You’ll come live with us.

Maya read the paper, then stared at Trudy. “What? You can’t say that.”

Trudy pulled the pencil from her pocket. I just did. It’s done. You need a place and we have the room. Pack your bags.

Trudy patted Maya’s cheek, her hand rough and calloused, then walked back to the front table and sat down. Trudy often worked on her own sculptures while the class was working on theirs.

Maya’s eyes blurred as she focused on the words, waiting for them to change into something else, to prove that this was too good a thing to be true for her. But they remained, stark graphite against the white paper. It’s done. Pack your bags.

As Trudy showed the class a new technique she’d been using to fasten the most delicate shells to her sculptures, the door opened and someone slid into the room late. Maya grabbed an extra set of jars for the student and set them down on the table. When she glanced up in greeting, Tyler smiled back at her.

“Surprise,” he whispered.

“What are you doing here?”

“You said I should try one of the classes.” He shrugged. “So here I am.” He took in the materials on the table in front of him. “Now, what am I supposed to do?”

“I told you. Just play.” She smiled and walked back up to the front of the room next to Trudy, who was holding up a length of wire with a collection of shells threaded onto it. A few moments later, the class got to work with their own materials. A student at the back of the room raised her hand, and Maya walked over to answer her question. As she did, she kept one eye on Trudy, who had opened the door and motioned for Violet to come to her.

“I brought this conch shell in that I found a few days ago,” the student said to Maya, “but I’m not quite sure what to do with it.”

Maya leaned down and picked a few smaller shells out of the woman’s stash and added a handful of beads from one of the jars. As she spoke quietly to the woman, she saw Trudy hand Violet a piece of paper. Violet whispered something to Trudy, then they both glanced back at Maya, who quickly looked down. A moment later, Trudy closed the door and walked back up front. She caught Maya’s eye and winked.

A laugh bubbled up in Maya and would have tumbled from her mouth if she hadn’t clamped her lips closed. The weight of her worry evaporated, leaving something like giddiness behind.

“Excuse me, Teacher?” The voice came from the other side of the room. Tyler had his hand up in the air. “I have a question.” When she reached his table he frowned. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” He had a large cockleshell in front of him, along with a few scattered coquinas, some dried seaweed, and a knot of fishing line. “I just put it all together but . . .” He laughed. “It’s really ugly.”