One By One by Freida McFadden(7)

“Thai?” I asked.

“Great!” he said. I only found out later he hates Thai food.

I hadn’t been looking for any sort of relationship at the time. I had one serious boyfriend the year before, but it ended abruptly when I caught him cheating on me. We had actually been thinking about getting back together over the summer, but then I found out he drowned tragically when he was away at some summer program, and the whole experience left me shaken and reluctant to get involved again. But Noah and I had a great time at dinner. I always knew he was smart, but I didn’t realize how funny he was. And cute. Still, I thought we were just friends. Until he walked me home, and he kissed me in front of our dorm.

I remember being surprised at how well he kissed. I had kissed a few boys before, and it was always okay, but with Noah, it was on another level. Until that night, I had thought of him as my somewhat dorky neighbor, so this was an extremely pleasant surprise. And then the way he looked at me when he pulled away… I knew right then that if he asked me out a second time, I would say yes.

I look over at Noah now. When is the last time he’s kissed me like that? I can’t even remember. I’m pretty sure it will never happen again.

A rap on the passenger side window jolts me out of my thoughts. Jack and Michelle Alpert are right outside the car, trying to get our attention. Jack is waving wildly. And then he mouths the word “sorry.”

Finally! They’re almost ten minutes late.

Noah unlocks the back door, and Jack wrenches it open. “You’re late,” Noah snaps at him.

“Good to see you too, buddy,” Jack says.

Noah has to get out to help them squeeze their luggage into the back. Noah and Jack usually joke around a lot when they get together, but Noah seems too tense for that now. Like Lindsay and me, Noah and Jack were roommates back in college. It’s an opposites-attract sort of situation because the two of them are very different. Noah was the physics nerd, whereas Jack had long hair and played the guitar. When he strummed at that guitar, singing old Beatles songs, my knees got weak. Even now, he’s got that rugged look—his hair is still shaggy compared with Noah’s and Warner’s, and his hands are calloused from manual labor and playing the guitar.

Something I never told Noah is that between the two cute guys who lived next door to me during my junior year, Jack was the one I had been hoping would ask me out. And later in the year, at a party where we both had too much to drink, Jack admitted he had wanted to ask me out, but he chickened out and Noah got to me first. As we both sipped our rum and cokes, he grinned and asked if I thought there was any chance I might ever want to switch.

I was slightly drunk, but I still said no. I was not interested in switching. No way. I loved Noah. At that point, even though we had been dating only a few months, I was beginning to think he was the man I wanted to spend my life with.

What a mistake.

Michelle slides into the backseat first. Her jet black hair is pulled into a flawless bun and she’s wearing a crisp fitted white T-shirt that looks like she ironed it this morning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her with one hair out of place. She works as a divorce lawyer and rumor has it she’s the best divorce attorney in all of Denver. If Noah and I end up going in that direction, it’s going to be a race to see which one of us can retain her services. She’s the opposite of Jack in a lot of ways, but they’ve always seemed happy together.

Maybe it’s because they don’t have children. According to Jack, Michelle has never been interested in having kids. So they’ve never had the vicious argument at two in the morning over whose turn it was to get up with the screaming baby. Or fight number 179 over who’s changing the poopy diaper.

“Sorry we were late.” Michelle crosses her legs as she shoots Jack a look. “I caught this one trying to pack a gun.”

“Jack!” Lindsay gasps.

“Jesus Christ.” Jack runs a hand through his shaggy dark hair. “I wasn’t packing a handgun. It was a rifle. I heard there’s a place to go hunting over there.”

“That doesn’t make it any better, Jack,” Michelle says sharply. I feel sorry for him, trying to best her in an argument. It must be impossible.

“Hunting is barbaric,” Lindsay sniffs.

Jack makes a face at her. “You eat meat, don’t you, Lindsay? How do you think it gets to your plate? Do you think those animals die of natural causes?”

“It’s different when you’re hunting,” Lindsay says. “Have you ever seen Bambi? Remember when the hunter shot Bambi’s mother? Is that what you want, Jack? To be the one who kills Bambi’s mother?”

One corner of Jack’s lips tugs upward. “Don’t be fooled. If a deer had the chance, it would kill you and everyone you care about.”

Michelle pokes Jack in the ribs and he yelps in pain. “I thought it was something we could do together, Michelle.”

“You know I’ve got a ton of work to do during this trip,” Michelle sighs. “I’ll be lucky if I leave the room except for meals. But even if I didn’t, I would never go hunting. Ever.”

And now everyone is glaring at Jack.

“Look,” Jack says, “I didn’t bring the gun. I’m not going to kill Bambi’s mother. Let’s just get going.”

“Great idea,” Noah says. And once again, he hits the gas so hard that my neck snaps back.