“You like?” she asks. “We got them yesterday.”

“Yeah, they’re cool,” I say.

“Surprise!” she yells, pulling out a second pair. “We got some for you, too!”

Then all of a sudden, I’m happy. Happy that they thought of me when they were out. “Thanks.” I smile and slip them on my face, and I like the way they look in the reflection of her glasses. I like the way they make me feel, too. We high-five.

I turn. “Thank you, Mrs. Fiester,” I say. “They are really cool.”

“You’re very welcome, Delsie. Brandy seemed to think you two had to have matching ones.” She turns back to the counter, laughing.

Brandy and I head outside wearing our sunglasses and sit at one of the picnic tables. The new guy in charge of taking care of the place is fixing the lid on one of the grills. He nods at us. Grammy told me about him. She said that he seems to be able to fix anything that either God or man has made, but he isn’t one for conversation.

I turn to Brandy, pushing my glasses up my nose. “So what should we do? You want to build a sandcastle with a moat? See how long the castle can last? Deepest moat in Cape history.”

She looks at her nails. “I can’t dig in the sand with a new manicure,” she tells me.

“We could go clamming?”

She shakes her head. “Too messy.”

Too messy? That’s something I’ve never heard from her before.

“Wait! I know. Let’s make a new fairy house.”

“Are you kidding?”

“What? It would be fun,” I say.

“Right after finger painting and Play-Doh?”

When I look down, my sunglasses fall off. As I bend over to pick them up, I hear her sigh.

“Is Aimee around?” she asks.

“No, we’re not going to see her much this summer,” I say. “She got the lead in the Cape Playhouse musical.”

She turns her head quick. “The playhouse? Seriously?”

I laugh a bit. “Yeah, I know. Rehearsals start this week. It’s a big deal for her—she’s playing Annie.”

“That’s cool,” Brandy says, but she looks bored as she flops down on the grass and picks out clovers. “So is your oldest living bird still alive?”

I laugh. “Yeah.”

“Please tell me your bird’s name is still Birdie.”

I laugh again. “Yep. You know I was in diapers when I named the thing.”

“Last year, then?”

I give her a little shove. “You’re hilarious. Well . . . you want to go for a run?” I ask.

“Me? No way. Plus it’s too hot.” She looks up at me. “So did you ever join track?”

“No. But I’ve been training for a 5K in Yarmouth this September. It will raise money for heart disease.”

“Aw, is that for your papa?”

I nod, thinking about the day Grammy told me he’d had a heart attack. About how Brandy stood next to me then, and put her arm around my shoulders at his funeral. About how the world has felt like a different place ever since. I look out at the clouds forming over the ocean. I can tell that rain is coming.