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deciding which one would better suit which girl. He’d been startled by her casual admission they’d ended up tossing a coin.
    He thought about the two girls as they had been then—Emma, tall with dark wavy hair and deep brown eyes, her breasts small and high, her hips narrow, and Patty, petite and curvaceous, with strawberry blonde hair and eyes the color of cornflowers. Would he have fallen in love with Patty as easily as he had Emma if she had chosen him instead of Luke?
    He could admit now, during the early years of their marriage, he hadn’t been in love with Emma. Over the years he’d come to love her and the life they shared. Back then, however, he didn’t know what love was.
    A shy, gawky teenager, he hadn’t dated much when Emma set her sights on him. Emma, outgoing and popular, had floored him when she’d asked him to the autumn dance as her date. Patty had asked Luke, who was less shy than Jack and certainly more experienced.
    Luke had already gone all the way with Cindy Stafford. Apparently most of the boys of the senior class had gotten lucky with Cindy at one time or another, but not Jack. Not that he would have refused if she’d shown up naked beneath a raincoat on his doorstep, as she’d purportedly done for the captain of the football team.
    Luke had been pretty excited about losing his virginity, though he acknowledged he felt little for Cindy beyond a certain awe at her feminine charms. He admitted he felt kind of sorry for her because of her reputation as a slut, but it hadn’t stopped him from leaping at the chance to fuck her.
    After the dance, Emma and Jack began dating, “going steady” as they used to say. Emma was an attentive girlfriend, sweet and devoted to Jack. Patty and Luke also became an item. Jack enjoyed being part of a couple for the most part—he was suddenly in the in crowd at school and the source of envy to the boys still not lucky enough to have found a girlfriend.
    Though Luke and he remained good friends, something had changed between them. Luke and Patty were sexually active pretty much from the start of their relationship, while Jack and Emma had held back, neither ready to take such a big step. Luke spent every spare moment with Patty, leaving Jack lonely for his friend and for the simple, close times they used to share.
    He knew this was part of growing up and tried to accept things as they were. Emma seemed very happy with him, often telling him she loved him and he was the best thing to ever happen to her. Sometimes, though he hadn’t been able to articulate it clearly back then, he felt almost suffocated by her constant attentions, but he didn’t have the heart, or perhaps the courage, to let her know.
    She and Patty remained as close as ever, so it seemed to Jack, who sometimes accidentally overheard his girlfriend on the phone, telling Patty intimate details about their relationship he would never have dreamed of sharing with Luke, no matter how close they were.
    Senior year hurtled to a close, drawing Jack along in its wake. Though he was fond of Emma, he was secretly looking forward to leaving her behind once he went off to college with his old friend, Luke.
    There had been rumors circulating through the school that Luke and Patty were planning to marry after high school. Luke had bought Patty a friendship ring with a tiny diamond at its center. She’d told anyone who would listen it was an engagement ring. Privately Luke told Jack he had no intention of marrying Patty, but he let her have her little fantasy.
    Then, a week before the prom, to the astonishment of those who knew them, Luke and Patty broke up. It happened when Luke, who was supposed to be away at a sporting event, returned home before schedule. Thinking he’d surprise his girlfriend, he showed up unannounced at her house.
    A constant fixture there, he’d knocked on the front door and then let himself in. Patty’s parents weren’t home but she was. So was Dominic Connor, senior class