Free Smart Girls Think Twice by Cathie Linz Page B

for an alternate photo display for Sue Ellen’s table. Watching them, Emma felt a pang of . . . was it jealousy?
    Leena had always been closer to Emma than to Sue Ellen. For one thing, they were closer in age, only two years apart. And while neither of her sisters really got her, Leena was the one Emma had talked to throughout their teenage years. Leena was the one who’d shared Emma’s passion for Johnny Depp, who hadn’t mocked her even though Emma was the only one in her freshman high school class who wasn’t a fan of Beverly Hills, 90210 . Leena was the one who’d encouraged Emma to take the job in Boston. To be her own woman and stand on her own two feet.
    The newfound bond between Leena and Sue Ellen was unexpected and disconcerting.
    Emma realized it was childish to feel threatened by this change in the sisterly dynamic.
    Rock Creek wasn’t the only thing going through a change. Emma’s own family was also going through a transformation. Her sisters would be married women soon. And they were both pregnant.
    Naturally they’d share a special connection during this time.
    Suck it up, Em. Get over it. She pulled over a folding chair. There wasn’t enough room on the couch for all three of them. Unable to get a word in edgewise, Emma just sat there and watched her siblings.
    Leena was wearing jeans and a flowing empire-waist top with her customary elan. Sue Ellen was wearing blue cropped pants and a red knit top filled with tiny white stars, which were repeated on her neatly manicured fingernails. Leena had a beautiful French manicure.
    Emma looked down at her own unvarnished nails, her khaki shorts, and blue polo shirt.
    “You need to go to Mai’s Nails,” Leena told Emma. “Before the shower tomorrow. Come on, we’ll go now. My treat.”
    “I’ll wait for you here,” Sue Ellen said, hunkering down with the carton of ice cream. “I’m eating for two now.”
    “Two, not thirty-two,” Leena said, taking the carton away, or trying to. Sue Ellen wasn’t about to surrender easily.
    “Dad’s back,” Emma said.
    The news distracted her sisters enough that Emma was able to grab the carton and scoop out the remaining spoonful of ice cream for herself.
    “Did he say anything about giving me away?” Sue Ellen asked.
    “No.” Emma scraped the spoon around the carton. “Was he supposed to?”
    “Did he say anything about the wedding?” Sue Ellen asked.
    “Only indirectly.” Emma tossed the totally empty carton into the garbage.
    “Meaning what?”
    Emma admitted, “Jake told him he was my date.”
    “Your date? Jake? Did we know this?” Sue Ellen asked.
    “Jake was here when I arrived,” Leena said.
    Sue Ellen licked her already clean spoon. “The guy moves fast.”
    “So I’ve heard. You be careful, lil sis. Don’t get in over your head with this hottie,” Leena warned.
    Too late , Emma thought to herself.
    Jake saw it all in gruesome detail. Felt it. Not the fear. That came later. Just the horror. And the utter helplessness.
    He, Andy, and a buddy of Andy’s had reached the summit and were making their descent.
    The snow-covered spires possessed a severe haunting beauty. It happened so fast. One second Andy was above him, the next he was consumed by a huge wall of ice, rock, and snow that rolled down the mountain without warning, swallowing everything in its wake.
    Jake woke in a cold sweat. His stomach ached. His arms were trembling. The nightmare was never the same. Sometimes it was of the avalanche. Sometimes of the terrible aftermath of Jake trying to crawl off the mountain with his serious injuries, alone until he caught up with Andy’s buddy. Sometimes the cold woke him. Sometimes the pain. But always the guilt.
    Jake knew the drill by now. Knew he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. So he went out running.
    Jake had always had a need for speed. He could still remember how, as a real little kid, he’d been able to fly down the mountain. It was the fastest he’d ever gone.