When we were past the point, I thought that we’d go into shore, but Caitlin said, ‘Want a race?’

‘Not really.’

‘Scared I’ll beat you?’

‘As if,’ I told her.

‘Let’s go, then!’

‘Where to?’ I asked, looking back along the beach towards the car park.

‘How about to that tree poking out of the rocks up there?’ she said, nodding in its direction.

It was at least a hundred and fifty metres away but I said, ‘All right then.’

When I swam up next to her she said, ‘How are we going to call start?’

I yelled, ‘Start!’, put my head down and began swimming freestyle, giving it everything.

Caitlin and I were neck and neck for a while and then she sped ahead, dropped back a little and then sped ahead again. With about twenty metres to go she gunned it. When I eventually caught up with her, we both floated on our back and laughed. ‘You’re quick,’ she said.

‘What are you, like a former pro swimmer or something?’ I guessed.

‘I wish,’ she said, turning to breaststroke to the shore. ‘But I love swimming. It’s a great way to build up strength … and tire yourself out.’

When we were walking back along the beach towards our bags, I said to Caitlin, ‘Swimming makes you hungry, hey?’

‘Hell yeah! Let’s chuck on some clothes and get to dinner?’

For once I didn’t feel like arguing with her.

Luckily, our bags were safely still with our towels on the beach. We shook off the sand and headed back to the car. Caitlin connected her phone to the stereo and put on some tunes. The temperature had dropped a little outside so she wound down the windows.

The music sounded all right. ‘What’s this?’

‘It’s A Tribe Called Quest,’ she said. I nodded and she cranked it up a little louder. I felt relaxed, driving with my body drained from the swim and the wind rushing through my hair and over my skin.

We went around a bend, up against another huge hill. We passed a massive statue of the Buddha and the Buddhist temple. ‘It’s right up here,’ Caitlin said.

We pulled into a pub on the side of a hill overlooking the town. It made sense why Caitlin wanted to eat here. We were bound to get a great sunset. I only hoped that she didn’t try to make some kind of speech about us being friends or worse, talk to me about not turning out like my mum. But for once, Caitlin was being cool.

The pub was nice and pretty fancy in the dining section. The alfresco part was awesome too – it had a grassed area with a ghost gum stretching out over it.

‘Inside or out?’ Caitlin asked.

‘Out,’ I said. It was obvious. We’d get more of the view, the temperature was soon going to be perfect and I knew that Caitlin would be carrying some kind of natural insect repellent in her bag.