Mint’s voice had grown harder and sharper as he spoke. When he saidcuckold, that strange, old-fashioned word, it was like jagged glass. I leaned back. “My dad’s the biggest coward. I hate him. Everyone at home talks about me behind my back, and it’s all his fault. At a dinner party my mom threw before I left for Duquette, he came late from work and I locked him out of the house. People were laughing and pointing at him through the windows. And you know what? Instead of feeling bad for him, I felt good.Reallygood.Hewas the loser, not me.”
“Mint, that’s terrible,” I said, unable to help it.
“Yeah, well. Now you know a shameful secret. Feel better?”
We sat in silence while I processed the fact that the perfect Mark Minter had such a messed-up family. I swallowed. “I think I hate my father, too.”
Mint had been studying his comforter; now, he looked up at me. “Really?”
“I think so.”
“Well, will you look at us. Two jerks who hate their dads.”
I laughed with relief, because of course Mint wasn’t a jerk, and if I was grouped with him, I was going to be okay.
“I can’t believe you told me something so personal,” I said.
“You asked me to.”
“Yeah, but…I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”
“Jess.” Mint blinked. “I like you.”
For the second time that day, the world tilted on its axis. Mark Minter likedme? Me, Jessica Miller? It was the most improbable of victories, like winning the lottery, or finding a golden ticket in your chocolate bar.
He swallowed, looking unbearably nervous, and I realized I hadn’t yet responded, lost in wonder. “I don’t believe you,” I said.
He cracked a smile, bright as the sun, and he was back to being the golden boy, shameful confession far behind him. “Why not?”
“Because you’re…Mint.”
He put his hands on either side of my face. “I like the way you think of me.”
I took a deep breath, smelling his cologne, orange and spices, and then he was pulling me toward him, kissing me with that beautiful mouth. It was slow and gentle at first until I scooted closer, rising onto my knees, and he deepened the kiss, tangling his hands in my hair. I pulled away, breathless.The most perfect boy in the world.
“I like you, too,” I said, the understatement of the century, and kissed him again.
A heavy thud made us wrench apart. I twisted to the doorway, heart racing. Coop stood there staring, Red Vines in his hand, two bottles of root beer rolling at his feet.
Chapter 7
Now
If there was a hell on earth, it was this moment.
“Kill your father, then you’re free? Quoting Freud at a college party is too clichéd for you, darling.” In slow motion, Caro walked past me to where Coop stood, leaning in to kiss him. It was a surreal image, like rewatching a beloved movie, only to find the actors suddenly switched and everything now wrong. I looked away, focusing on the way my stiletto heels stabbed twin holes into the grass.
“I, for one, would be sad if Coop’s brand ever changed.” Mint raised his glass. “Long may my favorite roommate darken our otherwise idyllic lives.”
Courtney’s candy-red lips widened into a smile, flashing teeth as white and straight as her husband’s. “Actually, since Minty and I couldn’t make the engagement party, let’s cheers to Caro and Coop.”
The engagement party. Memories surfaced, too fast for me to push back, edges blurred by alcohol but still clear enough to be damning. I refocused, realizing everyone else had lifted their glasses. I hastily added my own, though it was empty.
“To Caroline Rodriguez,” Coop toasted, “a living saint, who rescued me from depression and poverty after law school. May I eventually be worthy of her.”
Caro blushed prettily.
“To Caro and Coop,” everyone sang. I echoed, a beat too late.
