The late May evening carried the clean scent of a rain soaked earth and fresh cut grass.

Elena parked in her driveway but couldn’t see herself go inside. Her husband Daniel would be in there either working on his lesson plan or watching some clearly scripted reality show. Instead, the 29 year old left her car and walked across the narrow strip of grass between her house and that of the woman she has become close friends with the last year. Drawn by the light spilling from her neighbor Mary’s open kitchen window, she could hear the soft voices inside drifting out. Recognizing almost as soon as she heard them, who it was.

She stepped onto the back porch and paused just outside the screen door. The moment she reflexively opened it and stepped inside, she noticed all three of them flared their nostrils in unison, subtly inhaling. She wondered if they always did that. A collective, soft smile followed from them as they all seemed to recognize her just from her scent.

Inside, the three of them were barefoot. Their summer dresses clung lightly to their bodies in the warm kitchen air. The thin fabric made it obvious none of them wore bras. Mary stood at the sink rinsing a pot. Her daughter Alice sat at the long table with one knee drawn up, slowly turning pages of the latest issue of Parents magazine. Her best friend Madison, or Madi, as she has heard them call her, leaned beside her, shoulder brushing Alice’s, flipping through the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens. Such odd choices for 14 year old girls she thought.

The air was warm and fragrant with rosemary chicken and fresh bread on their menu tonight. And something else. A faint musk that she associated with recent sex lingering beneath it all. She couldn’t tell whose. Maybe it was all of them. She mentally giggled.