"I highly recommend summers off," Amanda said, lifting her nearly empty margarita glass in toast.
"And maybe I'll start taking Christmas breaks too."
Which reminded Amanda of something she'd meant to ask Leah but kept forgetting. "Are you doing your GED prep class this December?"
Leah sighed. "Yeah. I already signed up to do it. But next year . . . Next year I'm going to take some time off for me before I completely burn out."
"Is the class already full?" Amanda asked, setting her drink down and reaching for another nacho.
"Isn't it always full?"
"That's because you work miracles." Yep, Amanda was buttering her up and for a very good reason. A reason she'd be seeing in a few hours.
Leah flushed with pleasure at Amanda's compliment and took a sip from her bright red cocktail.
"Any chance you could squeeze one more into the class?" Amanda asked, biting into her chip and using her free hand to tip escaping crumbs into her mouth.
"I'm already stretched to my limit."
"Please? It was nearly impossible to get him to agree to it in the first place."
Leah scowled. "Who are you talking about?"
"Jacob."
Leah jerked her hand back from the plate of nachos, hit her drink with her elbow, and barely rescued the tottering glass before it dropped from the table.
"What?" Leah sputtered, mopping up a few escaped drops with a napkin. "He didn't graduate from high school?"
Amanda shook her head. "We were talking about regrets, and he said his only regret was not finishing high school. So I mentioned getting his GED and taking your prep class. He was against it at first, but I told him how great you are and he eventually came around to the idea. But I don't think he'll go through with it if you can't work him into your roster this winter."
"So basically you're saying that if I don't let him into my class, I'm crushing his dreams and will be responsible for turning him into a shell of a man. Is that what you're implying?"
"Pretty much."
Leah shook her head at Amanda. "Why don't you teach him?"
Amanda chuckled, imagining that the only studying he'd get done around her was the study of her anatomy. And she was more than okay with that.
"You're the miracle worker. I just teach biology."
"You're a great teacher," Leah insisted.
"I'm a good teacher," Amanda admitted. "You're a great teacher." A little extra butter never hurt.
"Fine," Leah said, using both hands to flip her long straight hair behind her ears. "I wouldn't do this for just anyone, you know?"
Leah was lying. She was always burdening herself to help others, but Amanda appreciated her friend's giving nature far more than she would ever realize.
"You're the best!" Amanda leaned from her stool to give Leah a hug.
"You can make it up to me," Leah said.
Amanda released her and scooted back onto her stool. "Anything. Name it." She reached for her margarita and sucked down the melting dregs of her growing-tastier-by-the-minute drink.
"Does the hot cowboy at three o'clock look a little lonely to you?"
"My three o'clock or your three o'clock?" Amanda asked, turning her head slowly to try to locate the man in question.
"My three o'clock. White Stetson. Blue shirt. Great ass."
There were several white Stetsons in the general area Leah had indicated, but Amanda knew the woman's tastes, so she didn't have to ask which cowboy had caught her eye. "I'm on it," Amanda said, and she hopped off her stool.
She grabbed her empty glass and headed toward the bar. Tomás would have refilled it for her, but she needed a reason to bump into Leah's dreamboat. And the whole "going to the bathroom to powder her nose" thing felt trite.
When she reached the back of the guy Leah was interested in, she paused and turned to glance at her friend, lifting her eyebrows to seek her approval. Leah grinned and nodded. Yep, predictable. Leah liked her cowboys tall, blond, and with a little meat on their bones-pretty much the woman's physical opposite. If the man had blue eyes and a bit of beard scruff on a strong jaw, Leah would be in insta-lust.
Amanda took a step back so she could gain momentum and then rushed forward and bumped into the cowboy's broad back. "Oh, excuse me," she said, rubbing the guy's shoulder to undo any damage. "I was in such a hurry to refill my drink, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
The guy turned, and Amanda immediately began her Leah-checklist as she assessed whether to introduce him to her friend or not. Leah was painfully shy, so approaching men was difficult for her. Amanda held no such reservations.