Lisa said, “I think I’ll get into the water for a bit.”

“Good,” Rae scoffed. “You could definitely stand to cool off.”

Poppy said, “Let’s all go in the water. It’s sweltering out here.” She realized she hadn’t yet seen Rae swim at all.

Rae said, “I don’t want to get my hair wet.”

Poppy groaned and made a playful move like she was going to splash a bunch of water on Rae’s head. “We’ll just wade, then,” she said to Rae. “Come on, skinny-mini.”

Lisa removed her cover-up and draped it over Rae’s beach chair, then entered the water.

Behind her, Poppy and Rae slowly walked into the water side by side, Rae wincing dramatically at every small wave that reached new heights on her goose-bumped body.

Poppy said, “It’s not that cold, you weenie.”

Rae laughed.

Poppy said, “Have you and Kimmy had swimming lessons?”

Rae nodded. “But only for a short time and when I was really little, like four or five years old. I don’t remember anything I learned.”

“Kimmy looks pretty comfortable out there.”

“She’s not,” Rae said. “Well,” she amended, “she may be comfortable, but she’s not a good swimmer.”

“No?”

Rae shook her head. “She practically drowned last summer when we were in Florida. All of a sudden she got super-scared and frantic. The water wasn’t that deep and the waves weren’t that big, she just panicked.”

“Goodness,” Poppy said.

“Did Alex and Ryan have swimming lessons when they were little?” Rae asked.

Poppy shook her head. “I was just feeling bad for never putting them in lessons, but it sounds like maybe lessons don’t do a whole lot of good anyway.”

Rae watched her mother dip herself up to her neck in the water, then she said, “What’s going on with my mom?” It seemed her irritation with her mother was finally giving way to concern.

Poppy said, “She’s got a lot on her mind.”

“Like what?” Rae adjusted the clasp on one of her hoop earrings.

“Well . . . She just wants this to be the perfect vacation for everyone.”

“It probably would be if she wasn’t so stressed.”

Poppy said, “Well.”

Shivering, Rae turned back to face the beach, the water now at her waist. She saw Ryan, who was returning from the house with a bag of chips and a Gatorade. Rae’s eyes narrowed to focus on him intently for a few seconds with a severe sort of expression on her face. Ohhhh, Poppy thought, turning away to conceal her own grin. This was a new thing, but it made perfect sense. A crush on Ryan would explain why Rae was wearing this ridiculous bikini and hoop earrings, why she didn’t want to mess up her hair, associate with the “little” girls, or engage in their play. Poor thing, Poppy thought. Ryan was far more interested in a dead crab in a glass than in some fawning fourteen-year-old.

Poppy recalled asking Lisa yesterday if Rae was into boys yet, and Lisa’s confident, dismissive “Nah.” Sheezus, Poppy thought. How out of touch must Lisa be? Her poor daughter was practically foaming at the mouth.