Chapter 7: Harlow Bay

Harlow Bay was the first town on the map where the road ran straight into the water.

I had found a rental house online the night we left.

It was small and gray, with a porch that faced the harbor, and the owner had answered my message at midnight.

I had blocked Regina, Mom, Dad and Colby from my phone before we crossed the state line.

We drove the rest of that day and the next.

Maisie slept through most of Pennsylvania with her backpack on her lap.

We reached the coast an hour before sunset.

I parked at the end of the beach road and turned off the engine.

"Maisie. Look."

She unbuckled and pressed both hands to the glass.

The water went on until it met the sky.

Gulls turned over it. A long gray swell came in and broke on the sand and went out again.

She did not say anything for a long time.

Then she opened the door and ran.

I went after her in my work shoes, over cold wet sand, with her yellow raincoat bright in front of me.

She stopped at the edge of the foam and let the next wave run over her sneakers.

"It's the real one!" she shouted. "Daddy, it's the real one!"

I laughed.

I hadn't laughed in nine days.

"Come on, you'll freeze."

"I don't care!"

She screamed with joy when the cold reached her ankles, and I picked her up before the next wave could.

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