“No I didn’t,” Alice defends herself.

“Alice, I’ve never heard a recipe for a cake call for two table spoons of soy sauce. And I dated a cook.”

“Soy sauce?” Shane asks, revolted, as she helps Carmen out of the pool and wraps a towel around her.

“That’s disgusting,” Carmen laughs.

“I didn’t see you guys going out of your way to make a cake,” Alice says and walks over to the table of food, dipping her finger in the cake and tasting it. Her face crunches with appall. 

After Dinner

Everyone sits around in a circle as Angus plays the guitar. Tina and Bette had gone inside with Angelica and had yet to emerge from the house. Dana sits listening to Angus sing as a passed out Helena uses her legs as a pillow. Carmen and Jenny had gone back for seconds and Shane and Alice were left sitting beside each other, a little ways from the singing. “So how’s it going with Carmen?”

Shane looks over her shoulder at Carmen and smiles as she sees her laugh at something Jenny says. “It’s going good,” she replies. “There something about her, Al. I can’t get enough of her.”

“Think you’ll be able to keep it in your pants?”

“Al…”

“What?” she says with a shrug. “It’s a valid question. It’s not like you’re the commitment type.”

“Commitment might be hard for me when it comes to relationships,” Shane agrees. “I haven’t had a lot of experience. But I have been a friend.” She pauses. “And I’d like to think I’m loyal.”

“Yeah,” Alice agrees.

“I guess we’ll just have to see what happens,” Shane says. She glances back at Carmen with worry clear in her eyes. “I just don’t want to hurt her.”

“You guys have gotten pretty close in the few days you’ve known each other,” Alice states, drinking her beer.

“Yeah.”

“Maybe things will be different?” she suggests. “I mean, you said it yourself, it’s different. What could get in the way?”

Shane is silent for a minute and nods before sipping her drink. “Kelli called me today…”

“What?” Alice asks in a whisper, setting her bottle down and turning to face Shane. “What did she say?”