The Matching Game. Everyone Knew The Answer. Except Me novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: Odd One Out
At Carson's thirtieth birthday the group plays its guessing game; Vicki writes the truth he told her in bed, the other four write her best friend's name, and she pays the check and walks out to find her savings gone.
At Carson's thirtieth birthday dinner, I was the only person at the head table who wrote my own name on the napkin.
There were five of us, the way there had been since college.
A dozen of Carson's coworkers watched from the long tables behind us, glasses in their hands.
We had one rule in our group. Nothing was ever said out loud.
What to eat, where to go, who drove, who paid: all of it was guessed.
Cass invented it in our dorm freshman year and named it the Matching Game.
"If you have to ask," she liked to say, "you're not in sync."
Five napkins, five pens, one question. On "three" we turned them over together, and the odd one out paid the check.
I was usually the odd one out.
I always paid, and I always laughed, because that was part of the game too.
Cass leaned over before the first round and tugged the strap of my gold dress straight.
"There," she said. "You look unreal. Carson told me he picked it."
"He texted me this morning," I said. "He said to wear it. He said tonight's the night."
Her eyes went bright. "Then whatever you write, trust it. Don't second-guess yourself."
She squeezed my wrist and sat back.
Ben stood at the end of the table with his phone up, filming, because Ben filmed everything.
He held a card in his other hand. "Question for the birthday boy's big year. Ready?"
Cass already had her pen capped. She was always fast.
"Who," Ben read, "is going to Denver with Carson?"
I smiled down at my napkin.
Two weeks ago, in bed, Carson had told me he might get the Denver job.
He had asked me, "You'd come, right?" and I had said yes before he finished.
Then he had said, "Don't tell the others. Let them guess."
So I was the only person at that table who knew the real answer.
For once I was going to win.
I wrote my name, Vicki, in capital letters, and put my hand flat over it.
Across from me, Elias wrote something quick, folded the napkin face down, and slid it into the pocket of his jacket.
Ben looked over. "Elias, napkin."
"I'm sitting this one out," Elias said.
"Boring," Carson said, and the table laughed.
Elias looked at the tablecloth. He was the only one at the table who wasn't smiling.
"Three," Ben said.
We turned them over.
Carson's said Cass. Ben's said Cass. Cass's said Cass.
Mine said Vicki.
For a moment I only looked at the three matching napkins.
Then the room behind us broke into applause.
Somebody whooped. Ben swung the phone toward Cass, who had both hands over her mouth.
Carson stood up and took her hand across the corner of the table.
"Denver starts November first," he said. "Cass is coming with me."
The applause got louder.
Carson turned to me. His voice stayed soft and reasonable, the voice he used on customers.
"Vic, it's the game. Nobody has to say the hard thing. You'd have gotten it if you'd paid attention."
I picked up my napkin and held it where the whole room could read it.
"Two weeks ago you asked me in bed if I'd come to Denver," I said. "You told me not to tell anyone."
The clapping thinned out and stopped.
Carson's smile stayed on. "That's not how I remember it."
Cass looked at the table.
Ben's phone was still pointed at me, red dot lit.
I looked straight into it.
"Odd one out pays," I said. "Fine."
The server was already standing at my shoulder with the black folder.
The total was eighteen hundred and forty-six dollars.
I put my card in and signed.
"That's the last thing of mine any of you gets," I said.
Carson opened his mouth.
I took my coat from the back of the chair.
So I stepped out.
I made it down the stairs and through the door and onto the sidewalk before my hands started shaking.
The October wind off the lake cut straight through the gold dress.
My phone buzzed in my bag. It was the bank app, the one for the account Carson and I called the House Fund.
I had been putting money into it for three years. Every paycheck, every bonus, every tax refund.
I opened it.
The balance said $0.00.
The last line in the history was from yesterday, 4:12 in the afternoon.
Transfer out: $22,400. Authorized by Carson R.
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