Moonglass

is all.”
    He grinned, then stuck his fins up out of the water. “You want one for the swim in?”
    “I think I can manage. I don’t want to be too high maintenance or anything.” I lay back and started my uneven kick.
    “Suit yourself.” He put his head back into the water and started to kick too, passing me almost immediately.
    By the time I dragged myself onto the sand, my legs were worthless. I had cursed myself the entire way for not taking him up on his fin offer. Pride had forced me to finish, but I didn’t even care about that anymore. I flopped down on the wet sand and leaned back on my tank to catch my breath while Tyler stood looking out at the water.
    He pointed. “I can see their lights.”
    “You can go back out there if you want to,” I said, panting. “I’m all safe now.” He turned and looked to our lighted windows. “You gonna make it across the sand and up those stairs? You sound like you might die or something.” He smiled. “You’re a runner. I’d think you’d be in better shape than that.”
    I lay back completely on my tank and looked up at the sky. “When I run, I get to wear shoes on both feet.” I closed my eyes and listened to the ripples of water on sand. “I’m comfortable right here.”
    “Yeah … I get that, but let’s get out of this gear and then come back down or something. This stuff’s just a little bit heavy to be standing out here enjoying the night.”
    “Okay.” I took a deep breath and rolled onto my side so that I could push myself off the sand. Tyler grabbed my elbow and helped me up, which made me smile even as I lost my balance and tipped back over.
    “Come on. Put a little effort into it.” He hoisted me up again with a grunt, but I was a lost cause. After several more attempts I finally got to my feet, and we plodded up to the patio, where we went our separate ways—me to the warmth of the shower to rinse off the salt water and wet suit smell , and him to the outdoor shower my dad had rigged up.
    I stepped back out onto the cool stones of the patio as he was rubbing his hair dry with a towel, still shirtless. It was hard not to stare, so I walked out to where I could see the water and felt a tiny zing of possibility when I saw two lights still circling below the surface far, far down the beach.
    Tyler came over and stood next to me. “Damn. Look how light it is out there. We probably didn’t even need our lights.” The tide was far out, and in the moonlight I could see the slick surface of the wet sand, dotted with dark spots that were probably small rocks. I wondered if there were any pieces of glass scattered among them. Another wave of uneasiness swelled in my stomach before I willed it down and looked back over at Tyler.
    He smiled. “Wanna go for a walk?”

CHAPTER 20
    I dug my toes into the wet sand and soaked up the dreamy barefoot feeling of the beach at night. In the dark the effect of everything was heightened—the moonlight, the warm air, softly lapping water … all of it. We walked the waterline, tiny ripples occasionally spilling over our feet, our hands brushing accidentally, suspended between nervousness and anticipation.
    I snuck a glance at Tyler. He smiled, and I knew he’d felt me looking. Instead of saying anything, though, he stopped abruptly and picked something up, rubbing the sand from its surface with his thumb before holding it out to me. “It’s sea glass, right?” I took it and felt the familiar smoothness between my fingers before I held it up in the moonlight, exposing its translucent green edges.
    “It’s—” My throat caught a little as I said the word. “It’s moonglass.”
    “What?”
    I shook my head and smiled. “I made it up when I was little. It’s sea glass. But my mom and I used to go look for it whenever there was a full moon, and the pieces we found at night I called moonglass.”
    I could distinctly feel the slight weight of my pendant where it rested on my chest. “Like this,” I said, holding it out, away from my neck. “I found this one at night.” Tyler leaned in and peered at the glass triangle that dangled from my chain, and I kept talking. “It’s hard to tell right now, but it’s red. Which is really hard to find. Probably the most rare.” Stop talking. He’s right there, so close . Our faces were inches away from each other, looking together at the piece of red glass that spun on its chain.
    Tyler seemed intrigued. “I wondered about that necklace. You