Sisko lay at the foot of the stairs. He lifted his head from his paws and wagged his tail at the sight of them. Then he whimpered, stood up, and ran around the corner.

“I don’t think your dog likes me either,” Kylee said.

Price didn't answer.

Lisa stood beside the front door, wearing shorts and flip-flops, jabbering away at the man Kylee assumed was their father. He stood in slacks and a t-shirt, checking his phone. He looked up when they came down the stairs.

“There you are,” he said, his eyes focusing on Price’s face. “I thought maybe you’d changed your mind.”

“Nah, just getting stuff together.”

Kylee followed close behind Price, a bit self-conscious in his blue shorts and white shirt. But neither Lisa nor their father looked at her.

“Is Lisa coming?” Price asked, giving his sister a gentle shove.

“You wish!” she retorted, shoving him back. Her waist-length brown hair fell in disorganized chaos down her back. “No! Dad’s taking me to Jumping Land.”

“Well, at least something’s going my way today,” he said.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Into the car if we’re getting out of here.” His dad slid the cell phone into his pocket and pushed the button to open the garage door. “Call me when you catch the bus home, and I’ll meet you at the station.”

“Great. Thanks.”

Lisa climbed into the back of the BMW, nonstop chatter the whole time.

“Can you sit in the back next to Lisa?” Price whispered to Kylee, leaning close to her.

She furrowed her brows together. Lisa? The girl who pretended she didn’t exist? “What? She doesn’t even—”

“Thanks.” He opened the back door and gave her a sheepish grin as he tossed his bag on the floor. “Don’t bother with the seatbelt. It’s broken.”

Lisa scurried over from the other side and plopped herself in the middle. “I’m already in, Price!” she yelled.

“Just putting my bag in, sheesh, Lisa.”

Kylee shot him a glare and ducked into the car. Great. She got to imagine what it was like to be invisible for the next ten minutes. Why hadn’t Price sat back here with her?

He closed the door before she asked him. The engine started with a purr, and his dad backed the car out of the garage. Kylee ran her hand over the chic orange leather seats, stopping at the modern black trim and pinching it between her fingers.

Lisa didn’t waste a moment turning on the small rectangular screen between the two front seats.

Kylee gasped. “There’s a TV in the car?”

Price started laughing. His dad stopped talking mid-sentence.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

Price shook his head. “No, it’s nothing. I just thought of something. That’s all.”

She leaned back and smiled to herself. At least she knew Price was listening.

His dad pulled them into the bus station, still talking. Price got out and opened her door before she touched the handle.

“What are you doing?” Lisa asked, frowning at him. His dad swiveled in the front seat to look at him.

“Just getting my bag.” He returned her look and grabbed his bag from the floor next to Kylee.

“Thanks for the ride, Mr.—” she fumbled as she realized she didn’t know Price’s last name. “Sir,” she finished lamely.

He didn’t respond, and Price bobbed his head at her, motioning for her to get out. Barely had her feet hit the asphalt before he closed the door behind her.

“Well, that was awkward,” she said as they approached the station.

“It’s Hudson,” Price said.

“What’s Hudson?”

“My last name. You know.” He motioned behind him. “You didn’t know what to call my dad.”

“Oh.” Kylee shook her head. “That’s not what was awkward.”

“What, then?”

“Your dad!” she exclaimed. “Does he ignore all your friends? Or did he just think I wasn’t worth his time?”

“Uh, he’s kind of hard to connect with sometimes. You know. Like he’s not always paying attention.”

Kylee relented. That, at least, she could relate to. “I know, right? My mom’s that way. She’s all I’ve got. But she never notices when I need something.” She stopped. The back of her neck burned. “Yeah. Just forget that.”

“I get it,” he said, sitting on a bench outside the depot. “You’re lonely.”

She sat next to him. “You’re not?”

“I get lonely sometimes.”

She looked at his hand, at the way his fingers tapped his thigh in a repeating pattern, and curled her hand into a fist so she wouldn’t touch him. “Maybe we need each other.”

He squinted sideways at her. “Maybe.”

The bus pulled up, and Price stood. Kylee thought of something, and she wished she could melt into a puddle and disappear. “Price.”

“Yeah?” He shouldered his bag.

“I don’t have any money.”

“Oh. Don’t worry about it. I’ve got you covered.”

She bit her lip. She hated to put him out in any way, but if he didn’t pay for her, she wasn’t going. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Go on in front of me.”

The door was already open, so Kylee climbed up the steps. “Um, he’s paying for me,” she said to the driver, jerking her thumb at Price. He came up behind her, handed the driver some bills, and nodded for her to find a seat.

She walked down the aisle of the bus, avoiding backpacks and extended feet from sleepy passengers. She spotted an empty seat in the back and collapsed into it. She gave Price a smile when he sat next to her, hoping she didn’t look too excited.

“I’ve always wanted to ride a bus.”

He scratched at his eyebrow and pressed his forehead into the stretchy vinyl of the seat in front of them. “Yeah? You’ve never done this before?” He spoke into the chair, and she had to lean forward to hear him.

“No. I hardly ever leave home, actually.”

“You’re kidding. I never would’ve guessed.”

“I know, right?” Kylee laughed and turned her gaze out the window.

They passed the rest of the drive in what Kylee considered a comfortable silence. The bus stopped every couple of blocks to let people off and let others on. She envied those who lived in the city and didn’t have to catch a ride to the depot. How nice to just come and go using the bus route.

About an hour later, the bus pulled to the curb of the cobblestone walkway along the beach.

“This is us,” Price murmured, pushing off and exiting from the back of the bus.

She took two steps away from the bus and came to a stop.

The whole boardwalk curved along with the ocean, and all she saw was the greenish-blue water as it foamed along the golden sand. The ocean itself was a wide expanse full of small boats and people bobbing in the distance.

“Did you want to go closer?” Price asked.

She blinked at him. “I can’t believe how big it is!”

“Okay, now you’re kidding. You’ve lived in Virginia Beach how long? And you’ve never been here?”

“Oh, I’ve been here,” Kylee corrected. “Seven years ago. My mom brought me before she married Bill. That was the last time.” She gestured out toward it. “It’s so much bigger than in my memory.”

“Your stepdad doesn’t like the beach?”

“He works at the docks.” She indicated the massive wooden platform to the south, covered with cranes and huge crates. “He hates coming here.”

“And your mom won’t bring you?”

She shrugged. “There’s only one car. Bill doesn’t like anyone to take it. What if he needs it?”

“Well, come on. Let’s get closer.” Price shouldered his bag and walked across the cobblestone, his flip-flops snapping with each step. Seagulls crooned and circled above them, and Kylee ran to catch up with him.

He stepped down into the sand, a contented, lazy smile glazing his lips. “Ahh.” Sand pooled into his flip-flops, gathering around his toes and sliding back out the sides.

She looked down at her worn pair of gray tennis shoes. The idea of getting tiny granules in her socks and shoes wasn’t appealing.

“Take ’em off.”

“What?” She lifted her head.

He shrugged. “How will you feel the sand on your toes if you don’t get them off?” He narrowed his eyes. “Unless you can’t. . . ?”

“Can’t what?”

He squinted and looked to the horizon. “I don’t know. Take your shoes off.”

Did he think she had clubfeet or some ghastly foot disease? She slipped her shoes off and shoved her socks into the empty foot hole. Her mouth dropped open when her first bare foot slid beneath the warm, sunbaked sand. She hadn’t remembered it being so delicious and scratchy and itchy and soothing at the same time. “Wow! It’s amazing.”

He laughed. “Want to get in the water?”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”

“What makes you think you need one?”