Broken Pieces (Riverdale #2)
Janine Infante Bosco
Chapter One
It was Friday night, and as a ritual Samantha Lanza and her colleagues, ventured out to Rudy’s Bar and Grille. It didn’t matter that it was summer recess, and that the three of them were in fact off from work for the next two months, they still continued the Friday night tradition as if they had just spent the last five days in a classroom with the Common Core curriculum. She sat at a table with two of her closest co-workers.
Mallory was a year older than her and taught fifth grade at Riverdale Elementary. She and Sam were complete opposites. Where Sam had long blonde hair and blue eyes, Mallory had dark brown hair that she kept chin length and brown eyes. Sam sometimes wondered what it would be like to look like Mallory. She was exotic and with a mere bat of her eyelashes she could have any guy fall to their feet and usually did. The funny thing was, Mallory was completely unaware of her effect on the opposite sex.
Sandwiched between Sam and Mallory, was Phillip. He blew the locks of blonde hair that fell into his eyes as he refilled their margarita glasses. He was the art teacher in their school. Once, the three glasses were filled to the salted rims, he put the pitcher down and ran his hand through his golden hair, pushing it out of his face. Phillip was a better confident than her usual go-to list of female friends. Phillip had no filter and often spoke his mind. He was gay and proud, not to mention opinionated. It seemed as if his lifelong goal was to find the perfect mates for Sam and Mallory.
Phillip cleared his throat after taking a healthy gulp of his margarita. It was their third pitcher this evening, and Sam peered at Phillip through one eye. Yep, he was just as sloshed as she. This should be interesting.
“Now back to Samantha, I think the most important attribute we need to be looking for is swoon factor.” Phillip’s eyes lit up and he quickly jotted down the first quality one must possess in order to be the perfect match for Sam.
“Swoon factor?” Sam asked between hiccups.
Phillip turned to Mallory. “Tell her how important the swoon factor is.” He looked back at Sam. “I’m disappointed in you Samantha.” He shook his head to emphasize his dismay.
Sam wrapped her arm around Phillip. “I’m sorry, forgive me sir.” She said as she stuck her lower lip out and begged for his forgiveness. “Did I mention how much I love you guys for calling me Samantha?” She purred.
“That’s your name isn’t it?” Phillip asked sarcastically.
“It is, but no one ever calls me it.” She frowned and detangled herself from Phillip. “I like that you call me by my full name. Usually it’s just Sam, and it reminds me of the days I gave up being a girl to be a tomboy and chase my brothers and Nick around begging them to notice me.” She covered her mouth surprised at herself for admitting something she thought she buried. Humph, well alcohol will do that to you, she supposed.
“Nick?” Phillip asked, trying to place him. Sam had never mentioned the Nick saga to Phillip or Mallory.
Sam waved her hand, dismissing him. “Forget about Nick, he doesn’t matter. Can you explain the swoon factor to me, or what?” She asked, hoping she had been successful in steering clear from a territory she was not in the mood to visit. Her eyes flew to Mallory, ignoring Phillip as he stared at her in wonderment.
Mallory leaned forward, swaying on her heels, a side effect of her drunken state.
“Swoon factor is another term for panty dropper.” She said specifically and then leaned back in her chair. “Samantha surely you’ve had someone give you a look that your first instinct was to drop your panties and beg him to take you.”
Sam closed her eyes and felt the room spin. She wanted to blame it on all the alcohol she had consumed, but she knew better. She knew the minute Mallory had opened her mouth and defined swoon factor, there was only one person who emerged in her brain. There was a time she’d have dropped her panties for him, hell she had been willing to drop her entire life for him at one point. Just like that her thoughts had her slipping into the territory of her heart that was scarred by Nick Foti. He definitely had the swoon factor. Too bad, she hated him and swore him to hell.
Phillip nudged her. “Earth to Samantha, I can’t believe she’s falling asleep in the middle of us slaving over her list.” He spoke incredulously to Mallory.
“She wasn’t sleeping Phil.” Mallory grinned as she studied Sam’s face intently. “She was just about to tell us who she’s been dreaming about dropping her Victoria Secret’s special for.”