CHAPTER FIVE

It was an awkward mix of people, to say the least. The only relief Emily could feel as she looked at the strange array of faces scattered around the porch table was that her father and Chantelle weren’t here, since they were too absorbed in their work in the greenhouse to participate.

Conversation was stilted. Even a pitcher of beer didn’t seem to help.

“How did you all meet, then?” Amy asked, evidently trying to be as friendly as possible.

“I’m Daniel’s oldest friend,” Stuart said. “I met him at school, way back. Back when he was still called Dashiel!”

“The less said about that the better, thanks,” Daniel replied. He’d changed his name from the one that matched his father’s at a young age.

“I joined the gang in middle school,” Evan added. “We picked Clyde up in high school.”

“We got into mischief from that point onward,” Clyde finished. “Then sort of went our separate ways.”

“Daniel was the only one who left the state though,” Stuart added. “Maybe to get away from us.” He laughed.

Emily wondered. Maybe Daniel had wanted a fresh start away from his past when he left for Tennessee.

“There’s nothing like a wedding to bring old friends back together,” Clyde said.

“And it’s great timing, Danny Boy,” Stuart said, grabbing Daniel roughly around the neck. “I’ve only just gotten out on parole.”

Emily took a huge swig of her drink. She felt Amy and Jayne shift uncomfortably beside her.

“What were you in for?” Jayne asked.

Amy and Emily shot her daggers. Jayne was clearly just trying to make conversation and, never one to think more than a millisecond before speaking, had asked the question that was on everyone’s minds.

“Just a DUI,” Stuart said, shrugging like it was absolutely nothing at all.

Emily started to feel very hot. She tugged at the collar of her shirt.

“Oh,” Jayne said, exhaling her relief. “I was worried you were going to say murder or something.”

Clyde and Evan laughed loudly. Emily kicked Jayne sharply under the table.

“He got off on that charge,” Clyde informed Jayne.

Her eyes bulged in disbelief. “Really?”

Clyde and Evan laughed even more loudly this time.

“No!” Clyde exclaimed. “But you should have seen your face.”

Jayne wasn’t the only one not able to take the joke. Stuart himself looked furious.

“You’re one to talk, Clyde,” he said. “I’m not the only one sitting around this table who’s been inside!”

Emily felt her whole body sag with deflation. These guys were coming across as completely unstable. So much for getting to the bottom of the mystery of these guys; the more they revealed the more she wished she didn’t know.

“You guys must have some funny stories about Daniel,” Amy said, trying to calm the situation.

Daniel went bright red. “Oh God no, let’s not.”

But it was too late. His friends’ faces were immediately brightening.

“I’m glad you asked,” Stuart said. “What would you ladies like to hear? The one where Daniel gets drunk for the first time ever and ends up ripping his pants climbing a chain-link fence or the one where he loses his virginity?”

“Neither,” Emily said, shaking her head, feeling the panic begin to set in.

Daniel, too, was looking petrified at the prospect of those two particular stories being relayed.

Stuart nudged Emily. “Don’t tell me you haven’t told each other all your dirty secrets yet?”

Emily’s embarrassment grew more and more. Maybe it was because her own past was so difficult and muddy that she hadn’t forced Daniel to open up more about his own, but she was beginning to regret that now. What if both stories were so horrific they put her off marrying him completely?

“There was this girl, Astrid,” Stuart began.

Daniel buried his face in his hands.

“Their eyes met across the room,” Stuart continued. “It was love at first sight. She approached. Daniel couldn’t believe his luck. Then she said the words that struck fire into his heart. ‘Can I borrow your protractor?’”

“Wait,” Emily said, frowning. “What?”

“It was in math class!” came Stuart’s punch line. “Fifth grade.”

Daniel had turned bright red.

Jayne looked confused. “I thought this was a story about when Daniel lost his virginity?”

“I’m getting to that bit,” Stuart said. “So… fast forward, what, five years? Six years? Daniel’s had this pathetic crush on Astrid for our entire lives and finally gets the guts up to ask her to the dance.”

“The rest is history,” Clyde said, winking. “How long did you stay together in the end? Four years?”

Daniel nodded tensely. “Four and a half thereabouts.”

Emily felt a sensation like ice sweep through her. Daniel had never even mentioned the name Astrid. Now it turned out she’d been his first love? A girl he’d pined for, for years? She didn’t want to compare herself to a teenage girl from the past but it sounded like she’d meant more to Daniel than your average first love. It sounded like his relationship with Astrid had been big and important. But he hadn’t mentioned it at all.

“I’m guessing you two didn’t keep in touch?” Stuart asked.

Daniel shook his head.

“Too bad,” Stuart said. “She was great. I kind of thought you two would get back together at some point.”

Emily’s face must have gone pale because she felt a reassuring squeeze under the table coming from Amy’s direction.

“Now what I want to know,” Clyde said, “is what you ladies have planned for the bachelorette party?”

“There isn’t one,” Emily said. “Daniel and I decided against having gendered parties.”

“Uh-oh,” Clyde said, looking at Daniel. “Busted.”

Emily frowned. “What?”

Daniel looked guilty. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you,” he said. “The guys decided to throw me a surprise bachelor party. We’re going away for the weekend.”

Emily couldn’t even speak. All she could do was blink.

“Road trip,” Clyde said. “Visiting all the finest strip joints Maine has to offer.”

Beside Emily, she could see Amy balling her hands into fists of rage. Emily herself could feel all the blood draining from her face. In her peripheral vision she could see Daniel’s worried expression.

Suddenly the three men burst into laughter.

“Oh, you should have seen your faces!” Evan cried.

“We’re not really going to strip joints,” Stuart laughed. “We’re going hunting!” He grabbed Daniel around the neck again and pulled him into a rough sort of headlock-embrace. “We leave on Friday morning.”

Emily had heard enough. She couldn’t stand it anymore, sitting here listening to this, her thoughts becoming increasingly chaotic, her nerves increasingly frayed. She’d been trying all day not to freak out but she couldn’t hold it in anymore. She stood, making the table wobble in her haste, and darted inside.

CHAPTER SIX

“Emily. Emily, wait!”

She drew to a halt in the corridor, hearing Daniel’s pleading tone approaching from behind. He reached her and touched her arm with a tentative hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “The stripper joke was one step too far. I’ll have a word with them.”

Emily led him into the living room, away from any prying ears, and closed the door. She faced him, finally, and saw the earnest expression in his eyes. Daniel’s friends weren’t a reflection on him, she knew that, but she also couldn’t help her contradicting feelings, the ones telling her that in some way they were.

“They’re jerks,” she blurted out.

Daniel sighed. “It was a dumb joke. I can only apologize. But you know I never would do that, right?”

“It’s more than just the joke, Daniel. It’s everything. Their whole attitude stinks. How are you even comfortable having felons in the house with Chantelle?”

Daniel’s expression began to change, to grow a little darker. “They’re not dangerous.”

Emily folded her arms. “Sure, as long as we keep them away from the hard liquor and hide all the car keys,” she said sarcastically.

“What’s gotten into you?” Daniel challenged. “I thought you’d be pleased to meet my friends. You know how much I struggle with compartmentalizing my life. Having you all together is stressful for me too.”

“Oh, well I’m so sorry your childish oaf friends are making this difficult for you,” Emily replied bluntly.

Daniel seemed to grow increasingly frustrated. He paced away, his arm folded, then back again, facing Emily down. “Sometimes I can’t win with you. You asked me to invite my old friends and now they’re here you’re somehow angry with me?”

“I didn’t know they’d be so horrible!” Emily wailed.

Daniel shook his head. “I get it. They’re not smart or successful like your friends. But can I remind you that Amy and Jayne aren’t always the easiest people for me to be around either?”

“Come off it, Daniel. Amy and Jayne aren’t even in the same league as those …” She struggled to find a suitable word, and regretted the one she eventually blurted. “…baboons!”

Daniel grew immediately infuriated. “That’s so unfair. You haven’t even given them a chance.”

“And I don’t want to.” Emily could hear the petulance in her voice but she couldn’t help herself.

“Tough,” Daniel retorted. “You haven’t got a choice. They’re my friends, they’re part of my life.”

“Hardly,” she scoffed. “It’s not like you ever talk about them, or talk on the phone to them. Sounds like you’ve barely even seen each other in the last decade!”

“That’s just life,” Daniel huffed. “Things get in the way. Hence people making the effort for weddings.”

He’d started to sound condescending. Emily felt riled.

“What kind of things?” she snapped. “Prison sentences?”

Daniel seemed to suddenly deflate. He sat down on the couch and let his head drop into his hands. Emily paused, watching him. She’d never seen Daniel look so defeated.

The fight went out of her immediately. She sat tentatively beside him, perching on the edge of the couch.

“I’m sorry,” she said, suddenly filled with remorse. “I’m just freaking out. They weren’t what I was expecting and it’s reminded me how many things I still don’t know about you. I just don’t understand how they fit into your life.”

Daniel shook his head, his hair tousling as he did. “I know they don’t make a good first impression,” he said quietly. “But they’ve helped me through some really tough times. I’m eternally grateful to them for that.”

“What kind of things?” Emily asked.

The conversation had taken on a different tone entirely. Now Daniel was the sad one and Emily in the comforting role.

“After my dad left, there were days when my mom was just out of it. Stuart’s family used to feed me. Sometimes they even let me shower at their house, join in special occasions with them. I mean, they weren’t exactly saints but they were there for me during those times when my mom couldn’t be and my dad didn’t want to be. Clyde has had a hard life, like me, but even though he acts dumb he’s actually super smart. If he hadn’t helped me with my school work I would have flunked out of school, I’m certain. And then Evan helped me get a job at his parents’ mechanics store. We learned to fix up bikes together. That’s where my love for them came from. And it kept us out of trouble. It meant I had a skill I could fall back on, a passion I could occupy myself with. A reason not to give in to the temptations of liquor like all the adults around me had. I owe that guy a lot. I owe all of them a lot.”

Emily touched his arm lightly. Daniel spoke so rarely of his parents’ problems with addiction. She always felt closer to him when he did; it was something they had in common.

“So how come you all fell out of touch?” Emily asked softly, curious. If they’d been so bonded in their youth what had caused them to become such infrequent players in one another’s lives?

Daniel looked guilty. “It was me. My fault. I took off.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t judge me, Emily,” he said, looking at her sadly. “I’m a different person now. I don’t do things the same way I used to. But I had to leave. I’d changed my name and gotten a taste of the freedom I needed from my family and my ties to them. So one day I took one of the bikes Evan and I had fixed up and I left.”

“You stole from your best friend?”

Daniel nodded glumly. “And I didn’t tell any of them what I was doing. When I finally got in touch with Stuart he was so angry, saying the police had been informed and everything. I got him to swear to secrecy, to just let the cops know I was safe, that I’d gone of my own accord. Anyway, when Clyde and Evan found out that Stuart knew I was safe and hadn’t told them, it tore the group apart. And typical me, I just avoided it.”

“When did you make up?”

“Well, I came back to Maine seven years ago and took up the carriage house to look after this place as best I could. Whenever I felt brave I would ride back to our hometown and look around for them. I bumped into Stuart, finally, a couple of years ago. We went for a drink and he filled me in on what I’d missed out on. Who was in prison and why, that sort of thing. He said he’d talk to the others for me, see if we could start patching things back together. So over the last few years, here and there, we’ve met up a few times in various combinations for a bike ride or fishing trip, that kind of thing. But never as a group. Never like this. So really this has brought us all back together. I’m really hoping the trip will help us heal.”