“Hey.”

“Hey.” He kicked another pebble.

And yeah, it had technically been his choice to stay, but it wouldn’t have been all that easy to go home when nobody else was.

She sighed. “You know, we’ve barely gone to see the seals this summer.”

When he didn’t respond, she added, “We’ve got to go back before you leave for Boston next week for your program. Get some more Bluff Point time in.”

He still didn’t say anything, so she elbowed his arm gently.

“Remember the Mia seal last summer?”

One day they’d watched an especially blubbery seal lie out in exactly the same position as Mia: on its belly with its little flippers bouncing up and down the same way Mia bounced her feet. Jeremy had taken video on his phone, going back and forth filming one and then the other, and he’d added hilarious music in the background.

Mia had thought it was just as funny as Jeremy and Annabelle had, when they’d showed it to her. She almost never got offended when people teased her, which is probably why she was so good at teasing other people.

“Maybe Sunday,” Jeremy said.

“Deal,” Annabelle replied. “Maybe . . . um . . . maybe Mia will come, too. Unless you think she wouldn’t want to? If you think she’s mad at me?”

“I think she just misses you on the swim team.” Jeremy sped through the explanation too fast, as if it wouldn’t be so obvious that the words weren’t true if he said them quickly enough. Or that they weren’t the whole truth, anyway.

Annabelle was about to ask more, but then the whole group walked up to the edge of Ashton Road—a road their parents wouldn’t let them bike on even during the day because there was a turn so sharp you couldn’t see cars coming. Annabelle felt a pang, thinking about what her mom would say if she knew what was happening.

But the sky still glowed bright, and the night was quiet except for the sounds of their talking and the chirp of crickets. They would be able to hear a car for sure.

Jeremy’s head darted back and forth as he searched for headlights, and he picked up his pace in the middle of the road and grabbed Annabelle’s wrist to pull her along with him as they crossed.

Annabelle jerked free. “Whoa. Relax.”

Jeremy drew back a little, as if her words had stung. But seriously: She could handle crossing a street by herself.

“Here we are!” Jordan announced as they approached an enormous house with a towering iron fence.

Annabelle bit down on her bottom lip as Jordan stepped up to enter the code. They were really doing this. She had known where they were going, of course, but she’d almost let herself forget.

Jeremy caught her eye, and she had to look away so all his nervousness wouldn’t crash into hers.

When Jordan punched in the numbers, the keypad beeped once and lit up red. He cursed and Ruby groaned, but Annabelle’s nerves began to calm down.