Page 25 of Sass in the Grass

“Taste it, but it’s hot, so be careful.”

After blowing on it long enough, by Mike’s estimation, Jovian bit carefully into the gold marshmallow and the sweet, toasty favorite of it hit his tongue and his eyes widened.

“There ya go.”

After swallowing his first bite, he said, “Are you serious? This is the best thing ever!”

“See, camping isn’t all that bad.”

“Okay, I won’t go that far, but the fish and the marshmallows are good.”

“It’s a tiny step, but a step, nonetheless.”

Dixon came to the campfires, and Jovian’s eyes caught his. He didn’t sit near the one where Jovian, Mike, and Kathy sat, but the one next to it, close enough for Jovian to watch him sit and shake hands with two guys close to him.

His smile was wide, and he looked happy. Jovian wondered if he’d taken a trip to wherever it was where people fucked by the camp.

“Mike, where is that…hookup place?”

“You’re still thinking about that? I thought food was replacing sex.”

“I just want to know. Does, uh…Dixon ever travel that way?”

“If he does, it’s chasing people.”

Jovian cocked his head at that. “What do you mean?”

“We’re next to a state forest, and anyone could walk by. He doesn’t want that reputation for the camp. This place is supposed to be more than that. Besides, why would he need to go there when he has his own cabin?”

“He does? They make us live in squalor, all together like some prison, and they get their own cabins?”

“Did you think they stayed like us, all together?”

He refused to admit he’d never thought about it, or anyone else, and the inconvenience of communal living. “No, but…that seems, I don’t know, unfair. We’re the ones paying to be here, after all.”

“Jovian, I know you think it’s so terrible, but they have kept the price down for years, so everyone can afford to come. How they do it, I’ll never know. The taxes alone…”

“Taxes, Mike’s first consideration,” Kathy said, laughing.

“It’s a hobby, okay?”

That caught his attention. “You do taxes for fun?”

“Sure! It’s a challenge to get the biggest refund, or the lowest owed. Better than a video game, and I would know, I love those too.”

“I’m rooming with weirdos. Great.”

“What is your hobby?” Kathy asked.

“I…well, shopping, makeup, fashion, though that is my work too. I help run a fashion website part of the time, and the rest of the time I work at this little boutique downtown.”

Mike shook his head and said, “See, that holds no interest for me, clothes and shopping.”

“Wow, really?” he asked sarcastically as his eyes moved over Mike’s cheap T-shirt and even cheaper cargo shorts.

“Rude, Jovian,” Kathy whispered. “Stop that.”

“What?”

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