They sat down in two of the rockers, side by side. Rory reached out to hold her hand.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She smiled at him.

“I am now,” she said.

Shelly had never felt this tired, yet she was awake. Awake enough to hear voices coming through the open window above the sofa. Her eyes were still closed, her head heavy, and it took her a few minutes to recognize the voices as those of Daria and Rory. They were speaking softly. Daria was telling Rory about what she’d done with her paycheck. It seemed like days ago that she’d given the money to that girl. It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Had she been foolish? Would Andy have been angry with her, too?

“Sometimes lately,” Daria was saying, “I think Pete might have been right about Shelly needing more supervision than she’s been getting.”

Shelly frowned, concentrating on the words coming from the porch. She needed to listen, especially if the words were about her. But she must have slipped into sleep again, because the next thing she heard was the sound of the ocean, the backdrop for Rory’s voice.

“Yeah, I’m down,” he said.

“Why?” Daria asked. “Well, last night you asked me when I was going back to California, and I put you off. I just didn’t want to think about it. But I know I have to.”

“So… when?” Daria asked, and Shelly knew she was having trouble getting the question out. “When do you go back?”

“September third,” he said.

“Less than two weeks from now. I have to get Zack back for school. I could kid myself for wasting so much of the summer without yoi when we could have been together.”

“That wouldn’t make your leaving any easier,” Dam said.

“I know.”

For a minute, neither of them said a word. Shelly heart some kids yelling out on the beach. Then Rory spoke again.

“I’m pretty sure I know how you feel, Daria, althougt I guess I need to hear it, anyway. But I can tell you that don’t want this to be the end. I have to go back—that’s where my life and job and my son are.p>

But I don’t wan that to mean we can’t still be together. “

Daria started to say something Shelly couldn’t hear, bu he stopped her and kept on talking.

“I know long-distance relationships are for the birds,” he said, “and I know our relationship is very new. But ii some ways, it’s one of the oldest and most enduring relationships I’ve had. I have to ask you this. I’m sure o your answer, but selfishly, I just have to ask it. Is then any chance… any chance at all that you would move to California? With Shelly, I mean, even though I know i would be hard for her to leave the Outer Banks.”

Shelly’s heartbeat quickened at the thought, and Ron rushed on, without waiting for Daria to answer him.

“I know there’s the baby to take into consideratici now,” he said.

“But I just don’t want to lose you nov that I found you. We could move closer to the beach ii California. Maybe that would make it easier for Shelly t( live there.”

Shelly held her breath, waiting for Daria’s answer. Wha about Andy?

Plus, there were earthquakes in California And she wouldn’t be able to breathe there. She couldn’ even breathe in Greenville.

Daria’s answer was a very long time coming.

“It’s impossible,” she said finally, and Shelly’s body literally shook with relief.

“There’s no way Shelly could ever move to California, with its earthquakes and its…. It’s just not the Outer Banks.”

“Leaving Shelly out of this for just a minute,” Rory said.

“What do you want?”

Again, it took Daria a long time to answer, and Shelly heard tears in her sister’s voice.

“I want to be with you,” Daria said.

“But I love Shelly. I love her so much, and she’s my first concern. I was the one who found her and saved her life, and I’m the one responsible for taking care of her. And now there’s going to be a baby to take care of, as well. She’s never going to give it up, and she can’t possibly be expected to take care of it herself. And…! don’t see a way of doing that … of taking care of Shelly, and being with you at the same time. It’s the same as it was with Pete.”

Shelly turned her head toward the window. What did she mean, “The same as it was with Pete”

“Only Pete didn’t want Shelly to come with you to Raleigh,” Rory said.

“I’d want Shelly with us. That’s the difference.”

“Yes, that’s one of many differences between you and Pete,” Daria said.

“But the end result is still the same:

Shelly can’t leave here, so neither can I. “

“There’s one other difference,” Rory said.

“Pete broke up with you because you wouldn’t leave. I don’t have any intention of doing that.

I’ll find a way to make this work. If I have to choose between having a long-distance relationship with you and no relationship with you, well, that’s a no-brainer. “

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Daria said.

“Daria,” Rory said slowly, “I don’t mean to push you on this. But maybe Shelly is more capable than you give her credit for. Maybe she would be able to take care of a baby with Andy’s help.”

“You don’t know Andy well enough,” Daria said.

“He is nearly as… unreliable as she is. He’s a great carpenter, but he wants to be an EMT and there’s no way he’ll ever pass the test. And do I have to remind you of the accident with the pilot? Grace’s daughter? If it hadn’t been for Shelly’s lapse in judgment during that rescue, Grace’s daughter might still be alive. How can I be sure she’d use any better judgment in taking care of a child?”

What? Shelly raised herself to her elbows to hear better. What was Daria talking about? The pilot was Grace’s daughter? What had she done to cause her death? She searched her memory, racing back over those frantic minutes in the cold water. What had she done? And what was she doing to Daria? Daria was crying on the other side of the window because of her. She’d been the cause of Pete breaking up with her.

She’d had no idea. She’d just gone merrily on her way, thinking Daria was just as happy as she was in the Outer Banks. And now she was standing in the way of her relationship with Rory, as well. But there was no way she could leave the Outer Banks. No way. No way. No way.

If Daria had never found Shelly on the beach, the pilot would still be alive.

Somehow she’d killed the pilot. And she was slowly killing her sister, as well.

Ivory was beginning to get worried. He’d been on the beach nearly an hour, and there was still no sign of Daria or Shelly. He’d helped Jill and her husband build the fires and carry the picnic table from their house to the beach. People had arrived, including Chloe, who was carrying Daria’s baked beans, and Ellen and Ted, sunburned from their day on the fishing pier. Daria would be over soon, they told him; she was with Shelly, who was still a little groggy from her seizure that afternoon. Now he was wondering if he should go to the Sea Shanty to make sure everything was okay.

As darkness fell, Zack and the other teenagers loaded their plates and went off to their own bonfire, away from the adults and the Wheelers’ two youngest granddaughters, who at eight and nine, were caught between the older kids and the grownups and not very happy in either camp.

The adults started eating once the teens had moved away from the food-laden table, but Rory held off, still waiting for Daria. Coppery sparks rose into the sky from the bon fire, and he sat on a beach chair, talking to Linda and Jackie, their dog Melissa lying at his feet. He kept glancing toward the Sea Shanty, and finally spotted Daria walking toward him. He excused himself from Linda and Jackie and went to meet her. Only when he was next to her, did he see that Shelly was with her.

“Hi, Shelly,” he said.

Shelly gave him a halfhearted wave before walking away from them, toward the teenagers.

Putting his arm around Daria’s shoulders, he guided her to the picnic table, covered now with half-empty bowls and trays of food.

“I was getting worried about you,” he said.

“I didn’t want to leave Shelly,” Daria said, looking over her shoulder toward the group of teenagers.

“She hasn’t pulled out of her post-seizure fog the way she usually does.”

“She doesn’t seem like her usual perky self,” he admitted remembering the weak wave she’d offered him.

“She’s not. She’s very… subdued. And she’s not talking to me. She’s angry with me for blowing up at her, I guess. I still feel bad about it.”

“Isn’t she going to eat?” Rory asked.

“I doubt it. She said she’s not hungry.” “What is she usually like after a seizure?” he asked.

“Tired. She usually sleeps for a while, and then she rallies. Not this time, though.”

“Could her pregnancy have something to do with it? Either physically or psychologically?”

“I wondered that myself,” Daria said.

“I’ll have to do some research into seizures during pregnancy.”

Rory handed her a plate.

“The food is different than it was when we were kids,” he said, spooning some of her beans onto his own plate.

“Everything’s low-fat now. It’s all salads and couscous and tabouli.

What happened to the burgers and the barbecue? “

Daria smiled, and he was glad to see it.

“I didn’t realize it, but you’re right,” she said.

“I come to the bonfire every year, so the changes have been gradual for me. But com pared to when we were kids, this is completely different fare.”

“Except for your beans,” he said.

“They’re the only good, down-home cooking on the table. Your mother used to make these, too, didn’t she?” He ate a forkful of the beans before moving on to the next offering.

“Uh-huh.”