Jordan was nine years old when he first met Casey at Cub Scouts. Mrs. Sothern was Den Mother of their troop, and because his own parents worked odd hours as they struggled to get Matthews Construction underway, she gave Jordan a ride home each week after Scout meetings. He and Casey sat together in the back seat of her red SUV, practicing their knot-tying skills on the tassels hanging from the antimacassars covering the headrests on the front seats. Casey had a mop of thick, brown hair that obscured large, blue eyes, and he had an infectious laugh Jordan loved to hear. Even at that age, he was smitten, he knew it—he got jealous if anyone else talked to Casey, especially since they didn’t go to the same school. Cub Scouts was the only time the two friends could hang out together, and Jordan
