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He shrugs. I mull over what to tell him. It’s definitely going against my intention to pump the brakes on this until we get our moms engaged. But we’re stuck alone in this car for the next few hours anyway. We can’t do anything for Operation Latke yet. This drive is our interlude from reality until we arrive at the lodge and then we’ll shut it down.

“Okay, so I met this guy from the apps for drinks. He’d gotten there before me and was on his second beer, even though I was on time. I was barely twenty-three and he was definitely in his thirties but dressed like a teenager. Dirty T-shirt, hoodie with thumb holes in the sleeves. I asked how his day had been going, and he told me he’d gotten stoned in his living room and watched Elysium twice.”

“That Matt Damon movie?” Henry asks, glancing over at me.

“Yeah, I guess. Anyway, we had zero chemistry, and he kept trying to grope my ass while I was still sitting on this barstool, and I kept looking at him like, Do you think you’re being successful here?

“So then after one drink, I know I have to get out of there because this dude is insufferable. I hadn’t realized he’d opened a tab before I got there, and I really did not want to feel like I owed this guy anything, but the bartender wouldn’t put my drink on my card instead. At first, the guy was super offended that I wanted to pay for my own drink, but he finally conceded that I could give him cash. I was one dollar shy and then he got unreasonably angry about it, and I’m thinking, Thirty seconds ago you didn’t want to let me pay anything toward my drink. But whatever. So we settle up and he says he has to go to the restroom before we head out.

“Henry, I knew there was not a chance in hell I was letting this thin-lipped little creep kiss me. And this was my golden opportunity. I could just leave while he was in the bathroom and avoid the situation completely. He didn’t even know my last name. I could block him on the app and be done with it forever. But then I got in my head about it. Was that too mean? Too harsh? And I didn’t factor in how much quicker it is for men than women in the bathroom, so before I’d even made a decision, he was back.”

“He totally kissed you, didn’t he?”

I sigh. “It was a sneak-attack kiss. The worst. And then we were both walking to the subway stop. I had to dip into a CVS just to get away from him. But then, sure enough, he messaged me at two a.m. with a classic u up since I’d been so thrown by the kiss that I forgot to block him. I did not respond to that.”

“Gross.”

“Right? What about you?”

“Well, Gold, I hate to say it, but I’ve got you beat. Back when I was living in Los Angeles, I met up with a girl at this bar—I think she used to work there. And the whole time, servers kept coming up to her and asking how her brother was, and finally, after the third person, I asked what was going on. Apparently, her brother had been in a bad motorcycle accident and was in a coma. I asked her if she wanted to leave, said we could reschedule, but she said no, and we kept getting free drinks from her old coworkers. In the middle of our second round, her phone rings, and she takes it. I mean sure, you’re having a family emergency, of course you should answer the call. And her whole face lights up—her brother had woken up from the coma.”

“You can’t be serious,” I say, shaking my head.

“I swear! So I told her to go to him, and she left. I finished my drink, and never heard from her again.”

“And you’re sure that wasn’t a fake call to get her out of a terrible date with you?” I ask playfully.

“It’d involve a helluva lot of setup—the coworkers asking about him, the free drinks…”

“Hen, that’s not fair, that’s a wild story but it’s not necessarily a bad date.”

“It’s not until I got home and realized someone stole my wallet.”

“No!”

He sighs. “Whoever it was went buck wild at the Brothers department store, maxed out everything. I had to cancel all my credit cards. It was a nightmare.”

“The Brothers department store! And it was her brother in this alleged coma?” I’m laughing so hard I can barely catch my breath. It doesn’t surprise me terribly that this sweet man had been a sucker. I feel confident that he was so genuinely excited for his date to go see her brother, he never would have batted an eye.

Henry leans his head back. “Somehow I never put that part together.” He looks at me, his smile so wide I can see his molars. “Your turn.”

“Tell me something important that happened to you this year.”

Henry’s eyes rake over me briefly before turning back to the road. His hands flex on the steering wheel. I watch him suck in a slow, deep breath.

“This doesn’t count,” I add quickly, sensing where this is heading. “I already know I’m amazing.”

“The best I ever had.”

“I barely even touched you,” I say, heat rising to my cheeks.

“I know,” he replies, the corner of his mouth tugging up ever so slightly.

“Something important that happened to you this year,” I repeat, emphasizing each word, needing to get back on track before my inclination to pull the CR-V over in the emergency lane and ride him senseless wins out.

“Well,” he starts, “I found my, uh…the sperm donor.”

I had heard many stories from Kristine when we were old enough about the “sperm binder” she used to pick the other half of Henry’s DNA. He looked so much like Kristine, fierce blue eyes and olive skin, that I wondered what pieces had come from this mysterious sperm donor. Maybe his dark hair, the slant of his nose, his long limbs?