“Yeah?” Coop says. “The teacher who was friends with Apple?” He’s having a hard time coming up with Brooke’s face, though he recalls thinking she was pretty.

“I bumped into her this morning on my run,” Jake says. “She was walking her dog.”

“Wow, small island,” Coop says, then he wonders if maybe Jake found Brooke attractive too. That would be great. Jake needs to get back in the game after losing Mallory and splitting from Ursula. And it would be so fitting, him dating the woman who replaced Mallory. Or would it be weird?

“She gave me her number,” Jake says. “And she told me to tell you to call her.”

“Me?” Coop says, laughing. This is unexpected. Or is it—now that he thinks of it, he was dancing with her pretty exclusively.

“Do you remember that they invited us to that beach picnic tomorrow?”

“That’s right!” Coop says. He forgot about the beach picnic. But they were definitely invited. “Send me her number now. I’ll text her and find out what time.”

Coop marvels at how well Sunday’s schedule works out. At eight o’clock, Coop, Jake, and Fray play nine holes of golf at Miacomet while Leland bikes to a hot yoga class. They all meet back at the cottage for bagels and fruit salad and coffee (of course) and after a swim and a nap in the sun, they get ready for their respective afternoons. Fray and Leland are biking out to Sconset for a late lunch in the garden at the Chanticleer. Cooper and Jake put on polo shirts and swim trunks and drive out to a beach called Fortieth Pole, stopping at Cisco Brewery on the way for beer so they don’t show up empty-handed.

It’s been an A+ day so far—Coop shot a 45 in golf, he was sharp and clear-headed, and he loved hanging out with his two best friends for three hours. He feels even more excited about this picnic and the chance to reconnect with Brooke. They had a flirty text conversation the evening before. Brooke was making a blueberry pie to bring to the picnic and she would be wearing a blue bikini.

They drive the Jeep up over the soft sand road that cuts between the dunes until they come down onto a flat curve of beach.

“Jake!” a woman calls out. “Coop!” The woman is blond and wearing a blue bikini, so Coop figures it must be Brooke. She’s with a group of people camped off to the right. She shows them where to park and when Cooper climbs out of the Jeep, she throws her arms around his neck and gives him a big hug.

Okay? he thinks. When they separate, he studies her face. She’s pretty, smiling, and he does vaguely remember her from the other night. Vaguely.