Read Meant To Be for Free Online

were talking, and when it was time to leave I stood up to shake the interviewer’s hand and fell over.”
    “Get out,” she said.
    “Totally serious. So embarrassing.”
    “What did you do?” She wiggled her foot, wincing.
    “It was such tension relief, I started laughing uncontrollably. I think they thought I’d had some sort of nervous breakdown.”
    “Oh my God,” Marienne said. “I can picture that.”
    “The funnier part was that two days later they called and told me I’d gotten the job.”
    “What was the job anyway?”
    “Waiter.”
    “Well, no need for good balance with that profession.”
    “You’re laughing,” he said. “But I lasted exactly one day. My first night I accidentally spilled a glass of champagne down a woman’s back. I was fired on the spot.”
    Marienne laughed even harder.
    She looks awfully pretty in the moonlight.
    “I think I’m ready.” Marienne took a tentative step.
    “You sure?” He was ready to catch her, wanting an excuse to reach out and touch her again.
    “I’m good.” She took another step. “Come on.” She headed toward the road, turning back to look at him. “Let’s try to get home without either of us falling.”
    He laughed and followed her onto the darkened street, thinking it might be too late for that.

Chapter Five

    Daniel listened to the silence of his house. Although it was late he still wasn’t tired. He couldn’t stop thinking about Marienne.
    I can’t believe I told her all that.
    He reached into the fridge and pulled out a beer. It was warm in the kitchen so he took a seat on the deck. Drinking beer outside always reminded him of high school, the good and the bad.
    His mother had died the autumn he turned sixteen, and he’d been sent to the US to live with Anne and her husband. It had been a monumental adjustment, but he had managed to settle in well. He made friends, earned good grades, was captain of the soccer team. It had surprised him how much impact the one-year anniversary of her death had.
    He’d awoken early that morning, and remembered while still in the groggy half-awake state. It was as if he was reliving the day she died all over again. He couldn’t breathe, his stomach churned, his hands icy cold, the memories overwhelmed him.
    He’d complained of a headache, and Anne had let him stay home from school. He suspected she’d figured out the reason behind his ills, but she said nothing. No one said anything. He had no one to discuss it with, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about it anyway. He wanted his mother back. He wanted to not feel so sad and alone. He wanted to feel normal again. But all he felt was empty.
    The following day he returned to school, as though nothing had changed, but the sadness lingered in the form of restlessness. It was the beginning of senior year and stress levels were high from college applications and SAT exams. To blow off steam the weekend routine began to include a drive down to the Jersey shore, to the beaches below Manasquan, where one of Daniel’s teammate’s parents owned a summer house.
    The beach was deserted in the early fall, so they would go there on Saturday nights, build a big fire alongside the ocean, and drink beer.
    Daniel loved those nights. He loved the sounds and smells as the surf rolled in and out and the fire roared. It matched his mood, the unpredictability of the waves, and the fierceness of the fire.
    One weekend Scott’s older brother had been unable to provide beer, so instead a few people had gathered what they could from their parents’ liquor cabinets. The choices wound up being peach schnapps or rum and Coke. Daniel tried one sip and found the sweet and sticky schnapps disgusting, so he’d picked up a Coke instead.
    “Here.” His friend Paul grabbed the can, spilled half its contents onto the sand, and refilled it with rum. “Try this.”
    It burned his throat, but was better than the schnapps. He ignored the sting and continued drinking. The fire