The Partner Track: A Novel (36 page)

“You sure?” said Tim.

The muscular, impressively tattooed ride attendant looked at the crowd waiting behind us and growled, “Yeah, yeah, they’re sure. Come on.
Today,
people.”

Tim grinned and grabbed my arm, and together we clambered into the front car of the Cyclone. Cameron and Jason, Margo and Sofia, and Dave and Andrea climbed into the three cars behind us.

I looked down and scrabbled at the sides of our car. “Where’s the seat belt in this thing?”

The ride attendant strode over and gruffly pushed the single crossbar down across our laps. “No seat belt required.”

The train began to move. I grasped the single lap bar so hard my knuckles whitened.

As the famous old wooden coaster slowly climbed to the crest of the first hill, I snuck a sideways glance at Tim. He was smiling at me, peering down at the straight drop below and darting gleeful looks backward at the others, who were already squealing and pumping their fists in the air. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been on a roller coaster. I used to really love them as a kid.

The rickety clicks grew louder and slower and farther between, and suddenly we were stopped, as the train balanced for one precarious moment high on top, as if bracing itself before it went down for its first drop.

Tim nudged my elbow. “Okay. Now let go.”

“What?” I yelled, as we slowly nosed forward.

“Let go!”
he yelled back. As we started to dip, and everyone behind us began to squeal, Tim lifted his arms from the crossbar and let out a loud, joyous whoop.

I slipped my hands off the crossbar and raised my arms high above my head in the precise moment that I felt the coaster pitch all the way forward. My stomach dropped, and I screamed at the top of my lungs. The wind rushed in my ears and my hair was loose and whipping across my face. I felt wildly free. I felt both young and fearless.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe many people thanks for helping to see this book into the world.

I am so grateful to my editor, the wonderful Brenda Copeland, for giving this story a chance, and to all of the terrific people at St. Martin’s Press, especially Sally Richardson, George Witte, Laura Chasen, Stephanie Hargadon, India Cooper, and Malati Chavali.

My fantastic literary agent, Josh Getzler, is responsible for the single best phone call I’ve ever received in my life. I’m also lucky to work with Danielle Burby and Mary Willems and everyone at HSG Agency. And thanks to Maddie Raffel, for plucking my manuscript out of the pile and insisting that Josh read it in the first place.

Thank you to Tanya Farrell and her team, who have contributed so much energy and enthusiasm.

I’m very fortunate to have a loving and supportive family: Peter, Catherine, and Linda Wan, and Steve, Kathie, and Mindy Burrell. My mom and dad had the foresight to get me a manual typewriter from Sears in the fourth grade, on which I happily banged out stories about an intrepid crime-fighting family called The Dixon Detectives. That old typewriter is still the best birthday present I’ve ever gotten.

Thanks to all of the friends and fellow writers who read early pages and offered wisdom, especially Maureen Brady, Susan Cain, Susan Chi, Jen Egan, Rachel Geman, Melissa Haley, Mikaela McDermott, Miriam Parker, David Rogers, Sarah Shey, and Kera Yonker.

I’m also indebted to Mindy Burrell, Shirley Chi, Ann Dolloff, Jinee Kim Ellis, Jenny Eugenio, Yuki Hirose, Natalie Krodel, Drew Patrick, John Reed, John Rudolph, Julia Rudolph, Madhu Goel Southworth, Wendy Stryker, Christine Tefft, Matt Walker, and Marissa Walsh for, over the course of many years, always asking after my novel as if it were a real thing. This simple gesture helped me more than you’ll ever know.

Finally, I am grateful to my husband, Andrew Burrell, who, with patience and great kindness, ultimately coaxed this story into being. And to our son, Alex, who was not yet around during the actual writing of this book, but whose recent arrival has made the wait for publication an even happier time. Thank you, with so much love.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Helen Wan is associate general counsel at the Time Inc. division of Time Warner Inc. Before that, she practiced corporate law and media law in New York. Born in California and raised near Washington, D.C., she is a graduate of Amherst College and the University of Virginia School of Law. Her essays and reviews of fiction have been published in
The Washington Post
and elsewhere. She lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, with her husband and son. This is her first novel.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE PARTNER TRACK
. Copyright © 2013 by Helen Wan. All rights reserved. For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Elsie Lyons

Cover photographs: woman © Marcello Bianco/
folio-id.com
; man © prodakszyn/
Shutterstock.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

eISBN 9781250019585

First Edition: September 2013