing for someone to say it out loud.

"You make it sound so bad," I mumbled.

"People go through dry spells all the time. I mean, technically, yours would be a drought, but still, not having sex isn't the end of the world." I watched as the eyes of the older couple sitting behind Lola widened.

"Keep your voice down Lo. The whole world doesn't want to hear about my lack of sex life." I motioned with my head to the people behind her. She turned her whole body, smiled at them and then turned back around.

"Honey, this is the spiciest thing they've encountered since 1985. We're enriching their lives."

Thankfully, Mickey brought our food and conversation was halted by chewing. The older couple quickly finished their meal and scurried away, shooting dirty looks our way.

"I think they go to our church," I said.

"Peace be with them," Lola responded before taking another bite of her Caesar salad.

After we paid, we caravanned to Darby's. The drinks only crowd was in full swing but the party people hadn't arrived yet, so we were still able to find parking. Inside, we decided to go to the upstairs bar. Lola got a margarita on the rocks while I went with an Appletini. Hard to beat the classics.

Once we had our drinks, we chose a table overlooking the main floor. I felt underdressed, even though I had gone with dark jeggings and a silk lavender button down top for casual Friday. Lola was wearing a slate grey jumpsuit with a plunging neckline and matching mule flats. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, showing off her silver chandelier earrings. A group of guys playing pool across the room couldn't take their eyes off of her.

"This is exactly what I needed," Lola moaned taking a sip of her drink.

"Rough day?" Lola worked for her parents as an insurance agent. She was very good at it and enjoyed the work but it was still working for her parents, who sometimes forgot she was no longer eight years old.

"Hardly. We only work until noon on Fridays, remember? I was bored out of my mind. Then my dad insisted we have lunch together, which is code for "why haven't you found a man so you can stop working and squeeze out a bunch of kids?."" Lola took another sip and closed her eyes in ecstasy.

"Did you tell them because you're still working your way through the alphabet?" I teased.

"For the second time."

"Right, for the second time." We clinked glasses, laughing.

"Yeah, somehow I don't think the head of the deacon board and his piano playing wife would appreciate that," she said, her eyes wandering to the guys at the pool table. "Think any of them have a name starting with an 'H'?" My phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my purse.

'One more day,' Brady had texted.

"With a smile that big, I'm going to assume it's Brady." I nodded.

'Can't wait,' I texted back.

"Sexting again?" It was Lola's turn to tease.

"I can't do that in public. I have performance anxiety."

'You going to wear a skirt?'

'You'll just have to wait and find out.'

"Shit, " Lola swore, "here comes trouble." I looked behind me quickly, fully expecting to see Kade. Instead, a guy with light brown hair and golden eyes was walking toward us. He had a beard with a few days worth of growth over his strong jawline. He wore a dark grey cotton button up and light wash jeans that fit like a glove.

"Hello trouble. My name is Sara and I want to get into you…r pants," I said under my breath.

"Believe me, you won't regret it. Well, you will but not during it." Lola sat back in her seat, drink in hand, other arm crossed over her chest.

"Lola," the man said, stopping at our table. His voice was deep and warm, like whiskey.

"Mark," Lola returned evenly. The name set off several bells in my head.

THE Mark? I mouthed to Lola. She gave a slight nod. Holy heartbreaker Batman. The unicorn. The one that got away. This was the one and only guy Lola had ever fallen for.

"Visiting?" Lola asked him. He nodded.

"My company won the bid for the city hall remodel. I came into town with the crew that starts on Monday." He turned to the guys standing at the pool table. "Those are my guys there."

"Well, don't let us keep you," she said dismissively. Mark seemed to realize Lola wasn't alone and turned to me. I stuck out my hand.

"Hi I'm Sara." His rough palm gripped mine in a firm hand shake.

"Mark. Are you the Sara from California?"

"That's me. Except now I'm the Sara from Cadence again."

"Lola told me a lot about you. Welcome back."

"Thanks. She mentioned you once or twice." He raised an eyebrow.

"Anything good?"

"No." I looked him straight in the eye and he swallowed hard.

"Well, I should be getting over to my guys. Maybe we can get together the next time I'm in town," he suggested, turning back to Lola.

"We'll see," Lola answered noncommittally. He gave a nod and walked over to the pool table.

"So that was The Mark," I commented.

"Yep."

"You want him back, don't you?"

"So badly."