Probably true. Sure, you couldn’t anthropomorphize stuffed animals, but this elephant was one cruel comment away from sobbing beneath the bleachers. “What am I supposed to do with him? I don’t want to look at a sad elephant all day.”
“You could give him to a little kid.”
“And what, make the kid cry?” I clutched the stuffed animal to my chest. “No.”
“Can we talk now?”
I couldn’t help it; I’d been charmed by his willingness to bend to my absurd demand, and won over by how earnest he’d been as he played the game. “Fine. We can talk. But later.”
“Are you always this difficult?”
“At least eighty percent of the time.”
He shook his head, but couldn’t entirely suppress a smile. “Tomorrow, then.”
I headed back to my group, who lounged on a side street with drinks and fried dough, getting powdered sugar and cinnamon all over themselves. Jane took Ellie’s leash, struggling to keep the pup from eating her food. “How’d it go?”
“Where didthiscome from?” Stella snagged the sad elephant from my arms. “He looks tragic. Like he’s been orphaned or had an enema.”
“Thanks for the visual,” Evan said.
Jane grinned. “It’s from Noah, isn’t it?”
“Don’t make this a thing.”
“It isone hundredpercent a thing.”
Our group spent the rest of the day indulging in too much food and silly games. At Jane’s family’s cookout, her uncle flipped burgers and charred corn on the grill, and her youngest cousins threw water balloons. After, we headed to the beach for the fireworks, crowding the sands with thousands of other tourists and locals. We danced to the music of a stranger’s boom box. We were young and alive and filled with effervescent joy.
I snapped a picture of the scene and sent it to my best friends:
Happy fourth!! Love you all, wish you were here Miss you all!!
The responses flooded in immediately:
Haley:
Happy fourth!!! Love you guys!!!
Niko:
I love you guys but would like my dislike of rampant patriotism to be noted
Brooke:
Noted
And omg fun!! Can’t believe I’m missing the 4th. Miss you guys!!
My cheeks hurt with the strength of my grin. Nothing could dim my love for these girls, no matter how far apart we were.
Slipping my phone back into my purse, I turned to Jane and the others. We ran into the surf as fireworks burst above us, golden sparks sizzling against the black night, giant red globes stretching out in long, arching strands. I breathed in salt and summer and threw back my head and laughed.
That night, when I went to bed, I slept deeply, and dreamed of floating.
Seven
The next day, I waited for Noah at Centre Street Bistro. The restaurant occupied the ground floor of a yellow Victorian. A privet hedge protected the patio diners from the hustle and bustle of the busy street, and umbrellas shaded them from the sun. I snagged an outside table at ten a.m. on the dot, looking around hopefully for Noah.
