There was a world of meaning in that single glance, and Jenny wasn’t the only one who noticed. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Maddy and Sharron exchange a knowing look.
Don laughed and wrapped his arm around Maddy’s shoulders, pulling her close. He gave her a kiss on her forehead. “You’ll have to excuse my wife. Before she decided to stay home with our son, she was a newspaper reporter. Always looking for a story.”
Maddy gave him a playful jab in the ribs.
“I ran into Paul last week,” Don said to no one in particular. Then he turned to Jared. “He told me you and Steven were in the same squadron. The Fighting Eagles, right?”
“Falcons,” Jared said, raising his beer and taking a long drink. “Fighting Falcons.”
“Steven always was a sucker for speed,” Maddy said, smiling gently at Jenny.
Jenny returned her smile, feeling only a small tug on her heart. “Yes, he was.”
“Remember that old Thunderbird his parents bought him our sophomore year?” Don said. “A rusted-out hunk of shit if there ever was one. But he loved that car.”
Yes, he had. So had Jenny. She’d lost her virginity in the backseat.
“Isn’t that the car you two took drag racing?” Maddy asked her husband.
Don laughed. “We caught a bucket load of shit when we got home that night.”
Maddy shoved her hands into the pockets of her fleece coat. “If Taylor ever pulled a stunt like that, disappeared for hours without a clue to where he was, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“I do,” Don said. “You’d send me out to find him.”
Maddy nodded. “Sad, but true.”
Everyone chuckled.
From there the conversation took a turn down memory lane. Don trotted out one crazy story after the other about the stunts he and Steven had pulled all through school while Rob added a few stories from more recent years. Never ones to stay quiet, Maddy and Sharron jumped in, adding their versions to the mix. Soon, everyone was laughing and talking and telling one silly childhood story after another. Everyone except Jared.
Jenny glanced his way. In the warm glow of the firelight, she searched his profile, but his expression gave nothing away. He listened to the stories, smiled, and laughed in all the right places. But he never added a story of his own. Not a single childhood memory about summer camp or how his parents had grounded him for staying out too late. No mention of siblings or pets or a torturous family road trip. Not once during the whole evening did Jenny get a single glimpse into Jared Worth’s life. She couldn’t help but sense he was keeping a part of himself separate. Distant.
She glanced around their small group, certain someone else would have also picked up on it, but no one had.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that Jared’s childhood had been anything but normal.
A log fell in the fire and sent a shower of sparks upward.
Rob pushed up his sleeve and glanced at his watch. “I hate to be the party pooper, but we’d better get going. We only have the sitter until nine thirty.”
“Is it that late already?” Don stood and held out his hand to Maddy.
She took his hand. “When did nine get to be late?” she said jokingly as she stood up.
Don shrugged into his flannel shirt. “The minute we became parents.”
Sharron laughed in agreement.
When Maddy and Sharron tried to clean up, Jenny shooed them away. “My party, my mess.” They argued, but she was adamant.
Before Maddy climbed into the passenger side of their truck, she gave Jenny a hug. “Tonight was good.”
Jenny returned the hug. “Very good.”
Maddy stared at her a moment longer. “Don’t be a stranger.”
“I won’t.”
“And, Jenny?”
“Yeah?”
Maddy motioned to Jared. “Go for it. I would.”
Maddy was still laughing when Don climbed into the truck and drove off. Sharron and Rob’s car was right behind them.
Jenny watched until their taillights had disappeared. Turning, she made her way back to the beach, telling herself it was because she needed to clean up. But the moment she saw Jared’s solitary figure down near the lake, she knew that wasn’t what had brought her back.
Slowly, she made her way toward him.
He looked so alone, standing at the water’s edge, staring out across the flat, dark surface of the lake. Jenny didn’t know what it was—the soft night air, the starry sky, the glow of the campfire in the near distance—but something made her want to reach out to Jared. To walk