“Yay!” Maisie cheered. Then she ran off toward the water, forgetting the ice cream entirely.

“Keep an eye on your sister, please,” Mom said, settling into her beach chair and opening up a book.

“Sure,” I said. I joined Maisie, shivering at first as the cold water hit my legs.

Maisie ran up to me. “Let’s go deeper.”

I held her hand and we walked forward. She giggled as a wave crashed into us.

“Hold your nose!” I told her, and together we dove under the next wave that hit us.

We swam for a while and then walked back onshore. A girl streaked by us, kicking a beach ball with her bare foot. She passed it to a group of girls who were playing what looked like a pickup game in the sand.

“Beach soccer!” Maisie yelled. She ran toward the girls, and I chased after her.

It turns out the girls were playing with a beach ball and beach chairs that marked out the goal space. They were happy to let Maisie and me join them. We must have played with them for an hour, laughing as we kicked the ball up and down the beach.

When we got back to our umbrella, Mom was shaking her head.

“You girls really love soccer,” she said. “Devin, you just had a game yesterday, and you’ve got practice tomorrow, and here you are playing it again on your day off!”

“I do love soccer,” I admitted. It had been so fun, I’d never even hesitated or thought I should take a break.

Mom held up the sunscreen can. “More sunscreen,” she said. “If you want to swim some more, do it now. We’re going to Captain Jack’s in an hour.”

Maisie couldn’t stop talking as we walked all the way to the restaurant a little later. “I’m going to get a free pirate hat,” she said. “And order the shrimp. And you need to take my picture with the talking parrot. And then I’m going to ask the waitress for an extra piece of pirate bread, because they only ever give you one, and it’s sooooo delicious. . . .”

When we got to Captain Jack’s, a plaster pirate statue greeted us at the doorway. A red robotic parrot was perched on his shoulder. The parrot’s head swiveled from side to side when we approached.

“All aboard for delicious food!” The parrot squawked.

Maisie ran up to the parrot. “Take my picture!” she demanded.

Mom snapped a picture with her phone. “Okay, but I want this to be a phone-free dinner. I don’t want to be one of those families who stare at their screens instead of at one another.”