Free Heart-Shaped Box (Claire Montrose Series) by April Henry

still only had eyes for Cindy as she shouted his name while she twisted and danced. Her hips swung, her hands clapped, and even her head bounced from side to side, so that she looked like a nodding toy dog in the back window of a car. She landed in a full side-to-side split that made all the men smile, and then bowed from the waist.
    Richard, flushed to his hairline, began applauding. He got to his feet, still clapping, only now he was calling out, “Bravo! Bravo!”
    Jessica leaned over to Claire. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she stage-whispered.
    “ What’s that?”
    “ That I still hate Cindy just as much as ever.”
    A man’s voice cut through the din, his tone high and girlish and mocking. “Cindy, oh Cindy, can I kiss you?”
    Heads turned. It was the drunk guy in the orange tanktop. Claire vaguely remembered him from high school as one of the people who used to stand across the street from the school, smoking. He stood in the back of the room, one arm looped around a pillar as if for balance, his face twisted and ugly.
    A woman nearby tried to shush him, but his call came again. “Cindy, can I kiss you?”
    In a flash, Tyler was upon him. “All right, buddy, I think you’ve had enough.” Tyler grabbed the guy’s wrist, doing something to it that allowed him to lead the drunken man out of the room like an overly tired child.
    All eyes went to Richard and Cindy. He was looking down at the table, his face scarlet. His right thumbnail slipped into his mouth and he began to nibble it industriously.
    Cindy leaped to her feet. Into the still shocked silence she said, “Of course, Richard can kiss me.” She leaned over and theatrically presented her cheek - and a wide expanse of cleavage - to him. Richard’s head bobbed forward and he gave her a quick peck. Then he leaned back and called out in a raised voice that trembled slightly, “A round for all my old friends from Minor. On me.” The bartender rolled his eyes while the rest of his body sprang into action. With one hand, he began squirting drinks from a plastic hose, while setting beer bottles on a tray with the other. With one hip he closed the cooler door, while simultaneously kicking the dishwasher door closed with his other foot.
    “ What did that bit about kissing Cindy mean?” Dante asked.
    Jessica said, “I think Richard went on exactly one date in high school. He took Cindy to the movies. She was about seven steps above him on the social ladder, so God knows why she said yes. Anyway, at one point during the movie, he asked if he could kiss her. Unfortunately, it coincided with a time when there wasn’t much on the soundtrack, and a lot of people in the theater heard him. And the next Monday at school, Cindy kindly filled in the details for anyone who wasn’t there. For months he couldn’t walk down the hall without guys yelling “Cindy, can I kiss you?” after him.”
    “ So did Cindy say yes the first time?”
    Jessica snorted. “You clearly don’t know Cindy very well. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole reason she went out with Richard in the first place was to humiliate him. She had a way of finding your weak spot and working on it.”
    Watching the other woman’s mouth crimp, Claire wondered what weak spot of hers Cindy had exploited. Then Jessica’s lips broadened into a smile.
    “ Just think how stupid Cindy feels now. She could be living in a thirty-thousand- square-foot lake-side mansion in Seattle instead of still being stuck in Minor, Oregon.” Jessica opened her mouth to say something more, when an expression of delight blossomed on her face. Claire followed her gaze. Wade Merz was beckoning to Jessica, holding a glass out to her in invitation.
    “ Excuse me,” Jessica murmured, and was off like a shot. Claire turned to apologize for her, and was surprised to find Dante watching Jessica, an unreadable expression on his face. Instead of saying anything about Jessica, Claire excused herself to go to the