“And you, Dana.”
She twirled her fork in the pasta, but her enthusiasm for it was waning. “Not anymore.”
Recognizing the stubborn look, Malory nodded. “Okay. How about the first book you ever read? The first that grabbed you and made you a reader.”
“I dont think the magic key to the Box of Souls is going to be found in Green Eggs and Ham ” Smirking, Dana lifted her glass. “But Ill give it a look.”
“What about your first grown-up book?”
“Obviously the steely wit and keen satire of Sam I Am escaped you.” She grinned, but drummed her fingers, thinking. “Anyway, I dont remember a first. It was always books with me. I dont remember not reading.”
She studied her wine a moment, then took a quick gulp. “He dumped me. I moved on.”
Back to Jordan, Malory thought and nodded. “All right.”
“That doesnt mean I dont hate him with a rare and beautiful passion, but it doesnt drive my life. Ive only seen him a handful of times in the past seven years.” She shrugged, but it came across as a hesitant jerk. “Ive got my life, hes got his, and they no longer intersect. He just happens to be buds with Flynn.”
“Did you love him?”
“Yeah. Big time. Bastard.”
“Im sorry.”
“Hey, it happens.” She had to remind herself of that. It wasnt life or death, it didnt send her falling headlong into a vale of tears. If a heart couldnt be broken, it wasnt a heart to begin with.
“We were friends. When my dad married Flynns mom, Flynn and I hit it off. Good thing, I guess. Flynn had Jordan and Brad—they were like one body with three heads half the time. So I got them, too.”
Youve still got them, Malory nearly said, but managed to keep silent.
“Jordan and I were friends, and we both really dug reading, so that was another click. Then we got older, and things changed. You want another hit of this?” she asked, holding up her empty glass.
“No.”
“Well, Im having one.” Dana rose, got the bottle from the kitchen. “He went off to college. He got a partial scholarship to Penn State, and both he and his mom worked like dogs to put together the rest of the tuition and expense money. His mom, well, she was just terrific.Zoe sort of reminds me of her.”
“Really?”
“Not in the looks department, though Mrs. Hawke was really pretty, but she was taller, and willowy—made you think of a dancer.”
“She was young when she died.”
“Yeah, only in her forties.” It still brought a little pang to her heart. “It was horrible what she went through, what Jordan went through. At the end, we were all practically camped out at the hospital, and even then…”
She gave herself a hard shake, blew out a breath. “Thats not where I was going. I meantZoe reminds me of how Mrs. Hawke was. Its that good-mother vibeZoe has. The kind of woman who knows what to do and how to do it and doesnt whine about getting it done, and still manages to love it and the kid. She and Jordan were tight, the wayZoe and Simon are. It was just the two of them. His father wasnt in the picture, not as far back as I can remember, anyway.”
“That mustve been difficult for him.”
“It wouldve been, I think, if his mother hadnt been who she was. Shed grab a bat and join in a pickup Softball game as quickly as she would whip up some cookie batter. She filled the gaps.”
“You loved her too,” Malory realized. “I did. We all did.”
Dana sat down, sipped at her second glass of wine. “So anyway, the Hawke goes off to college, gets two part-time jobs up there to help pay his expenses. We didnt see much of him the first year. He came back for summers, worked at Tonys Garage. Hes a pretty decent mechanic. Palled around with Flynn and Brad when he had the chance. Four years later, hes got his degree. He did a year and a halfpostgrad and was already getting some short stories published. Then he came home.”
She let out a long breath. “Holy Jesus, we took one look at each other, and it was like bombs exploding. I thought, What the hell is this? This my buddy Jordan. Im not supposed to want to sink my teeth into my good buddy Jordan.”
She laughed, drank. “Later on, he told me hed had the same sort of reaction. Whoa, hold on, this is Flynns little sister. Hands off. So we danced around those bombs and each other for a couple of months. We were either bitchy with each other or very, very polite.”
“And then?” Malory prompted when Dana fell silent.