“Felt too much,” he finishes for me. Like he understands. I nod, and he takes my hand and walks me out of the barn.

It’s a gorgeous night. Clear and warm and bright. Lex and Jude are making out under a lamppost. Red-gold hair and charcoal curls. They move together and it’s beautiful, the way their bodies cast one shadow on the cement.

I turn to Cole. “What happens here?” I whisper. “At night. In the fog.”

Cole looks startled. He opens his mouth to answer me, but Val grabs my hand. She grins as she pulls me away from Cole and slips an arm around my waist. “We’re going night swimming,” she says. “The three of us.” She jerks her head toward Lex and Jude. “You guys wanna come?”

I’m afraid. Not of the water. But of the dark. Maybe. And of meeting myself on the sand.

Of the fog.

And of how much I want Cole.

But I remember what he told me my second morning at Whisper Cove. That conversation on the sea porch steps. It seems like a million years ago.

I swim because the ocean scares me.

And I think about what Willa said earlier tonight. About letting myself feel.

I want to become that person.

So I say yes. “Sounds like fun.”

Cole gives me a look. He wants to know if I’m sure. So I take his hand. Squeeze it hard.

I need him to know I’m sure. This is what I want.

The five of us start down the lawn toward the sound. The waves get louder. But the night stays clear. Our feet move over the boardwalk. Across the marsh. And the dunes. Until we’re standing in warm sand, staring out at the sea.

Val is leading the way. She looks back to smile at us. It’s an invitation and a challenge. I watch her shimmy out of her shorts. She pulls her tank top over her head and tosses it to me. Then she slips out of her underwear. Her bra. She’s sprinting for the water. Throwing herself headlong into the breaking waves. She squeals. Then she starts to laugh, and it echoes up and down the beach.

Lex looks at me. He raises one eyebrow. Are we doing this? The question is so clear on his face, but Jude is already shirtless, and now he’s unbuttoning his shorts.

So I guess we are.

I pull my shirt off over my head and drop it in the sand. Lex and Jude have both stripped down to their boxer shorts. Lex hesitates, and for a second I think he’s going to chicken out, but then he’s wiggling out of his underwear. And so is Jude. I watch them racing each other toward the waves. Laughing. And free.