Peri smacked her lips, leaned forward, whispered, “Your life, it’s just begun.” They drank more. Peri asked Odilie about her family, her sister, her childhood dreams. Odilie answered, said that she couldn’t even remember if she’d had any outlandish goals, like to be a princess or an astronaut. That she was never pushed in the way Page was, and that that made her sad, like her parents expected so little of her that they didn’t even try. “I try to be a good person,” Odilie slurred. “A good citizen. I don’t ask for much else.” Peri had nodded at that, no judgment.

“Do the locals and tourists mix often?” Peri asked, dipping a cracker in the pimento cheese a waiter had set out.

Odilie shook her head. “We’re fairly divided. Different locales, different beaches. I grew up around you all, can recognize faces and names, hung out with some of you. But it wasn’t very cool to be interested in your lives. We have a lot of small-town pride.”

“It’s cool to disdain us, I imagine,” Peri surmised and Odilie nodded her head before she could stop herself. Peri was right, though Odilie had never thought about it that way. It came down to jealousy, she imagined, like the ability to leave this town was only for those who stayed three months; that an invisible barrier was erected the moment the last tourist left.

Peri paid for all those drinks. She put her black Amex down and the waiter took it away before Odilie even had the time to protest. After it was returned, Peri took her hand and they walked to the beach, away from their cars, their movements synchronized, their arms swinging.

When they got to the beach, Peri collapsed onto the damp sand, her back to the ocean, the waves tickling the ends of her hair. Odilie joined her. It was dusky. The moon was new. The only lights were from the houses higher up on the beach, windows glowing.

After a long quiet moment, during which they listened to the waves behind them, hands still clasped, Peri rolled over. “Tell me a secret. Something you’ve told no one.” Her breath was hot on Odilie’s cheek, but it sent quakes up and down her spine. The spot on her face that Peri had traced, all those weeks ago, it seemed to burn with the memory.