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One of the new guys stood and introduced himself as Marcus. With a full beard and light-brown hair working its way toward dreadlocks, Noah expected him to talk about the time they’d be spending on the beach or something, but Marcus was rather eloquent in explaining that he wanted to show these kids the kind of love he’d never felt as a child. “Fun fact is I nearly lost a limb to a shark,” he said.
A chorus of amused disbelief mixed with several horrified gasps.
“Get out!” Alec said. “Were you surfing?”
Marcus chuckled and let the noise die down. “Well, I was on a field trip—”
“You went surfing on a field trip?” Alec asked.
Marcus shook his head. “Our teacher said we could feed the sharks.”
More sounds of disbelief from the group provided backup for Alec’s good-natured skepticism. “No way!”
“With shrimp,” Marcus added. “I was slow on the draw and didn’t get any shrimp out of the bucket before they were all gone, so I kind of stuck my finger into the tank and wiggled it around, trying to attract some sharks.”
Skepticism switched to laughter as Marcus held up one hand and traced a jagged scar around his first finger. “Nearly lost my finger to the big guy. He was nearlytwo feetlong.”
Once the laughter subsided, it took a few minutes of ribbing and examination of the scar before the group calmed down enough for the next introduction. A guy named Devin was Marcus’s polar opposite. Clean-cut and soft around the middle, his crisp khaki shorts and boat shoes looked like they came straight out of a fashion ad, but he, too, surprised Noah with his sincerity and desire to help the children. His fun fact was that he’d traveled to over forty countries with his family before his eighteenth birthday.
Next in the progression was Grace. Would she acknowledge that they knew each other? Would she tell them what a jerk Noah had been? His knee bounced under the table.
“I’m Grace Ebert,” she said, standing up from the table next to his. “Marcus and I work together, and when he learned I speak Spanish, he invited me to come along. I love kids, and I love to travel”—she gave a nod to traveler Devin—“so I jumped at the chance.”
Her eyes worked their way around the room as she spoke, coming to rest on Noah. She paused for a moment, watching. Debating? Noah dug his fingers into his legs.
“My fun fact is... I was surprised to discover I also know a couple of others in the group—Alec, who was my neighbor a few years ago, and Noah, who single-handedly enabled me to pass the last class I needed to get my degree.” Her smile broadened, and she swiped her forehead in theatrical relief. “So if any of you need a math tutor”—she found his eyes again—“he’s the best.”
A compliment? He couldn’t breathe.
The twins took their turns before Noah, giving him time to settle his nerves and pull his attention away from Grace’s words. He hated speaking in front of a group of people almost as much as he hated talking about himself, but he stood up and tried to gather his thoughts, aiming to keep it short.
The room grew quiet. Too quiet. He plunged ahead. “I’m Noah. I’m in accounting school at Oak Hills, I’m here because someone else bailed and Chad knew about my work in construction, and my fun fact is...”
Why were the only things coming to mind things he couldn’t share?
My dad was an alcoholic.
I don’t really have friends.
The last time I saw Grace, she asked me out and I made fun of her for it.
His eyes jumped around the room, looking at everyone but Grace as he attempted to think of something—anything—interesting, striking out until they landed on Vanessa, who jumped in to save him.
“His fun fact,” she said, “is that he can hold his breath and swim fast enough to be Aquaman.”
All his van buddies laughed at the shared memory, and the tension that had mounted dissolved, leaving him more light-headed than he’d been after the race.
Jane thanked everyone again for coming, then explained some of the rules—don’t flush the toilet paper, drink only bottled or filtered water—and encouraged all of them to head out to the playground to get better acquainted with the children.
A soft touch on his arm stopped Noah as he started to leave. He turned, and Grace pulled her hand back as if she’d been scalded. She waited for the others to disperse before speaking. “Hey,” she said, voice low and face unreadable. “I hope it’s okay that I said we knew each other. I thought it might be better to get that out in the open so we don’t have to, uh, pretend, I guess?”
She expected a reply of some sort. Again his mouth sealed itself shut with responses he wouldn’t speak.
Why are you being nice to me?
You smell like flowers.
I’m sorry.
