Coda 03 -The Letter Z by Marie Sexton Read Free Book Online Page A

tie off of you when this is over.”
    “The sooner the better,” I say, and he laughs. But I ain’t kiddin’.
    Jonathan’s already waitin’ for us when we get to the restaurant. Zach’s got his arm ’round my shoulder, and I don’t miss the look Jonathan gives me when he shakes my hand. He’s sizin’ me up, and I’m comin’ up short. And I’m not just talkin’ ’bout him bein’ four and a half inches taller than me.
    I didn’t really look at him before, but I do now. He’s just barely taller than Zach, and built the same way, like a runner. I remember now Zach tellin’ me they met on the track back in college. Jonathan changed his class schedule, just so he could run with Zach every morning. And isn’t that just so sweet it makes your teeth hurt? His hair is lighter than Zach’s, and his eyes are brown, and I don’t know shit ’bout fashion, but I’m pretty sure the suit he’s wearin’ costs more than I make in a month.
    “I ordered some calamari and a bottle of wine,” Jonathan says, looking right at Zach. “I hope you still like Spanish reds.” Zach smiles at him, obviously a little bit pleased that Jonathan remembered.
    I pretty much decide then and there that I hate the son of a bitch. They seat us at one of those big round booths, and Matt ends up across from me. He gives me that shit-eatin’ look he gets, with one eyebrow up, but not quite smilin’. “You look good,” he says, and he barely even winces when I kick him in the shins.
I open my menu, and it’s all I can do to not let my jaw drop when I see the prices. This dinner’s gonna cost more than all the others combined. Then there’s the fact that I’m gonna need a fuckin’ translator just to order. Half of it’s in French, and I have to read the descriptions to know what the fuck the food is. Even then, not sure I know.
“What’s a balsamic reduction?” I ask nobody in particular.
I figure Jonathan will be all over that, but it turns out to be Jared who answers me. “It’s when you boil most of the liquid out of the vinegar. It intensifies the flavor and makes a sort of glaze.” He’s not even lookin’ at me, so he can’t tell how shocked I am that he knows the answer. He’s still lookin’ at the menu. “Where’d you see that?”
“How’d you know that?” I ask.
    Jared just shrugs, but Matt answers me. “Because he watches the cooking channel all the time .”
    “Really?” I ask.
“Any time there’s not football on,” Matt says, and the way he’s lookin’ at Jared, anybody could see how crazy he is ’bout him. “The funny thing is he still can’t cook worth a damn.”
“I can cook,” Jared says, although I know he’s just bein’ a smartass.
“Pop Tarts don’t count.”
“I made you breakfast just the other day.”
“When?” Matt asks, genuinely confused.
“On Thursday.”
I see Matt thinkin’ back to last Thursday, and then he says, “We had toast!”
“I put cinnamon on it.”
“Who did you learn that from?” Matt asks him playfully. “Paula Deen or Rachael Ray?”
Jared just looks back at his menu without even crackin’ a smile. “I think it was Emeril.”
The wine comes, and Jared, Jonathan, and Zach each have a glass. Matt orders a beer, so I figure it’s okay for me to do the same. I’m wonderin’ how much Jonathan dropped on that bottle, ’cause I can tell Zach’s impressed with it. He slides his glass my way and raises his eyebrows at me. I take a drink, and almost choke on it. Pretty sure I ate dirt as a kid that tasted ’bout like that wine. He must be able to tell by my face I’m not impressed, ’cause he just laughs and says, “More for me.” He leans close to me when he says it, and his voice is soft and quiet, so only I can hear him. Like he’s tellin’ me a secret. I see Jonathan watchin’ us, and it’s so easy to lean closer and kiss Zach. Probably a childish thing to do, but I love the way Jonathan’s face turns red, and he looks away.
’Course,