By the time Connie and I reached them, Orla was already soaked and she waved us over from beside the boards enthusiastically, her braced teeth gleaming. The rest of the group were too busy laughing at a scowling Molly climbing up the ladder with murder in her eyes. As soon as we were close enough Connie began to slowly remove her T-shirt and within seconds managed to capture the attention of the group. She slung her clothes to the side and greeted them before approaching the board and effortlessly dove headfirst into the calm water below, barely making more than a simple splash. When she reappeared at the top of the steps, she ran a hand through her glistening hair and threw me a smile, attempting to pull me into a hug.

“G’way from me. You’re bleedin’ drenched.”

I backed away from her and swatted her hand to the side. Part of my conditions for joining them included that I wasn’t to be tackled into the water, sprayed with water, or touched by the water in any way. Connie grinned devilishly.

“Live a little,” she teased, and stuck out her tongue. I lowered myself down onto the rocks and Connie sat next to me, wringing out her hair. “You know, I used to come here every day during summer when I was younger with Emily. I haven’t actually been cliff diving in years.”

“I thought you all come here constantly?”

Connie shook her head and watched as Jim leaped off the board with a yelp and crashed into the water, followed by the rest of the group’s laughter. “I never really tagged along unless you were coming.”

I raised an eyebrow. That was certainly news to me since Connie was always the one to issue my invitation—I simply assumed those days out were her ideas, her plans. Before I could inquire as to what she meant, she turned to me.

“Do you know how to swim?”

“Of course I do. Claire made sure of it. I never actually took professional lessons or whatever but we’d go swimming together sometimes when I was a kid.”

“I used to love swimming.” She smiled and looked to her left toward the sea. There was a light glint in her eyes that I didn’t recognize, something that was innocent and contented—far more so than I had seen in her before. It was almost like she was enchanted by what she saw out there on that ever-expanding horizon. “When I was younger, I took lessons, obviously, and begged Dad to buy us a pool. He probably would have relented if Mam hadn’t been so stern about it. I was determined when I was younger that I was going to be a swimming instructor when I grew up.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“That’s because as soon as I told them she took us out of lessons. Bit of a dramatic fucking move if you ask me.” Connie frowned. “I was just a kid. It’s not like it was a serious plan.”