“You are smart, but you are the biggest dork in the world, you know that, Delsie?” He looks amused with my crazy theories.

I smile. “Thank you.” And I think for a moment more. “You know when hurricane winds grow quickly, when they explode, meteorologists call that rapid intensification, and I guess it’s super hard to predict. But . . . I think I felt that way when I broke the frame.”

“Yeah. I feel that way a lot, I guess.”

I can tell there’s a squall inside he’s trying to sort out, too. And then he turns to me. “I think you’re right. Wind and anger being alike. You can’t stop the wind. But you can use it.”

“Yeah?” I say.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about what my dad said. About his temper. I used to get in trouble a lot for fighting and stuff. And I used to say I couldn’t help it. But it turns out . . . I can stop myself. If I stop to think. Feeling mad doesn’t mean I can’t control what I do. I used to use being angry like it was an excuse. Like it wasn’t my fault. But I can stop myself. And it feels good.”

“That’s good, Ronan. Really good.”

He nods.

“Grammy says when people hurt, they hurt other people even if they don’t mean to,” I say. “I bet your mom was caught in a storm herself. I bet she didn’t want to hurt you.”

“You don’t even know my mom, Delsie.”

“Yeah, but I know you. And no one would want to hurt you.”

He nods again, and we both stare out at the water.

And my mind skips to Papa Joseph and remembering how we’d always go and check the beach every spring, to see how much damage was done by the fierce nor’easters that pummel the elbow of the Cape. Chatham Beach would look like a completely different place each year. I learned it’s the storms that really change us. Not the blue-sky days.

I think about Olive and how her being annoyed and angry all the time must mean that she is really sad deep down.

I think about Michael and how he feels about having to spend summers in the campground. It isn’t just the campground that bothers him. It’s that he has no say.

And I think how I used to wake up mad and sad earlier this summer. Telling myself how unlucky I was with my grammy in our little neighborhood.

But maybe I was missing something or should have tried to look at it in a different way.

I think I’ve decided that it’s not what you look at that counts, but what you see.

Chapter 47

THE BIG ONE WITH THE LADDER

Ronan shows up at my door in a pair of new running shoes. “Now I’m gonna be a real running machine like you. You better watch out.”