She was surprised at how late it was: half past six. Almost as an afterthought she grabbed her purple windbreaker on her way out; it might get cold later on. She wondered where everyone was, where the party was supposed to be. Noticing lights flickering farther up the beach, she headed toward them.

Justin ran up to her before she even reached the party site.

“Where were you? I was getting ready to call out the National Guard—” He was trying to joke, but he looked worried.

Kelsey felt touched by his concern. “I fell asleep—”

“But I looked in your room—”

“No, Eric’s cottage. Sorry, guess I should have left a note or something.”

Emotions struggled across his face, and he got them quickly under control. “It’s just that…with all that’s happened…”

“I know. It’s okay.” She wasn’t prepared for his arms going around her, drawing her against him. She closed her eyes and slipped her arms around his waist. He was trembling.

“If anything ever happened to you…” He left the sentence unfinished, and Kelsey leaned against him, his heartbeat beneath her cheek.

“If you two can tear yourselves away from each other,” Skip came up, wiping sweat from his eyes, “there’s lots to do back there—”

Justin fell into step beside him and swung Kelsey around, his arm still draped around her neck. “Any news about Dad?”

Kelsey shook her head. “No news is good news.”

“I guess,” Justin conceded, then sighed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m really not up to this tonight—”

“What?” Skip’s mouth dropped open. “Now Justin, no one is ever too tired to party! It’ll cure all your troubles! And besides, you get paid time and a half.”

“Is Donna here?” Kelsey was craning her neck, trying to locate her friend, but there were too many people on the beach.

The party site had been set up by the second lifeguard station, a fair distance away from the lighthouse, but still close enough to see the scarred cliffs in between glimpses of the moon. The sky had really clouded up. There were no stars, and a restless breeze chopped at the waves.

“We need to turn those floodlights on,” Justin peered inland, and Skip followed his gaze.

“Okay, but I don’t think they’ll do much good.”

“Well, the fire’ll help some, I guess.” Justin watched as Skip disappeared through the crowd, and several minutes later two tall light poles, practically hidden by trees, burst into feeble illumination. Justin studied them for several seconds, then turned as an invisible someone called his name. “I guess you’ll have to mingle without me for a while.” He smiled down at Kelsey, but his face still looked tired.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m a great mingler.”

“That’s what I will worry about,” Justin tossed back, and Kelsey set out to find Donna.

The beach was beautiful by firelight. Kelsey stood back, entranced by the huge camp fire blazing up into the night, the sand glowing like fallen embers, the cliffs gleaming like mounded ash. Beyond the blare of music came the sounds of dancing and singing, the sizzle of wood and food cooking, and the whine of the wind.