The next night Rebecca and Morgan were going out to an early dinner with Mr. Bennett; Rebecca had told Morgan about him, and Morgan was uncertain but definitely curious. They’d go early, because school started the day after that, and Morgan had to do the important packing of the middle school backpack. Alexa was on the schedule at the Cottage, but she might try to meet up with them for dessert. Then again, she might not. She might give Morgan her own chance to get to know Mr. Bennett—Daniel, although thinking of him as Daniel seemed really weird—on her own terms, at her own speed.

Alexa heard her name and looked toward the sound. Morgan had beached her surfboard and was waving at Alexa, motioning her toward the water. Alexa rose from her chair. She knew she looked good in her bikini, and she could feel eyes on her, but that didn’t matter now as much as it had in the beginning of the summer.

Although, please. Of course it still mattered.

88.

Sherri

In the late afternoon the day before the day before the first day of school, Sherri got home from work early and called up the stairs to Katie, “We’re going to dinner!” Katie didn’t come down immediately and of course Sherri’s heart started up the old ticking of alarm, so she called again, trying to keep her voice steady.

And here came Katie, holding a book, her finger tucked between two pages, acting as a bookmark. “Sorry,” she said. “I fell asleep reading.” She held up the cover of the book, which featured a pair of legs in blue jeans and the title The Second Summer of the Sisterhood.

“That looks like a nice book,” said Sherri. “Where’d you get that?”

“Morgan,” said Katie. “It’s a series. This is the second one. But we’re not allowed to read past book three yet because then there starts to be sex and stuff.” She yawned as though the whole idea of that was terrifically boring. “That’s what Morgan’s mom said.”

“Grab your shoes,” said Sherri. “I’m taking you out to dinner to celebrate.”

“To celebrate what?”

Sherri wasn’t exactly sure. To celebrate the fact that they were still alive? That Katie would have someone to eat lunch with? That over the course of the summer Katie’s nightmares had abated, so Miss Josephine stopped complaining about the noise?

“To celebrate the first successful summer of our new lives,” Sherri said finally.

“Okay.” Katie shrugged, maybe unimpressed, and got her flip-flops.