The women stopped talking when a long-haired man jumped onto the small stage and raised a microphone.
“Let’s get this party rolling! Who wants to go first?”
Several people in the bar yelled out to get his attention.
Bouncing on the balls of his feet, he pointed at a middle-aged woman at the back of the room.
Zoey winced for the woman after only singing the first few notes.
“She’s terrible. I’m going to need another drink if the entertainment doesn’t get any better,” Vida complained, finishing her second drink.
“I think she’s doing a good job considering—”
“That she’s tone deaf,” Sawyer cut Zoey off. “Even the DJ quit hopping.”
“I can sing better than that, and I’m tone deaf.” Gianna took another chip, popping it into her mouth.
“You’re all being too critical.” Zoey shook her head, giving in to temptation by reaching for the nachos.
“We’re being nice.” Penni stood up when the woman finished and stepped down from the stage. “Watch this. I’ll show her how it’s done.”
The DJ didn’t even have enough time to ask who was next before Penni was on stage.
Zoey and the women around their table cracked up at Penni’s attempt at singing.
“She’s even worse!” Sawyer howled.
“You girls are being hypercritical because you listen to Mouth2Mouth during rehearsals and concerts.” Zoey tried to hush their laughter, seeing as they were becoming loud enough that Penni could hear them over the music she was trying to sing to.
“I don’t. She’s just plain bad,” Gianna said, wiping her tears of laughter away with a napkin. “I don’t have any musical talent, and I can sing better than that.”
“Prove it.”
Gianna’s laughter faded away as Penni came up behind her.
“You’re already done?”
“The DJ took the microphone away from me. Put your tonsils to work where your mouth is.”
“You’re not making any sense. No more drinks for you.” Zoey moved Penni’s drink away from her grasping hand.
“Gianna knows what I mean.”
“You think I won’t?”
“I know you won’t,” Penni taunted.
“Watch me.” Gianna stood up, throwing Penni a challenging look.
“I won’t have to. I can hear you from here.”
Zoey buried her face in her hands. The wisecracks going back and forth between the women were why she enjoyed spending time with her friends. The easy affection between them all made her feel like a part of their circle.
It had only taken minutes in Penni’s and Grace’s company to feel like she had always belonged. The friendships that had grown with the others were an added bonus that showed she made the right decision to make Queen City her home. The first few years in the city she had been just surviving until she had turned eighteen and saved enough money to enroll in a nursing aide course. Using the money she earned from the temporary jobs, she was able to find a better place to live, which was when she had met Penni. Living there for four years, she had formed a few casual aquaintances, but meeting her during a yoga class, they had started sharing a smoothie afterwards and now, three years afterward, the women seated around the table had become friends she could count on to liven up her days.
“She’s good,” Zoey complimented Gianna.
Gianna had the right to be confident. Her voice was the best one yet.
“She’s okay.” Penni held her hand out. “Can I have my drink back if I act like she is?”
“No, you’ve had enough.”
“I thought you hated to use the no word.”
“I do, but I don’t mind it when it’s appropriate.”
Penni turned her attention to the woman next to her. “Sawyer, you should get Kaden to start going to Zoey. I need a raise, and all he keeps telling me is no.”
Sawyer appeared embarrassed. “I tried to get him to see Zoey, but he says he doesn’t have the time to spare.”
Penni snorted. “She’s being polite. He says the same thing Jackal says—that it’s baloney.”
“Penni!”
Zoey added, “It’s okay, Sawyer. A lot of people say that.”
“Not many. How many followers do you have now?” Sawyer asked, glaring at Penni.
“I’m at fifty-five thousand.”
“That’s fantastic!” Ginny’s enthusiastic approval had Zoey liking her even more.
She was the quietest in the group, never really giving anything away about her life before coming to Queen City, despite being open where anything else was concerned. Her warm eyes always made a person feel as if she was glad to see them, and from what Zoey had witnessed, she had never met a stranger she didn’t give the same consideration to as a friend.
“Who’s next?” The DJ shouted out across the crowded room.
Gianna nudged Ginny. “You go.”
“No way.” Ginny paled at the suggestion.
“Come on… you love to sing,” Gianna tried to coax her again. “Hell, you do it when you clean the apartment. You don’t have any problem singing in front of me.”
“That’s different. It’s just me and you.”
“You sing when you cook,” Penni joined in, trying to convince her.