Stories at Happy Hour - A.M. Hoot

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      Dedication Page

      Pat ~ Thanks for being the light in the darkness.

      Star ~ You are my everything.

      Chapter 1

       Oscar's

      Keira takes out a magazine she has been waiting to read but hasn’t found the time in her busy life “of working from home”, to get to it. Keira used to work as a nurse in the hospital, but as she got older her knees started acting up. She transferred from the hospital setting to the out-patient clinical setting, working in research, which eventually gave her the opportunity to work from home. Keira is wearing her favorite Green Bay Packers sweatshirt. She has reddish, auburn hair, she styles it in a cute pixie cut. She has the most beautiful, fair skin; looking at her you know she’s Irish and it’s no secret, she is proud of it.

      She is a regular at Oscar’s. Oscar’s is a blue-collar bar, within the city but not directly downtown. It is far enough away from the hectic downtown scene, but not too far of a drive for Keira to get to on a regular basis. The owner, all the wait staff, and most of the patrons know her well. Keira loves everyone and everyone loves Keira. Keira’s drink, a bloody mary, with a lime wedge, a pickle spear with two olives, and a beer chaser, is usually at the table before she sits down. Keira always sits at the same square table that has four roll-away chairs. It is the fourth table on the far right of the bar next to the wall and is conveniently close to the popcorn machine. Sometimes an additional table and chairs get added depending on what randoms might join in on the happy hour fun.

      Keira looked forward to the monthly happy hours with the girls. She loved getting caught up on the office gossip, what was going on with her friend’s lives, their families, their love lives, especially one in particular, Alex. Alex continuously had something going on, either a new love interest or even better, love drama.

      Keira usually arrives at Oscar’s 20 minutes before everyone else so she can get her favorite seat that faces the door. Keira’s seat gave her the perfect view of everyone who walked through the door and conveniently enough, a perfect view of the good-looking, young bartenders, Jeff and Josh. They look like brothers but aren’t. One thing is for sure, they are definitely young, and they are definitely good-looking. They are both easily 6 feet tall and then some. Josh is a little broader than Jeff, but Jeff has been working out over the past few years and his body has turned from a scrawny, skinny, tall kid, to a young, buff man, that looks quite delicious these days. Jeff has his head clean-shaven and Josh has a full head of hair, blondish brown curly locks. Keira likes to have her popcorn bowls, two, one for each side of the table, and her first bloody Mary half drank if not on her second bloody Mary by the time the rest of the girls show up.

      Keira was able to read through one page of her Housekeeping Magazine before Jess and Sadie arrived. Keira loved that magazine. It gave her all kinds of tips on how to be a better organizer, it gave her fresh new cooking ideas, and tips on how to keep the kitty litter fresh and clean smelling longer. Keira is 50, actually 50 plus but she refuses to let anyone know her true age. Her friends never thought of her as old, and as the years went by, they never thought she looked any older, and Keira was just fine with that.

      She was happy to look up and see Sadie and Jessica walking in. They were both wearing their navy-blue work scrubs, and they were both laughing about something. Jeff looked up from the bar and said, “Well hello ladies, it’s great to see you again,” with a wink and the cutest smile ever. The girls continued to giggle and said hi- and then they ran over to see Keira. Keira quickly put her magazine away in her oversized bag and got up from her roll-away chair to give the girls a huge hug. Keira's hugs were the best hugs. She hugged as if it has been years since she has seen the girls. But in all honesty, this is a monthly happy hour, and sometimes, depending on how great or bad things are going, they might meet up a little more often. Keira could not wait to hear why the girls were laughing. She felt like she basically had to beg them to fill her in on what they were so giggly about.

      Jess looked up at Keira and said, “Well, it’s a long story.” Keira looked at Jess with a disgusted look and said, “Alex is not here yet, we have time, come on, come on, fill me in, what’s so funny?” Jess sheepishly confesses and says, “Sadie and I decided to go see the male strippers that were in town this past weekend.” Keira choked on her popcorn, and said “The Tramps, The Lady, and the Goddamn Tramps?” Jess nodded yes; her face was a little pink. Sadie had a huge grin but said nothing, it only confirmed that it was true, from Sadie’s reaction Keira knew it was a fun night by all. Keira was a bit hurt that she was not included on this little adventure, if anyone needed to see nice young, buff men, showing off their six-packs, toned asses, and their wangy dangs, dancing around as if they actually enjoyed teasing middle-aged women (or men for that matter), it was definitely Keira.

      Chapter 2

       Keira

      Keira was a hardcore Green Bay Packers and Queen fan. She was a divorced woman, been divorced for decades, never had kids, and the whole time the girls have known Keira, they never knew her to be interested in men or dating. She was married many years ago, to her college boyfriend, they were best friends. They did everything together, they enjoyed all the same things, and when they graduated from nursing school, they both landed jobs at the same hospital. They got married and decided they loved being together so much that they didn’t need to ruin it by having kids. Keira loved him and thought she was living the dream. They went on many camping trips, music festivals, and traveled with friends all over the country. They were very adventurous.

      One day Keira came home early from work and found her husband in bed with another man, yes, another man, obviously another thing they had in common. It was too bad he couldn’t tell Keira that he liked guys too. The betrayal was devastating and from that point on Keira swore off any idea of trusting another man and vowed she would never date or give her heart away. Love was fake in her eyes, nothing but lies and deceit. It took Keira a while to tell the girls the whole truth about her ex-husband. She was so embarrassed that the marriage was a failure, but that he cheated on her with a man; that was just way too humiliating on multiple levels. She felt like she was a fool not to know what was going on behind her back, in her own bed, and who knows where else. The true story about her husband’s betrayal was hard for her to say out loud and admit to her friends because if she said it out loud, it really happened. The night she decided to share how she busted in on her husband with a dude, was a night the girls spent a lot of time drinking, laughing, crying, and drinking. Keira shared that she had a lot of harsh words with God about the whole situation. But then she prayed, she prayed not to love or even hate her ex. She prayed to feel indifferent towards him. She said that was the only way she could get through it. The girls thought Keira was wise and they all admired her. That night, Keira was relieved and thankful to have such great friends but even more thankful for strong drinks and tasty-looking bartenders.

       Sadie

      Sadie is a nurse, married, and has two daughters that are in grade school. Keira, Jess, and Alex think Sadie has a weird relationship with her husband; they try not to say too much about it because Sadie gets defensive when they ask her if he is gay. And not because of Keira’s ex-husband being gay but because Sadie says her husband is not interested in sex. At ALL. What guy is not interested in sex? Sadie has tried date nights, even kinky date nights, which Alex convinced Sadie would work, even role-playing but shockingly the dude is just not interested. He ignores Sadie, like she is invisible, even when she wears a slutty or elegant, lacey lingerie, or even when she tried wearing nothing but whipped cream on her nibblets and posed, spread eagle on the kitchen table. The girls were dumbfounded. Even if he was having an affair, what guy would turn that down? A gay guy?! But maybe even a gay guy would jump at the chance. Sadie is an attractive lady. She’s 45, has long curly, light brown hair, and a nice-shaped body with curves in all the right places, a smile, and a laugh that makes everyone do a double-take. Maybe Sadie’s husband’s “Johnson” is the issue? Maybe he is having a tough time getting it up? But still, there are medicines and things one can do to help with that. Alex has tried to talk to Sadie about having them come

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