Between Us and the Moon - Rebecca Maizel Page 0,64
they used to make picnic tables for the Kennedys. There are four picnic tables, each lined with white candles and linen tablecloths. Waiters walk about offering more drinks or napkins. I recognize some of the crew from the catering company Nancy hires every year.
The backyard is lit up special just for us and I wonder where Nancy finds the people to do all her bidding. At some of the tables next to ours, Nancy’s Daughters of the American Revolution pals discuss the lobster forks and Nancy’s choice in salted butter. Even though they are each in a different dress they seem the same to me.
“What are you doing tonight?” Nancy asks, drawing my eyes to hers. Her summer dress is too big. The straps keep falling off her shoulders and the hem lies along the grass like a long tongue.
“I’m going to meet some girls in town,” I say. I don’t mention that I’m only meeting them briefly before meeting up with Andrew. I wipe my mouth with a linen napkin. Nancy raises her eyebrows high and resumes a conversation with one of her friends, most likely about me.
We finish up dessert and I head out to Main Street. I text Andrew to pick me up, not at the house but in front of the Bird’s Nest Diner instead.
When I approach the line of shops, restaurants, and busy foot traffic, I text Claudia.
ME: Here!
CLAUDIA: We’re at Plymouth Rocks, penny candy.
Nice. That place happens to be one of my favorite stores on Main Street. When I was a kid, I loved their dollar notebooks. I finally get within sight of the store. Claudia is there but with only one of her blonde friends. They sit on a bench waiting for me. Two guys come out of Plymouth Rocks and join them at the bench. They look like they’re our age, but I can’t be sure. They have on the typical outfit that all the guys at Summerhill wear—preppy shorts, flip-flops, messy hair.
When Claudia sees me, she tips her chin up and waves.
Be Scarlett. These girls don’t know about my past or my life in the bio lab. Be Scarlett the first night you watched her on Main Street.
“Hey,” I say and keep my hands in my skirt pockets. I’ve seen Scarlett do this about a million times. I shake my head so my hair falls down my back. Chelsea, Claudia’s blonde friend, sits down in one of the boy’s laps. Gabe is his name, from New Jersey. He leaves Saturday like most tourists do: Saturday to Saturday.
“I love that top,” Claudia says to me.
“Thanks,” I say with a shrug. “It’s old,” I add, remembering one of my Scarlett rules. Stay uninterested, then they will be more interested in you.
Claudia introduces the other guy as Will and kisses his cheek. Okay, so they’ve clearly coupled up already. Claudia and Chelsea stand up and we start walking toward the gazebo. I still keep my hands in my pockets.
We head to the legit sweet shop on Main Street, the Candy Manor. We want to grab bags of fudge and candy before the band starts. I’ve never been to the Candy Manor without Scarlett or Mom. It’s pathetic. I know this as Claudia and Chelsea trade candies.
As I pick out a red lollipop shaped like a lobster, Claudia peers in my bag.
“Oooh!” she says. “Sarah has a ring pop.”
“It’s the last one!” Chelsea cries.
I slip the ring out of the bag and dangle it on my index finger. We’re standing in the middle of the crowded shop. “It is mine but I am willing to part with it on a negotiation basis only. . . .” I make my voice singsong like Scarlett does with her friends and hold the ring pop high above my head.
Both Gabe and Will ready on their toes to grab it.
“I’m a gymnast. I can jump,” Chelsea says, and her tongue sticks out the side of her mouth a bit. The eyes of these four people are on me. I would have just given the ring to Claudia, no questions asked, but this is what Scarlett does. She makes a spectacle.
A rush flows through me and I drop the ring pop.
After Gabe and Will both nearly slip out of their flip-flops from wrestling in the middle of the store, a Candy Manor employee pushes through the crowd.
“Pay and go. It’s too crowded in here tonight for that business!” The woman has a finger pointed directly at me.