Winter's Tide by Lisa Williams Kline Page A

back. Anyway, he’s probably forgotten all about me.”
    I glanced over at her. “How could he forget you? With all the searching for the wolves and the surgery with Doc?”
    â€œOr maybe he just remembers how mad he was at me.”
    â€œHe’s had time to forgive you. And now both the wolves are safe. You should write him again.”
    At that moment, the clothes dryer buzzed from the kitchen, and Diana jumped up and ran down the hall. A few minutes later, she was back in the bedroom, her arms full of her shoes and jeans, and she dressed to go outside.
    â€œCome on, let’s go down to the beach, and I can show you where the whale was. I can drive the golf cart.”
    I slowly put away my colored pencils. She was never going to get the hint.
    Then Daddy was standing in the doorway of the bedroom. “Why don’t you go down to the beach with her, Stephanie? A little fresh air will do you good.”
    I stood up. Nobody was leaving me alone.
    â€œNow, I can’t believe I’m having to say this, but don’t go in the water again!” Lynn warned Diana as we put on our scarves and gloves. I shoved my cell phone in my pocket.
    â€œAnd be careful with the golf cart,” Daddy said.
    â€œOkay, okay,” Diana said.
    Outside, the sea oats beside the house bent low in the wind. The sky was bright blue with thin sunlight streaming through wispy clouds.
    â€œHop in!” Diana said as she slid behind the wheel.
    I climbed in the passenger seat, beginning to feel excited. The wind seemed to blow the cobwebs from my head. The past few days, I had spent a lot of time in the hospital. Maybe I did just need to go have some fun.
    â€œWhee!” Diana backed out of the driveway at record speed, slammed on the brakes, and began speeding headlong down the sandy road toward the beach.
    My scarf and hair blew out behind me, and I leaned out to the side, holding onto the windshield brace. “Wahoo!” I yelled.
    The road ended in a small parking lot next to the beach, but Diana didn’t stop. She just drove the cart over the mound of sand, past the sign that said No Vehicles, and down the path to the beach.
    â€œWhoa!” The cart bounced so hard I almost fell out.
    Diana drove down to an area near the breakers. “Here’s where Nick was. The tide’s come in since then. It took us about seven or eight tries to finally get him back in deep enough.”
    With a wrenching turn, Diana turned right and started speeding down the empty beach. Far away down the beach was the pier. It was so tiny we could barely see it. The wind whipped tears to my eyes and the end of my nose tingled with cold.
    â€œOkay, I’m going to go as fast as I can go! All theway to the pier!” Diana shouted over the wind, pushing her foot to the floor. The cart sped up, and we were flying over the sand. She zigzagged around clumps of seaweed. Three sandpipers frantically ran away from our tires.
    I clung to the brace beside the windshield. I wanted to shut my eyes, but I was afraid to. The beach in winter was a different place. There was absolutely no one out here. The majestic gray-green ocean stretched out across the horizon as far as I could see, a bone-chilling damp wind whistled by, and closed-up houses nestled behind the dunes.
    I thought of the many times I’d come out to this beach with Grammy, building sand castles while she read her history novels, walking out on the pier, and leaning over to look into the plastic buckets to see what fish people had caught. Once, when Daddy and I were staying here with Grammy, we saw someone catch a baby hammerhead shark. We’d watched in fascination and horror as it flopped around on the worn, warped wood of the pier.
    â€œYahoo!” Diana yelled again. She started turning the cart in big S curves, and I slid across the seat and crashed into her. I started laughing and realized it had been a couple of days since I’d