The Sweetness of Salt(12)

“You guys coming in?” Milo asked, pausing at the front gate as Zoe and I peered out from behind him. “Or are you just going to watch everything from back there?”

“Of course we’re coming in!” Zoe stepped forward, pushing her brother out of the way, and made her way over to the food table. Milo cleared his throat loudly as Melissa came toward us. She had tied a sarong around her hips, and she was spilling out of her bikini top. Behind her, I could make out the slightest tilt of Cheryl’s head as she watched us from her chair.

“Hey, guys!” Melissa draped a hand casually on Milo’s shoulder. Her eyes took in every inch of Zoe’s appearance in the span of three disgusted seconds. “I’m so glad you could make it! Did you just get here?”

“Just now.” Milo shoved his hands in his pockets, rose up on his toes. “Wow, Melissa. Your place is great.”

“Thanks!” Melissa still hadn’t moved her hand from his shoulder. “Did you get anything to eat yet?”


“We were just admiring all the options,” Zoe said, waving a hand at the phyllo-dough pockets. “There’s a lot of stuff here.”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “God, that is so all my mother. She belongs to some culinary group down at the country club, so of course she decided to try out all her freaky recipes for my party.” She tossed her head. “Whatever. I mean, just eat what you want. There’s chips and stuff too. You know, real food.” She squeezed Milo’s shoulder, looking at him slyly. “How about drinks? Did you get something to drink?”

“A drink would be great,” Milo said.

Melissa bumped him with her hip. “There’s soda in the silver buckets over there, or we have punch in the pool house.” She used her fingers to make air quotes around the word “punch.” “Just get one of those big red plastic cups and fill it up, okay? My parents are upstairs, so don’t even worry about it. Seriously.”

I glanced over at Milo. He was staring directly at Melissa’s chest. “Cool,” he said. “Thanks.”

Melissa tossed her hair and looked at me. “Oh, and you guys too, of course. Help yourself.” She tilted her head toward the party. “Okay, well I’m gonna get back in the pool. Come on over when you’re ready.”

She bounded off across the lawn, running lightly on the balls of her feet. I tried not to stare, but I couldn’t help it. There was no way any part of my body looked—or moved—like that in a bathing suit. Cheryl was still watching Milo from her seat.

“Hey, Milo!” The three of us turned as a guy inside the pool house yelled his name. “Come on, man! Get your ass over here!”

Milo glanced at me and then Zoe.

“We’ll be fine,” Zoe said.

“I’ll come find you in a little while.” He looked at me. “You gotta be back by ten, right, Jules?”

I nodded and looked away.

“Okay.” He pointed at Zoe. “You, behave. See you later.”

“See you, Dad!” Zoe called out behind him. I watched him lope across the lawn, his hair unmoving and stiff on top of his head. “Hey, Julia.” I turned around. Zoe had stuck two baby carrots into her mouth, inserting them at such an angle that they looked like enormous buck teeth.

I laughed. “You’re such a dork.”

She let them fall from her mouth one by one. “Listen, are you okay? You hardly said a word in the car.”

I selected a cucumber spear from an exotic vegetable plate and nibbled on it slowly. “Yeah. Everything’s fine. Guess what Sophie got me for a graduation present?”

“Um…” Zoe looked up at the sky for a moment. “A hundred bucks.”

“Nope.”

“Two hundred bucks.”

I leaned in. “A car.”

Zoe’s eyes bloomed wide. “A car?”

“Yup. And not only that, but it’s the Bug.”

“The Bug?” Zoe squealed. “Oh my God, Julia!” She hopped up and down, holding onto the side of my arm. “That’s so cool! Did you try it? Do you love it?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t taken it out yet.”

Zoe stopped jumping. “You just got a car for graduation and you haven’t taken it out for a spin yet?”

“There was a lot going on. There wasn’t really time.” I paused as Zoe studied me curiously.

“You need to talk?” she asked.

I looked away.

Zoe nudged me. “Julia?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I do.”



Zoe and I slipped out from the patio, circled back around the side of the house, and sat on the front steps. It was much quieter out here, and more private. A set of pale bricks formed a semicircle of stairs that lead up to the front door. Next to us, two stone lions rested on their haunches, heads up and alert, as if guarding the house.

Zoe took a long drink from a can of root beer and then gasped, wiping her lip with the back of her wrist. “Who drinks this shit?” she asked. “And how can they even think of serving it at a party? It’s garbage.”

“Zoe. It’s root beer. It’s the same stuff as Dr Pepper.”

Zoe’s face darkened. “Take that back!” she said. “Take it back! Now!”