And then her eyes flew open. From out of nowhere she had that panicky feeling again. Where were the girls? Oh, there they were, not on their boogie boards anymore. They were playing around with their phones, taking beach selfies. No self-consciousness about bathing suits when you were eleven years old, all knees and elbows and vertebrae. Not like now, when there were so many different body parts to worry about, things hanging and wobbling. Maybe Sherri should have gotten the breast implants when Bobby offered all those years ago. Lots of the women did. (Implants, and then some. New lips. Bigger eyes. Bigger cheekbones.) But Sherri had always liked her breasts. They were big enough to be serviceable, even attention-seeking, without getting in the way. Now she kept them covered, like she kept so much else covered.

A klatch of teenage girls caught her eye. They were lying on their stomachs in a semicircle, laughing at something on a phone one of them was holding. The seltzer must have gone to her head, because all of the girls looked like Madison Miller, even though Madison Miller had ginger hair and none of these girls did. But they were about Madison Miller’s age, fifteen, sixteen, with bodies that were sleek and brown and hair that sat in tight buns on the tops of their heads. Be careful! Sherri wanted to call to them. Be careful, because you never, ever know.

“Are you okay?” Rebecca had pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head and was peering at Sherri. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

I did, thought Sherri. There’s a ghost over here, and a ghost over there. This beach is full of ghosts. What she said was, “I think the seltzer might have gone to my head, that’s all.”

“It’s hot,” conceded Rebecca. “And that seltzer is strong.” She reached back into the Yeti and produced two wraps. She took one herself and handed Sherri the other. “Eat,” she commanded.

Sherri did as she was told. Hummus and vegetable. She was ravenous. “Did you make this? This is delicious. This might be the best wrap I’ve ever eaten.” Since she and Katie had become a family of two their meals had been scattershot, made quickly out of boxes and cans. She hadn’t felt settled enough to cook properly, the way she had back in their old house, and often she skipped meals altogether.

“No, I got them at the Natural Grocer,” said Rebecca. “I didn’t know if you or Katie were, you know, vegetarian or vegan or anything so I kept it simple just in case.”