When we’d finished eating cake, Beth took my arm in hers. “Walk with me?”
“There’s nothing I’d rather do,” I said. We left everyone behind, heading toward the pier like we had when we were kids.
“I still can’t believe you’re here,” I said. “And Mark?”
Beth sighed. “We’re still figuring things out. I don’t know what will happen.”
We walked in silence, and I remembered the dozens of walks I’dtaken with her over the years. When we were kids, the distance had seemed eternal. Two whole miles. One there, one back. “I miss Samson,” I said.
Beth squeezed my arm. “Me too.”
Our feet disappeared and reappeared in the water, and I let my courage build with each wave until I was ready to ask her the question that had rolled around in my mind all summer. “If you’d known what was going to happen, would you do it all over again? Was it worth it?”
“Are you kidding?” She stopped and made me look back the way we’d come. Mia, Kitty, and Greyson were doing handstands with Nina again. I wondered if Beth and I were imagining the same thing: summers past, what it would be like if Samson were here. He’d probably do a better handstand than all the girls. “How could it not be worth it?” she said. “I’d do it a thousand times if I could.”
Nina, Greyson, and Mia burst into cheers after Kitty successfully held a handstand for a good five seconds. The good, the bad, how could you untangle it? It was impossible. So why not take the good where you could get it? “Yeah,” I said. “I think you’re right.”
—
After the beach picnic ended, Beth, Alex, and I sat on the beach with the girls, facing the water.
Kitty rested her head on my shoulder. “I wish we didn’t have to go.”
“I wish you didn’t, either, but your mom wouldn’t listen when I told her you were too cool for school.”
“It’s true,” Beth said. “You’re not.”
Mia rolled her eyes, then put her arm through mine. “We’ll be back soon.”
“Thank God,” Greyson said. She flopped onto her back in the sand. “I think you should all move down here. Can you imagine if we were in the same class, Kitty? But either way, I guess we’ll see a lot of each other from now on.”
The girls convinced Beth to take them to the pool one last time, leaving Alex and me alone on the beach.
“You know what’s funny?” he said.
“What?”
“I haven’t actually taken you on a real date yet.”
I leaned away from him. “You’re telling me all those times we carted around a van full of teenagers weren’t dates?”
Alex grinned. “I know it isn’t the way most guys do it, but I prefer not to have my thirteen-year-old daughter with me when I take a woman out.”
“And why’s that?”
He shrugged. “I have a feeling it would kill the making-out-at-the-drive-in vibe I’m going for.”
“So that’s what we’re doing? I figured you’d want to cook a romantic dinner together.”
He laughed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but that sounds a little too stressful for a first date. Maybe after you’ve had a few cooking lessons.”
“Oh, do you know a good chef or something?”
“I might.”
I eyed him. “I’ll think about it.”
“Think about what?”
