Heidi, one of the local girls, joins the conversation, passing her red party cup to Corinne, who takes a sniff, then drinks. “I think all of us have had a crush on him at some point,” Heidi says. “He’s such a sweetheart—”

“And hot,” Corinne adds.

Heidi nods in agreement. “Everyone is so spread out around here that it’s not easy to date, but Wyatt has always been kind of oblivious. He’s always been way more into surfing than girls.”

Corinne laughs as they watch him drop a kiss on the top of Willa’s head. “Apparently not anymore.”

“We’re leaving tomorrow morning,” Taylor says.

“Ouch.” Heidi shakes her head sadly. “Wyatt’s initiation into the summer-vacation heartbreak club is going to be brutal.”

Willa runs over, her curls dripping wet and sand stuck to the side of her forehead. Taylor wants to warn her to keep her heart safe, to protect her from getting hurt again. Saying goodbye to Vanessa was hard enough and Taylor hadn’t been in over her head. But Willa’s stress is completely erased. She’s happy. “Hand over the cell phone, Nicholson,” she says. “It’s your turn to slide.”

As she walks to the head of the Slip ’N Slide, Taylor wonders how they never thought to do this on Cedar Point Beach. Finley would have loved this. Sadness punches the tender place beneath her rib cage, but the pain of missing her best friend doesn’t feel quite so bottomless anymore. But before she can feel guilty about that, Wyatt’s friend Shaun jogs toward her, dumping biodegradable soap-water onto the plastic, making the surface more slick. When he reaches Taylor, he leans in and softly chants her name, the volume building until everyone is shouting. “Tay-lor! Tay-lor! Tay-lor!”

She kisses her knuckles and fist-bumps the sky. Takes a running start. Then launches herself onto her stomach, zooming face-first into the salty sea.

Later, following an afternoon of learning—well, trying—to surf and eating plates of barbecue, Taylor, Willa, and all of Wyatt’s friends are gathered downwind from the adults, drinking stealth beers and sharing the weed from Willa’s stash. Taylor’s hair is crunchy from the salt water and her bikini bottoms itch with sand, but she feels mellow enough to try a hit. She watches Willa first, then pinches the joint between her fingers.

“Just hold it in your lungs, if you can,” Corinne says. “You might cough at first, but you’ll get used to it.”

The sweet smoke tickles her throat and Taylor coughs a little, but no one makes fun of her. She passes the joint to Heidi, who says, “You two are officially invited to all our parties, forever.”

Taylor laughs. “But only if we bring the weed?”

“I mean, no,” Heidi says. “But also yes?”