Ten by Gretchen McNeil Read Free Book Online Page A

the bowl forward. “Look.”
    Ten heads bent over the salad bowl and Meg clearly saw them. Several thin, slivered almond pieces sprinkled into the salad.

EIGHT
    “THAT’S SO WEIRD,” MEG SAID. “I DIDN’T PUT ANY nuts in. I swear.”
    Vivian planted her hands on her hips. “You must have.”
    Once again Meg felt nine pairs of eyes boring into her. She wished the floor would just open up and swallow her whole. Her mouth was suddenly parched, her throat tight. She knew she hadn’t added the nuts to the salad. Absolutely positively not. She wanted to defend herself, but she couldn’t even think of what to say.
    “Hey!” Minnie said sharply. “If Meg says she didn’t do it, she didn’t do it.”
    Meg could have hugged her. It was comforting to know Minnie had her back.
    Vivian clicked her tongue. “Well, someone must have.”
    Mumbles of “I didn’t” and “Not me” rippled around the table.
    Meg sat down in the nearest chair. She knew she hadn’t added almonds—which meant one of the others must have. But why would anyone do something as mundane as add nuts to a salad and then not cop to it? It had to be a mistake. Someone accidentally added them, then after Ben’s attack was too embarrassed to fess up.
    Meg felt a hand brush against her back. “No one’s blaming you,” T.J. said.
    “Oh, my God, no,” Ben said. He grabbed Meg by the shoulders. “You totally saved my life. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t been here.”
    Ben stepped away and Minnie practically tackled Meg with a ferocious embrace. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said, planting a kiss on Meg’s cheek between each repetition.
    Meg smiled. That was the Minnie she knew and loved. It was good to see her again. “You’re welcome.”
    Silence descended over the dining room table as everyone wandered back to their seats. A few people picked at the food on their plates, but it seemed no one had any appetite left.
    Ben was the first to break the silence. “It’s no big deal, guys. Seriously. Happens all the time.”
    “Sorry,” T.J. said. “It was just kind of a shock, you know?”
    Ben piled his utensils on his plate and stood up. “Forget it. Let’s go watch TV or something, huh? You guys are bumming me out.”
    He bussed his plate into the kitchen, and Minnie quickly followed, leaving her mostly untouched dinner on the table. One by one they gathered up plates and serving trays, and hauled everything to the sink. Nathan and Kenny didn’t hang around to get roped into clean-up duty. Lori followed close behind Kenny, and Vivian, after a few instructions on how the dishwasher should be loaded, joined the group in the living room. But Meg lingered.
    While Gunner and Kumiko rinsed plates and loaded them in the dishwasher in the exact opposite way Vivian had recommended, Meg checked the cupboards for signs of the slivered almonds. When she came up empty, she pulled out the trashcan and used a long wooden spoon to pick through the table scrapings, looking for any sign of the almonds.
    “I already checked,” T.J. said. “No empty bag of almonds.”
    “Oh.” Meg stood up and tossed the spoon into the sink.
    “Weird,” Gunner said. King of the Obvious.
    Kumiko added detergent to the dishwasher and closed it up. “Don’t worry about it. Ben’s fine. Just put it out of your mind.”
    “Exactly,” T.J. said. “You need to relax. That’s what this weekend’s for, right?” He disappeared onto the patio and returned with four beers. He handed two to Gunner, then popped the other two with an opener on his key ring. “Seriously, have one. I know you don’t really drink but it’ll help you relax.”
    Meg took the bottle gratefully. T.J. was right. She just needed to relax and have some fun. Stop worrying about who put almonds in the salad. This weekend was supposed to be fun.
    Beers in hand, T.J., Gunner, Kumiko, and Meg joined the rest of the party in the living room. Meg expected to see a movie