The Winner's Game(97)

“Then why am I crying?”

“It’s OK to cry, Bree,” Dell tells her. “I’ve felt that way before too, when things didn’t work out the way I planned. It hurts. But that doesn’t take away from the things you did for your brother and sister. And what you did for Cade is probably the nicest thing anyone did for anybody all summer.”

“No it’s not,” Bree whimpers. “I did something even bigger for Ann.”

Everyone is very quiet for several seconds. Finally Ann asks, “Bree, what ‘big thing’ did you do for me?”

Looking away, she replies, “I don’t want to say.”

At first I’m not sure why, but suddenly Ann starts crying too. Then she unbuckles her seat belt so she can more easily wrap her sister up in a hug, which Bree doesn’t resist. “It was you,” she says, weeping openly now. “You wanted Tanner to notice you…but you went to him for me. You told him, didn’t you, that we saw him with his sister? You told him about my bucket list, and the sea lions. You even told him when we were going to be on the beach, so he could deliver the roses.”

“Somebody had to,” Bree says sadly. “Before it was too late.”

Ann finally lets her go. “And how many points did you take for that, Bree?”

With a shrug, Bree says, “Three. One for clearing things up with Tanner, one for the roses, and one for your date.” She sniffles once more. “I was going to give myself another one if you got your first kiss, but that didn’t work out. That’s why I kept watching you when you got home. I wanted to see if I would get another point, but all you got was a hug.”

Ann grabs her once more and squeezes as hard as she can. “What you did is worth at least a thousand points, little sister. I love you so much.” When she releases her this time, Ann takes Bree’s notebook from her hand and writes “1,000” in bold figures along the bottom. Then she turns to Cade. “Good luck catching up to her this week, Cade.”

“I know,” he mumbles. “She deserves to win.” Then Cade takes Bree’s notebook too and adds another thousand points for whatever treasure she’d left for him out in the sand.

Bree is all smiles and tears now. So is Ann. So is everybody.

It is an absolutely perfect moment.

Unfortunately, I’m old enough to know that perfect moments can only last so long.

Life is so unfair…





              Chapter 37





Ann




IT IS ALREADY starting to get hot outside by the time we get home. The beach is filling up with tourists, but it is still a perfect day to be out there in the sun, so everyone puts on their swimsuits and finds a clean towel—and Cade grabs the metal detector—and we head out back. Dad stakes out a nice spot on the dry sand, about fifty yards back from the ocean.

With both parents there, we are given permission to wade in the water, which Cade and Bree are both eager to do, even though it’s freezing. They look like they’re having a good time splashing around in the waves, but I can’t bring myself to join them. Improving my tan from the safety of my towel feels like a much better use of my time, since getting near the water runs the risk of reliving my last open-water experience, which is something I’m not prepared to do.

Once Cade is fully numb, he wants to go find his treasure. For that, I’m eager to participate. Bree hovers close, but doesn’t do or say anything to spoil the surprise. Cade’s hands are full with the metal detector, so he asks me to keep track of the clue.

“Pirate Boy near haystack’s slope,” I read as we walk toward Haystack Rock. “Near the needles you must grope.” I point just ahead of us. “Those little rocks to the left—those are The Needles. Tanner told me that.” Once we’re in the vicinity of the rocks, I finish reading the clue. “In the sand, for there you’ll find, a piece of metal left behind. OK, Pirate Boy, turn that thing on and let’s find the treasure.”

The tide is out far enough that we can go all the way out to The Needles without having to worry about the waves, but I know that won’t last long, so I try to hurry him along. Eventually the water will rise beyond my comfort level, and possibly even cover up whatever Bree buried, depending on where she buried it. We choose to start right at the base of the rocks and work our way inland.

For the first twenty minutes, on the wettest part of the beach, we find nothing. Once we start to get farther away from the rocks and tide pools, the detector beeps several times, but all Cade finds are a couple of bottle caps.