By the time the girls helped each other back to shore, their arms and legs were aching, but they didn’t want to let go of one another. They had both swallowed quarts of saltwater. They pulled strands of seaweed from their hair as they watched the sea, but all they could see were the waves. Aquamarine had disappeared without a trace. The girls might have felt as though they’d imagined her completely if they hadn’t found the two white shells Aquamarine had left for them on the seat of the wheelchair. They were beautiful shells, as white as the surf in the sea. When you held one up to your ear you could hear the sound of your best friend talking to you, even if she was a thousand miles away.

“What did I tell you girls!” the owner of the Capri shouted when Hailey and Claire waved to Raymond as he headed for the parking lot and roared off on his motorbike. “Stay off the beach!”

“We just wanted to say good-bye,” they told him. And then they hugged the startled owner and thanked him for the best summer of their lives.

That evening, while dusk was spreading across the sky, Claire’s grandparents loaded up their car. The moving men had taken most of their belongings, but Claire had set aside anything that was irreplaceable. These items would be taken along on the ride down to Florida, to ensure they wouldn’t get lost. There was the pearl necklace that had belonged to Claire’s mother, and the photograph albums, and one of the white shells left by Aquamarine.

Hailey’s mom had made up a picnic basket, with deviled eggs and chocolate cupcakes and a Thermos of pink lemonade, and she’d thrown in the necessities for anyone who leaves home: a compass, a map, and a photograph of the house that was left behind.

“It’s all right if you talk to the girl who moves in here,” Claire told Hailey as her grandparents were buckling their seat belts and waving good-bye. “I’ve thought it over, and I really want you to.”

“I might say hello or something. Just to be polite.”

“Even if there isn’t a fire,” they both said at the very same time, the way they were still known to do.

Hailey and Claire hugged each other right there on the lawn that Claire’s grandfather had cared for so meticulously. It was still the best lawn in the neighborhood, and Hailey would be around to make certain the new people watered early in the morning, which was always best for any garden.