After another half hour or so, Heath and Daniel came back to shore, dripping and smiling.
Daniel fell to his knees at the waterline, scooping sand in his hands and piling it off to one side.
“Mireya—I’m making a castle. Watch me,” he called.
I cupped a hand over my eyes to shade them. “I see you.”
He grinned and went back to work. Heath dropped onto the sand beside me, sprinkling me with a few droplets of water from his hair in the process.
“Sorry.” He smiled, sounding decidedly unrepentant. “So, what do you think of your first beach day?”
Gazing out at the blue tableau, feeling the warmth of the afternoon sun sinking into the exposed skin of my arms and feet and face, I smiled and sighed.
“It’s perfect. Thank you.”
I turned to look at him again, and his smile was gone, replaced by a serious look I couldn’t quite read.
“What is it?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he continued staring at me. No, not staring exactly… studying… as if he liked what he was seeing and wanted to commit it to memory.
My belly started to bubble like one of the large pots in my father’s kitchen.
“Heath?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.” There was a pause. “Tell me about your life on the base. Do you like it there?”
“Well, sure. I have everything I need. All my friends are there… my family. But…”
I stopped there, my voice trailing off as I searched for the words to express a feeling so new it was hard to identify.
“But what?” Heath’s face was creased with concentration, his attention lasered on mine.
“But… it does make me kind of sad I’ve never been here before.”
I gestured at the beauty surrounding us. “This was so close—my whole life—and I never really knew it existed. Well, I mean, I knew beaches existed, but it was like everything else outside the base I’ve seen on vids. It was more of an idea than a real thing to me. It makes me wonder what else I’ve been missing out on.”
He nodded. “That makes sense.”
The sympathy in his warm eyes, the concern in his soft murmur struck a new chord of recognition. It felt almost like a memory, but I knew it wasn’t.
“Why do you look so familiar to me? Wait—have I seen you on the vids?” He was certainly handsome enough to star in one of the shows Ketta and I loved to watch at night.
His head jerked back in apparent surprise, and he gave me a forehead-scrunching look of confusion.
“Me? No. Maybe it was seeing my face right after the shock of almost getting run over by a delivery van. Seriously, you scared me. I’m so glad you’re okay. Why did you step out in the road, anyway? Were you looking at your holoconn?”
My brain scrambled to keep up with the pace of his stream-of-consciousness answer to my question and to come up with an answer to his question.
“Oh. No. I was… thinking.”
He chuckled. “Must have been some pretty deep thoughts.”
They had been, actually. I’d been distressed over my grades and the change in Lee and worried about Ketta’s sudden interest in leaving the base.
At the time it had seemed unthinkable, but now here I was. And she was back there. A shadow moved across my heart, blotting out the pleasantness of the afternoon.
“I was thinking about my best friend.” I debated over whether to tell him more, mention the sudden change in her after she’d been to see Dr. Rex. He’d probably think I was paranoid or at least weird. Which I was, but for right now, I didn’t want him to know that.
Right now, I felt more “normal” than perhaps I ever had in my life. Right now, things were perfect.
“Is she—”
Heath’s question was cut off by Daniel’s running approach, which ended with him sliding on his knees through the sand and skidding to a stop right in front of us.
“Come and see it. Come and see what I made,” he commanded, wiggling with excitement.
“Sure buddy.” Heath pushed up from his seated position to standing.
“You come, too, Mireya. You’ve never seen a castle like this before. It’s huge.” His eyes bulged on the last word, emphasizing the enormity of his creation.
“Oh, I’ve got to see this.”
Heath smiled in appreciation for my enthusiasm and offered his hand to help me up. I put my hand in his. It was large, and warm, and strong.
The pleasant feeling of his fingers wrapped around mine made me realize something—no one had ever held my hand before. At least not since I was very small and one of my parents had taken it when it was time to cross the street.
And certainly no one like him.
He let go all too quickly, and we followed Daniel’s skipping, leaping trail to the structure in question. It came to the little boy’s sandy knees, a bit lopsided but clearly made with love and his very best efforts. Small stones studded its base and turrets.
“This is, without a doubt, the best sandcastle I’ve ever seen,” I told him honestly. I didn’t mention it was the only sandcastle I’d ever seen in person.
“I know,” he said, belatedly adding, “Thanks.”
His bony chest swelled with obvious pride. “What do you think, Heath?”
The look in his eyes as he turned his face up to his much-taller, much-older brother said it all. Heath’s opinion meant everything to him.
Heath strolled around the perimeter of the castle, studying it from every angle, stroking his chin as if in deep contemplation. Daniel hopped on his toes as he waited for his brother’s ruling. Finally, Heath stopped moving and folded his arms across his chest.
“I think it’s amazing, buddy. Best one yet. You might be an architect when you grow up.”
Daniel beamed. “Thanks.” Then as if it wasn’t totally on another train of thought, he said, “Can we have a race?”
“As long as you don’t cry when I leave you in my dust,” Heath said with a laugh, already holding out his hands to block Daniel’s punches.
The boy had popped to his feet and charged his brother, fists swinging. “I’m not a crybaby.”
But he was laughing as well. I had a feeling I was seeing a scene that had played out many times between the brothers.
Heath lay an arm across Daniel’s shoulder and darted a glance at me. In a loud whisper I was obviously meant to hear, he said, “If we get Mireya to race with us, neither one of us has to lose. We can both leave someone in the dust. I mean, she is a girl.”
Daniel’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Hey, Mireya. Want to race?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m only a girl. I couldn’t possibly keep up with you guys.”
Actually, I wasn’t very fast, and it had nothing to do with being a girl. Many of the girls in my class outpaced the boys in the footraces held during physical education at school. I was always at the back of the pack, though—I just wasn’t very athletic.
But that didn’t matter today. In fact, under the circumstances, my lack of speed would be perfect. Daniel would beat me and be thrilled, and I liked the idea of running on the beach.
Another new experience.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s only for fun,” Daniel assured me. He looked so hopeful.
“Well… as long as you promise not to laugh at me,” I teased.
“I promise.”
“Okay then, where should we race to?”
Heath pointed at a pier in the distance. “How bout there—think you can make it that far?” He raised one challenging brow.
I mimicked his expression. “Can you?”
A big smile preceded the words, “Ready, set, go.”
The three of us took off toward the pier. It was an odd sensation, running barefoot in the sand, but it felt great. I felt great. The sun was warm, the sky blue, the air fresh. The sounds of seagulls and waves and laughter filled my ears.
And I was actually keeping up with Daniel and Heath. Of course, Heath wasn’t running at full speed so as not to make his little brother feel bad.
Neither was I. But when Heath glanced to the side and saw me keeping pace with him, he kicked into a higher gear. I quickened my steps as well, grinning at him.
A new expression overtook Heath’s face, one of determination. He ran faster. I increased my clip to match his. This was fun.
He periodically glanced away to check the terrain ahead of him, but his eyes kept sliding back to the side to see me. I did the same. And all the while, we ran in synchronicity. There seemed to be an electric charge between us, holding us side by side.
The finish line wasn’t far now. In my peripheral vision Heath’s arms pumped, and he lowered his head as he ran harder. His breath whistled in loud surges.
He actually seemed to be trying to outpace me now, which made no sense. I wasn’t running hard at all compared to the way I ran with my classmates at school.
I’d thought Heath had been holding back, but now I wasn’t so sure.
From behind me Daniel’s voice called out. I’d almost forgotten he was in the race with us.
“Run, Mireya! Beat him. You can do it.”
Spurred by the boy’s cheers, I shifted into a higher gear, letting myself fly, running at full speed and no longer trying to stay even with Heath. He disappeared from my side view, and it was just me and the wind and sun and sand.
Before I knew it, I’d reached the pier, my palms landing with a smack on one of its rough wooden legs.
I turned to see the boys. Heath had pulled up into a light jog. Behind him, Daniel whooped and cheered with his arms raised to the sky.
“You did it! You won,” he yelled, running toward me. When he reached me, he jumped into my arms. “You’re so fast. I didn’t know you could be so fast.”
I laughed. “Neither did I.”
I set him down, and he did a cartwheel. I hadn’t done one in years myself, but I felt so joyful and free I tried one. Then another.
Daniel clapped. “That was good.” Then, as seemed to be his habit, he abruptly changed the subject. “I’m starving. Can we eat?”
Heath, who’d slowed to a walk, chuckled, still sounding a bit out of breath.
“Yeah, sure.” He turned to me. “You hungry? You must have worked up an appetite kicking my butt like that.”
I hadn’t realized it before that moment, but I was hungry. My belly let out a loud growl of confirmation, making both Heath and Daniel laugh again.
“I’ve got a cooler in the van,” Heath said.
We strolled together back toward the parking area with Daniel skipping ahead of us. I glanced over at Heath. He wiped sweat from his brow and returned my glance, the side of his mouth quirking up.
“What?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. It’s just… did you let me win?”
He smiled and wagged his chin. “No, Mireya. I did not let you win. I was planning to. But then when we got going, and you were so fast… well, my competitive juices started flowing, and frankly I wanted to see what you were capable of. You are one fast girl, you know that?”
“Or maybe you’re one slow guy,” I teased.
“Hey now—the ego’s bruised enough already.”
“I’m kidding. I’m glad Daniel wasn’t upset. I got carried away, too. I sort of forgot I was only in the race so he wouldn’t come in last.”
“Don’t worry about it. He’ll be leaving me behind soon, too, won’t you buddy?”
“You bet I will,” Daniel yelled over his shoulder.
Heath gave me a side glance. “I think he was pretty impressed. So was I.”
Warmth rushed to my cheeks. I turned my face away to hide it.
“There’s Daniel’s castle.” I pointed it out as if he couldn’t spot it just as easily himself.
“You’re going to have to shore it up,” he said to Daniel. “The tide got it a bit on one side.”
To me, he said, “You two wait here. I’ll be right back.”
He walked away in long-legged, loping strides but turned back before getting too far. “Don’t you go back in the water without me watching, okay buddy?”
“I won’t,” Daniel promised.
“I’d say the same to you, but I have a feeling you’re never going into the ocean again,” he teased me. “Your blood is too cold.”
“I might,” I said, just to be contrary, though he might have been right.
Heath returned with a cooler and a blanket. Spreading it, he kneeled on top and began withdrawing containers of food from the cooler.
“Wow. You were prepared for a picnic. I’m impressed.”
“Nah, don’t be. Daniel’s not a fan of the Gideon Corp cafeteria. I thought we might stop at a park on our way home and eat there.” He smiled. “This is better.”
Knowing he’d only packed enough for two, I said, “I’m not really all that hungry. You guys go ahead. I’ll take some water if you have it, though.”
As Daniel eagerly grabbed for the sandwich Heath handed him, my stomach growled again.
Traitor.
Heath grinned. “I don’t know. Either you’re being polite, or you’re smuggling an angry pit bull under your shirt. Here.”
He tossed me a wrapped package. “I packed extra—my little buddy’s got a big appetite, don’t you sport?”
He tousled Daniel’s wet hair, watching the child bite into his own sandwich.
“Thank you,” I said. I unwrapped the sandwich and bit into it, my appetite roaring into full vigor. It had been such a strange day I hadn’t really thought about how long it had been since I’d eaten.
Back at school, my classmates would be sitting in BioHist, right now, already finished with the quiz and preparing for the final bell.
Oh. My pill. I’d almost forgotten it without the alarm to remind me. “Could you unlock the van for me? I need to get something out of my backpack.”
Heath got to his feet again, digging into his pocket. “I’ll get it for you. What do you need?”
“No,” I yelped. “I mean, no thanks. It’s a mess. You’d never be able to find anything. Can you just bring the whole bag? It’s in the floor of the front seat.”
Within minutes he’d jogged to the van, extracted my bag, and returned, setting it down on the blanket beside me.
“Thanks.” I pulled it to me.
“What’ve you got in that thing? Rocks?”
“No.” I dropped my eyes to the bag. “Just a few things.”
He nodded and didn’t ask any more about it, distracted by Daniel’s sandwich falling apart and dropping in pieces to the edge of the blanket.
Which was good. I didn’t want him to see I’d packed several days’ worth of clothing. I rifled through the backpack for my pill container while Heath helped Daniel clean up the mess.
“Try to be more careful, buddy.”
“I’m sorry,” Daniel said. “What else do we have? I don’t want any more of that.”
The boy got to his knees and crawled over to the cooler, peering inside. Heath snapped the lid shut.
“I know what you want. No cookies until you eat some real food.”
“I did eat some.”
“More. You haven’t even touched your veggies.”
“I don’t like carrots,” Daniel protested.
“Me either,” I stage-whispered to Daniel, making him giggle while Heath frowned in fake sternness.
“Well, eat your cucumbers and peppers, then. Both of you.” Heath glanced up and gave me a quick wink.
I looked away, pretending to be distracted by a seagull and highly aware of the blush creeping over my face. Why was he so different from the boys I’d known all my life?
I’d never found anyone this appealing—not even close.
Had it been that way for my parents when they’d met? They’d told me about the instant attraction between them when they’d met at a produce stand where my mom worked in Colorado Springs. I’d listened but not really understood what they were talking about.
Now I had a little more sympathy regarding their mushy behavior.
After lunch, I stretched out on the blanket and soaked up the sun while Heath and Daniel threw a ball back and forth.
When Daniel announced he was ready to swim again, Heath didn’t join him, but came and plopped onto the blanket beside me.
“You go on ahead, buddy. I’m going to rest a minute.”
I sat up, self-conscious about reclining with him right next to me. We both watched the younger boy splashing around in the shallow water alone, trying to jump the waves as they rolled in.
There was something so sweet about spending time around a young child, seeing how much pleasure he took in every little thing, how the joy emanated from him in an almost visible glow.
“He’s a great kid,” I said. My cheeks heated when I admitted, “Before today, I didn’t realize there were any left in the world. Life on the base is pretty sheltered, I guess. There are a lot of things I don’t know about, I’m sure.”
Heath didn’t look at me but kept his eyes on the boy. “No, you’re right. Daniel’s… a special case. Very rare.”
I nodded, taking in his sorrowful tone. “Do you think they’ll solve it? The reproduction issue, I mean. Ketta thinks the world’s going to be all AI’s eventually. I guess that would be okay with your boss, huh? He’ll just grow some replacements for us.”
More than once, I’d heard the adults on base talking about the Gebbies. They weren’t exactly popular there.
Apparently, they’d initially been manufactured for military use but had proved unsuitable for battle.
While their physical stamina and strength made them ideal for challenging deployments, their limited life experience left them emotionally unstable and affected their critical decision-making skills.
I laughed at my own joke, but Heath didn’t join me. Sober-faced, he stood and gathered the food containers, putting them back into the cooler.
“It’s later than I realized. You should be getting back to the base. I’ll give you a ride so you don’t have to take the commuter rail.”
Lifting his head and spotting his brother, he waved him in. “Daniel. Come on. Time to go.”
I scrambled from the blanket and started folding it, shaking the sand from it and trying to think of an excuse.
I couldn’t go back to the base yet. I hadn’t found any of the answers I needed, and I would no doubt be grounded indefinitely and watched like a high-priority prisoner after I returned.
“You know what? I think I’ll stay here, kick around Tybee for a bit.”
Heath’s brows drew together. “You can’t. How will you get home tonight? There’s no public transport between here and the base. You have to at least let me take you back to Atlanta, so you can catch the commuter rail tonight.”
Darn it. He knew so much more about the world than I did. And I didn’t want to tell him I had no intention of going home tonight. There was no point in getting into it with a guy I’d never see again.
“Okay, sure,” I said. “You’re right. It is getting late.”
Daniel ran to join us, and I kneeled in the sand, using the blanket to dry him off. I winced when I spotted a cut on his knee that was dripping a stream of pinkened water down his shin.
“Oh, buddy, you cut your knee on something.”
Daniel bent to inspect the wound. “I know. I think it was a rock under the water. It doesn’t hurt too much.”
I smiled up at him. “You are very brave. Heath, do you have any wound glue in the van?”
“Yeah, in the console. Let me grab it.”
Heath treated his brother’s boo boo and pulled his own shirt back on before we all climbed into the van for the drive home. The trip was barely underway when the little guy conked out in the back seat. Heath glanced back in the darkened passenger cabin.
“Big day for him. He doesn’t get out enough.”
“I know how he feels,” I muttered under my breath, watching the soft rise and fall of the boy’s chest under the blanket. “He’s so cute. So small.”
His gaze coming to rest on me now, Heath looked me over. “I think maybe someone else is a little tired. That was a lot of sun today, and there’s something about being in the fresh air and particularly the water that saps you.”
“No,” I argued, resting my head against the seat back and smiling in contentment. “I feel great.”
“I still think you should let me take you home. It’s silly for you to waste the train fare when I could easily drive you to the base.”
“Thanks, but no.”
This was where I had to get creative. I had no intention of getting on a train or a bus or into a taxi. I wasn’t going home tonight by any means of transportation.
But I had a strong feeling I shouldn’t tell Heath that.
“My parents will be waiting for me at the station,” I lied. “And I’ll have too much explaining to do if I show up with you.”
He nodded as if he understood. “I’m surprised they gave you permission to leave and come into the city alone.”
I bristled at his suggestion that I wasn’t capable of looking out for myself. “It’s not like I’m Daniel’s age. I’m seventeen. I’m fully capable of going into the city for the day alone. How old were you when you started taking the train without your parents?”
His lips quirked in amusement. “Twelve. But it’s different for me.”
That sparked my temper. “Because you’re a guy, and I’m a ‘helpless’ girl?”
“Noooo.” He chuckled at my obvious ire. “Because I’m a city kid. I grew up here. You’ve never left the base before today.”
“Oh. Well, yeah, I guess you’ve got a point.”
“Thank you.”
He drew in a breath but didn’t say anything further. The silence between us stretched out until it became awkward.
My heartbeat grew louder and louder in my ears as our eye contact continued. I felt like there was something Heath wanted to say, something he was trying to communicate with his eyes.
Finally, he spoke. “Well, I’m glad we ran into each other. Today was a nice change of pace.”
I nodded. My voice was a bit feathery when it came out. “Me too. It was.”
The van stopped at the curb in front of the commuter rail station. The glow of the raised magnetic tracks lit the top of the tall flight of stairs leading to the ticket dispensers.
I turned to face Heath, feeling strangely bereft at the thought of saying goodbye. Today had been nice—more than nice if I was being honest, though it hadn’t yielded the answers I’d been hoping for.
Contrary to my fantasies, he didn’t actually know me or anything about me. The boy in the birthday photo picture had not been him after all. But I liked him.
Very much. And I wished I could spend more time with him. It seemed odd that we should spend this magical day together and then never see each other again.
“I wonder… well, do you think I could contact you sometime on the Freenet?” he asked, as if reading my mind.
“Oh. I don’t have any profiles. We’re not allowed. Because of base security.”
He nodded. “Right. I could put my number into your holoconnect.”
Sliding my fingers around my left wrist automatically, I squeezed the bare skin there, wishing desperately I could tell him yes.
“I… left it at home. By accident. Anyway, I don’t think that would be a good idea. I’m pretty sure my parents look at my record regularly. And they’d notice a new number—and new messages from it.”
“You’re not allowed to talk to guys?”
“Not guys they don’t know. They’re… overprotective.” That wasn’t exactly accurate, but it was the closest thing to the truth I could tell him.
“So, thanks again—for everything—the beach, supper, showing me around.” I slid toward the open passenger door, pulling my backpack along with me. “Maybe I’ll see you around the base sometime?”
He shook his head. “I don’t really get by there too often. I was filling in for another guy’s route yesterday.”
“Oh. Well, okay then. Have a nice life, I guess.” I let out a giggle though nothing was funny. I felt pretty sad, actually. “Tell Daniel I enjoyed meeting him, too.”
“Goodbye Mireya. Take care.”
Lifting a hand, I gave Heath a weak wave and watched as the van door automatically closed between us.
Then I turned and trudged up the stairs toward the ticketing station, acting as if I intended to buy one.
