Mothers ruin everything.

See how she likes it now.

It was too early to eat; most places weren’t even open, but a gift shop was, so she went in and looked at tables and walls of T-shirts and sunglasses and flip-flops and bought herself a Coney Island beach towel with a voluptuous mermaid on it.

She walked toward the beach.

She took off her shoes and headed for the horizon. She had sunglasses in her bag, so she took those out, put them on. She stepped around a piece of broken glass before spreading out her towel and sitting on it by the water’s edge.

People ruined everything.

A creepy-looking older dude with wild hair and no shirt on was walking along the water, and she was tempted to lie back and close her eyes to avoid contact, but that seemed like a bad idea.

Men ruined everything.

Her whole chest tightened.

Then he was gone and she relaxed again.

Her phone was calling to her.

Ha.

But there was nothing good that would come of turning it on, really. It was a fix she didn’t need. Today nothing was broken.

A real party pooper of a cloud rolled in—looking way heavier than it had any right to be on such a spectacular day—and parked it right in front of the sun. When it finally moved, Ilanka checked around for creepy dudes but the coast was literally clear. This amused her. She lay back in full sun and closed her eyes—just for a few minutes would be okay—and her skin felt warm and light.

She wanted so badly to take a beach selfie but really didn’t want to turn her phone back on. Because the device would see the photo and know where she was when no one else did.

No one.

Incredible.

Marwan

MARWAN

During a break between soccer drills, Marwan snuck into the elevator and went down to meet Eden. She was on the sidewalk wearing earbuds, and she pulled one out and let it dangle. “Hey,” she said, unzipping her backpack.

“Hey,” he said. “I need to make it quick.”

“There’s sort of some new stuff you should know,” she said. “Like a lot.”

The car parked behind her had Georgia plates. The podcast guy still hadn’t cracked the case of the missing beauty queen, and Marwan was starting to wonder whether he’d made a mistake investing in so many episodes.

They both said, “Could you meet me—” before stopping and laughing.

“I’m done in like twenty, then just need to shower.”

“Panera?” She handed him the device.

“Sure.”

“You’re just going to walk in with it in your hand?”

He had a hand towel around his neck and pulled it off and covered the device.

“Ah,” she said. “Okay, see you in a bit.”

“Definitely,” he said.