Chapter 3 – Noah
We left not long after Jenny’s dance with the ex-boyfriend guy. I know he’d said something to her about me, because she suddenly became allergic to eye contact and couldn’t wait to leave. She brought me along to say her goodbyes to the bride and groom, and then we headed down the walkway of twinkly lights to the exit. Maybe the fact that we’d taken separate cars to get here should have been my first clue as to how the date would go.
She hugged herself as we walked out to the parking lot. “So, thanks for coming with me.” She picked up her pace. “You don’t have to walk me to my car.”
“I’m your date. Of course I have to walk you to your car.” It wasn’t fair how easy it was to keep up with her. Between her short legs and strappy heels, I barely had to lengthen my stride at all. She glared at me and walked even faster. “Come on, Jen. You still have to see me on Monday, remember?”
Finally giving up on outpacing me, she took a deep breath and looked up at the starry sky. “Maybe carpool is a bad idea for me right now. Why don’t you go meet up at Dan’s house on Monday? I’ll just drive in without you guys.” She looked over at me and smiled, trying to make it seem like a good thing.
“I’m not taking carpool away from you. You go, and I’ll drive separately.”
We had a stare-off that ended with Jenny glancing away and muttering, “Do you even know why I stayed in carpool?” Her eyes widened, like some rogue part of her had let those words out of her mouth. “Never mind. I have to go.” She turned and jogged the rest of the way to her red Honda Civic, jumping in like the parking lot had a mugger infestation. “Bye, Noah. Thanks again.”
Her car door slammed, and just like that, she took off. Happy Valentine’s Day to me.
I walked in the other direction to my green Toyota minivan—the Chili-van, as my brothers had dubbed it. The old thing did sort of look like a jalapeño pepper. Chili was a result of a bet I’d lost a year ago. Buy a cheap minivan and join your work’s carpool for six months. That had been my punishment for showing up last to help my oldest brother move into his condo. When it came to my family and losing bets, we were hardcore.
I’d thought I was doomed to daily misery, but it had been quite the opposite. Yeah, I’d occasionally been late to work, and other guys gave me smug looks in traffic. But if I ever figured things out with Jenny, I wouldn’t regret any of it for a minute.
I pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the freeway, shaking my head at the way the stupid van shuddered when I picked up speed. I couldn’t keep this thing forever, but my Dodge truck wouldn’t fit everyone for carpool, and I was definitely staying in carpool. That was pretty much the only thing I was certain of these days.
My cell phone rang, and any anticipation I’d initially felt at who might be calling disappeared when I realized it was Clark. Not that I thought it would be Jenny, but I had a few places I hoped to interview with, and I was waiting for a call back.
The job I was starting Monday was only temporary. I’d taken it because it shared a parking lot with Connecting Hearts, where Jenny worked. Where I used to work. I thought I’d stay with the greeting card and gift company forever, having been there from the very beginning when we weren’t sure it would make it. I stayed through all the growing pains, and the fantastic growth when we finally took off. Not that all that tenure and experience did me any good now. I’d cut a lot of important ties when I’d left the way I did. But the woe-is-me game had never served me well, so I set it aside once again.
I hit the speaker button on my phone since the van didn’t have Bluetooth. “Hey, Clark.”
“You still at the wedding?”
“No, I’m on my way back.”
“How was it?”
“Okay.”
Being only eighteen months apart in age, my brother and I had shared everything throughout our lives—hand-me-down underwear, the stomach flu, the same grumpy physics teacher in high school, even a girlfriend who thought it was okay to like us both. If we could survive that, we could survive anything. But Clark couldn’t keep a secret to save his life. Things just came out of his mouth at the most inopportune moments, and yet he still loved to be in the know. Because of that, I’d done my best not to tell him anything substantial about Jenny, my work, or why I was really back here. With any luck, I’d keep it that way.
“I hate to ask, but have you found a job?” Clark asked.
“Yep.”
“A good one?”
“Don’t know yet. I start Monday.”
“You don’t know yet?” Somehow he always sensed when I was being vague in an attempt not to lie to him. “Well, what will you be doing? What company is it?”
“Uncharted Treasures.”
Clark’s pause made both of us laugh. I’d rendered him speechless. That was a first. Finally he asked, “What is with you and all these foofy-named companies? Is it another greeting card company?”
“No, not even close.”
“Okay. Uncharted Treasures, huh? My mind is going in a million directions. What kind of treasures are we talking about? Is it a job you could tell Mom and Dad about?”
“It’s a travel agency, idiot. I’ll be helping people book cruises and make reservations.”
“Oh. Can’t people go online and do that themselves?”
