They’d been supposed to go again at the end of fourth grade, for her tenth birthday. Dad had said that was her present, to go to a game and bring any friend she wanted. So she’d told her old New Jersey best friend, Gabriela, because Gabi was the biggest Yankees fan she knew.

But then after that awful swim practice, Mom didn’t want him driving her anymore. He never brought up the game again, and Annabelle was more relieved than disappointed because it would have been horrible to listen to her own father admit that he couldn’t take her to the game because Mom wouldn’t allow it after how badly he’d messed up. To see him shrink down like a kid getting yelled at by a teacher. It was better to forget about the whole plan and hope Gabi would forget, too.

When Natalie pulled up to the curb in front of the pool, Jordan said goodbye and closed the door, but Connor said, “Thanks for the ride, Nat! Hope you’re not too bored without us the rest of the day!” And then he gave Natalie the same silly salute he’d given Annabelle, Kayla, and Elisa the other day.

“I think I’ll manage,” Natalie said, and Connor laughed, even though nothing was that funny. But it was nice that Connor had made a special effort to say thank you.

Mia’s cousin with the serious boyfriend had said that it’s good if the person you like is sweet to you, but it’s even better if they’re nice to everybody else, too, even when they don’t have to be. That’s how you know it’s in their true nature and they’re not just trying to impress you.

Annabelle wasn’t positive if Connor was trying to impress her, but he was definitely nice to everybody. As they walked up to the gate, he greeted the sign-in guy, Doug, and asked if Doug had seen the Sox game last night and what he thought of the trade rumors.

The pool was packed with moms and little kids wearing swimmies, plus a few older people swimming laps. Annabelle could hear Mitch inside her head, saying those swimmies caused more problems than they fixed because kids who wore them didn’t learn to swim for real, and then what happened if they ever jumped in the pool when their parents weren’t looking?

Mitch had said that in front of his daughters when they were visiting last summer, and they’d rolled their eyes. “We used to wear swimmies,” they’d reminded him. “You might not have approved, but you weren’t the one there watching us.”

Annabelle loved Mitch’s daughters, who included her in everything they did when they came to the island and talked to her about what was going on in their lives as if she were old enough to understand. But she didn’t always like the way they treated Mitch. They got annoyed when he gave them advice about capitalizing on opportunities and visualizing their success, and sometimes they made comments like that, about him not being around for stuff when they were younger.