“Well, I wish she could stay.” Hailey’s voice sounded strange, as though she were about to cry, but of course it was Claire who had always been the crier, not Hailey. Or at least this had been true up until now.

“You know what?” Right then Claire felt certain that some things really did stay the same. “I think she wishes that, too.”

5

ON SATURDAY, the owner of the Capri Beach Club returned, along with his wife, his children, his grandchildren, all his uncles and aunts, and everyone who had ever worked at the Capri. A good-bye party was being held, with live music and a barbecue and more people than the beach club had seen all summer long. The line at the snack bar crisscrossed the patio, with crowds calling for sandwiches and sodas.

Streamers and balloons had been strung over the entranceway. Even the bulldozers had been decorated. But despite the crepe paper necklaces and the headdresses of streamers, the machines looked like yellow monsters. No one could disguise that their purpose was to dismantle the club.

“Where have all these people been all summer?” Hailey grumbled when she and Claire arrived. The girls made their way through the crowd. “The one day we want some privacy, this place is mobbed.”

They spied Raymond, who had already packed up his books and was leaving for Florida later that day. He was working hard, trying to keep up with the demand of the crowd, but when he noticed the girls, he left everything and came over. He had the white shell Aquamarine had given him on a chain around his neck. He looked as though he hadn’t had a wink of sleep.

“How can I leave without saying good-bye to her?” he said to the girls.

“You’ll just have to,” Hailey said.

“We all have to do what we don’t want to do sometimes,” Claire added.

The girls looked nervously at the pool. At least the warning ropes were still up and none of the crowd had yet ventured near.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Raymond asked.

One little boy was approaching the deep end. He had a fishing net in his hands and a look on his face that spelled trouble.

“Fishy,” the little boy said.

“If there’s something we’re not telling you, we’re not telling you for your own good,” Claire said. “And for Aquamarine’s good, too.”

The little boy was standing at the very edge of the pool, teetering on the cement.

“Oh, no!” Hailey said.

“Get back here!” Claire cried.