One By One by Freida McFadden(32)

Michelle grits her teeth. She does not want to participate in this game. Truth be told, I don’t think Michelle liked Lindsay any better than she liked me. And Lindsay didn’t think much of Michelle. She’s so cold—like she doesn’t have any real emotions, Lindsay used to say.

“She had nice hair,” Michelle finally says.

I shoot her a dirty look. Of course, if Lindsay is somewhere up there listening in, I don’t think she would be unhappy with that memory. She would want to be remembered as having nice hair.

“I’ve got one,” Noah speaks up.

His hazel eyes are staring into the fire, and there’s a ghost of a smile on his lips. It makes me realize how infrequently I see Noah smile these days.

“So when I decided to propose to Claire,” he says, “I asked for Lindsay’s help picking out a ring…”

I raise my eyebrows. “You did? I never knew that.”

He smiles crookedly. “Yeah, and you’re lucky I did. You don’t know what ring I would’ve picked out on my own.” He shrugs. “Anyway, she helped me pick out the ring, and she even bargained for a better price. I mean, it was this fancy jewelry store and somehow she was haggling with them. But it worked. I never would have gotten such a great ring without her.”

“It was a really nice ring,” I say softly. I never wear my engagement ring because it’s too nice. I’m afraid I’m going to lose it or get mugged or something.

His eyes are distant. “And she made me review what I was going to do when I proposed. She insisted I had to get down on one knee, even though I thought it was cheesy. She was like, ‘Noah, the one knee is not optional.’”

I find a smile touching my own lips. “I did love your proposal.”

“Yeah, well…” His eyes drop back down to his sneakers. “I really, really wanted you to say yes.”

There was no way I wasn’t going to say yes to Noah. We had graduated a couple of years earlier, and we were already living together. Even though we had been together since college, I was still so infatuated with him. He could’ve proposed to me with an onion ring and I would have said yes. But I loved that he got down on one knee in the middle of a nice restaurant and presented me with the most beautiful ring I had ever seen in my life.

“How about you, Warner?” Jack says.

Warner frowns. “I don’t know. I don’t have a favorite memory.”

“You don’t have any memories of Lindsay?” I say. That probably came out a bit more confrontational than I meant it to. “None at all?”

“Not really. Nothing that stands out.”

Something about this man is really starting to irritate me. “But you were dating for six months. How could you not have any memories of her?”

“I have memories of her,” Warner says patiently. “I just don’t think any of them are worth mentioning.”

I fold my arms across my chest. “She told me you were going to propose this week.”

His mouth falls open. “She told you that?”

“She certainly did.”

A smirk plays on his lips. “Well, I’m afraid she would have been very disappointed.”

I blink at him. “She told me you hinted you were looking at rings.”

“Yeah, well.” Warner kicks at the dirt with the heel of his shoe. “Lindsay had a very vivid imagination, as I’m sure you know.”

I want to jump off the ground and strangle Warner with my bare hands. My hands ball into fists, but before I can do anything stupid, I feel Noah’s palm on my leg. I look over at him and he shakes his head.

“Not worth it,” he says under his breath.

He’s right. What’s the difference if Warner would have broken Lindsay’s heart? There’s nothing I can do about it at this point anyway. Better to let it go. After this week, I’ll never see Warner again anyway.

“I’m exhausted,” Michelle announces. “Are we still reminiscing or can we go to sleep?”

I want to be irritated at Michelle for her comment, but I have to admit, I’m tired too. I can’t even keep my eyes open anymore. Everybody nods in agreement and with the fire still going, we curl up on the uncomfortable forest ground to try to snatch a little bit of sleep. Michelle and Jack cuddle up together, and I feel a jab of jealousy. Noah and I are sleeping as far apart as we do in our bed at home.

The ground is not comfortable. That’s an understatement. I never considered myself any sort of princess, but sleeping on dirt is not ideal—the leaves do nothing. A rock pokes me in the small of my back and there’s some sort of plant jabbing me in the shoulder blade. Every sharp edge in my body is suddenly in pain.

I turn onto my side, hoping that might be better. It isn’t. I try my back again. That’s probably the best position, but it’s far from comfortable. I would give my little finger for a pillow or a blanket. Hell, I might give up two fingers for that.

Even so, I’m very tired. The sky is overcast, but I can still see the moon above. It’s a full moon, and there’s something almost hypnotic about it. My eyes start drifting closed. Until…

I hear a howl.

I sit up straight, suddenly wide awake. “Did you hear that?”

Michelle groans. “Oh my God, Claire, go to sleep!”