Inside
Half Married

Since her divorce a year earlier, she had only been with one man, a forty-six-year-old divorcé who wasn’t particularly intelligent. She had only started dating him because her friends had pressured her, saying she had been alone for too long, wasn’t trying to meet anyone, and certainly wasn’t getting laid, as Leah had once bluntly told her, true to form.

After a few dates, she slept with him. She had expected to feel embarrassed but found it far less awkward than she had imagined. She ended the relationship after a few more dates, when she realized that she was only interested in the sex and had no desire to spend time with him afterward.

“It wasn’t bad. Bland is a more accurate description,” she said as she analyzed the situation with her friends at Claire’s house.

“Grow up,” Darcy told her. “You were stuck in a marriage for a hundred years. Sex is just sex. Stop looking for Prince Charming in every guy.”

“I don’t understand you,” Nicole protested. “How can you be attracted to or have sex with a man who’s stupid or not intellectually stimulating?”

“I want to understand...” Leah asked with her trademark vulgarity. “Do you analyze Nietzsche while he’s going down on you, or do you recite Ernest Hemingway while you’re doing it doggy style?”

“I really don’t understand why you’re so concerned with the IQ of the man you sleep with. All you need to check is the length, the thickness, and, of course, the performance,” Leah continued with relish.

“Because the worst thing, in my opinion, is a stupid man or a man with no sense of humor, which, in my opinion, is pretty much the same thing,” Nicole insisted. “A man with a sense of humor, especially one who can laugh at himself, is an intelligent man, and that’s exactly what makes him so sexy. What’s so hard to understand about that equation?”

“You don’t need a man,” Darcy said. “You need Wikipedia.”

“Look, I was told to pamper you,” she said with a smile. “Claire asked me to give you special attention, and you’re making that very difficult. How about some coffee? A cookie? You’ll have to tell her I treated you better than everyone else, or I’ll never hear the end of it.”

He smiled at her. “If you don’t tell anyone, neither will I...”

Nicole laughed. “Still, may I bring you some coffee?”

Jack looked a little embarrassed. “How can I refuse when you ask so nicely?”

“Excellent answer.” Nicole smiled.

A few minutes later, she returned with a cup of coffee and two cookies arranged on a small china saucer.

“You have to try them. I opened the box myself,” she said casually.

Jack smiled. “Talented woman. Well played.” He took a bite of a cookie. “They’re delicious.”

“I’m always opening things myself. You know... it’s kind of a trend. The new ideal woman.”

“The ideal woman for the ideal man?” he asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Is there such a thing as an ideal man?” Nicole raised an eyebrow.

“Is there such a thing as an ideal woman?” Jack countered.

“Okay,” she said with a smiling sigh. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m an ideal woman who isn’t looking for an ideal man.”

“That’s a shame. I thought I might finally have found someone to put an end to my lonely life,” he joked. “Any chance you’ll change your mind before the end of the flight?”

“Hmm... I don’t think so. But if anything changes, you’ll be the first to know.” She gave him a playful look. There was something about the chemistry between them that made her feel unusually open and confident around him, and she couldn’t help but enjoy the feeling.

“Eddie, don’t,” Daniel said sharply.

It was too late.

The broad-shouldered man shouted at Eddie in broken English, ordering him to shut up. He drew his gun, yanked open the car door, and dragged Eddie outside.

Eddie hit the ground hard.

The man kicked him repeatedly in the stomach until he collapsed onto his side.

Lauren began to scream.

Nicole stared at Eddie, curled on the road and moaning in pain, and froze. Lauren’s relentless screams finally jolted her into action. She turned, clamped a hand over Lauren’s mouth, and held it there firmly.

Lauren stared at her in shock but fell silent.

Daniel’s jaw tightened, but he did not move. He caught Nicole’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Stay still,” he whispered. “Don’t interfere. It’s the only way we get out of here alive. I don’t know who they are, but they’re not cops.”

Nicole gripped his hand. Beside her, Lauren whimpered softly, tears streaming down her face as she nodded frantically.

The thin man shouted something at the driver and pressed the gun harder against his temple. The driver answered in a trembling voice, then looked toward the passengers.

“They want all your money,” he called out.

The thin man barked another command.

“And your jewelry. They want everything.”