Rosie picked up the retractable clothesline I'd painted like a leopard. "This is so your mother," she said. "Though you might not want to leave her bra hanging in the garage much longer. If your garage door stays open for more than a minute, you could get tarred and feathered and run out of town."

"Oh, shit," I said. "I forgot to put it back. She'd kill me if she thought I'd left her best bra in the garage where nobody can even see it."

Tess picked up the other clothesline and turned it sideways to read the writing.

"That one's for Annalisa," I said. "I thought you could send it to her when you send the journals."

"Nice," Tess said, "but I think it might take away from my journals."

Rosie rolled her eyes.

"I was just trying to make a contribution," I said.

"Sometimes less is more," Tess said.

"Sometimes more is more," I said. "Especially if you live in New Orleans."

Tess and I stared at each other.

"All right," I said. I sighed an exaggerated sigh. "I was just thinking it would make it easier for her to hang her students' artwork up when school starts again. She'll probably still be really tired."

"Fine," Tess said. "We'll send the clothesline. Hey, wait, you totally manipulated me just then, didn't you?"

"Somebody had to do it," Rosie said. She leaned over and picked up one of the decorated shoelaces. "These are adorable."

"You don't mind that they were your mother's shoelaces?" I asked.

"Of course not," Rosie said.

"Hannah decorated some of them, and I made these for us. We don't have to wear them if you don't like them."

Tess and Rosie were already sitting down, untying their sneakers. "Of course, we have to wear them," Rosie said. "It's the Wildwater Way."

I waited for Tess to ask me what time Hannah had left. I wondered what I would say.

Tess picked up one of Hannah's laces and shook her head. "It's like one minute she's twenty-two, and the next minute she's two. Just get me through the summer."

"These look great, Noreen," Rosie said. "Nice job. Come on, let's get a walk in. I have about three trillion things to do before we take off."

I walked up ahead of Tess and Rosie and started swinging my arms. I breathed deeply, trying to stay in the moment and really appreciate all the fresh air, even if it was almost eighty degrees out already. I'd probably been outside more in the last month than I had in the last two years. It was amazing just how much of your life you could live without coming into contact with nature. I'd spent years and years going from house to car to office to car to house. What kind of a life was that?

Rosie walked up ahead, and Tess dropped back beside me.

"So, have you taken down your clothesline yet?" I asked.

"Oh, please," Tess said. "Stop worrying. Just unhook it and let it retract. It'll all blow over by the time we're back from Sequim. I went through the same kind of thing last year when we put colored lights outside at Christmastime."

"You mean we're not allowed to put up colored lights?" I said. "That's ridiculous." Not that I'd ever put up any kind of lights, but still. "What did they do?"

"Nothing," Tess said. "By the time the board of selectmen got their act together to send me a fine, it was January and the lights were already down. So I just didn't pay it. They never did a thing. I can't wait till this Christmas. I'm thinking one of those ten-foot inflatable snow globes with strobe lights and disco carols...."

"I don't get it," I said. "I really like having a clothesline. And if it's good for the environment, and if I don't mind my neighbors seeing my underwear..."

We crossed over onto our side street and Rosie skipped up beside me. "I'm just being devil's advocate here, but what if your neighbors mind seeing your underwear?"

"Then I think they should stay in their stupid houses and not look," Tess said. "Green is the new black, and clotheslines have gone from tacky to chic. Now we just have to wait a decade for our provincial little town to wake up and smell the lack of pollution."

"Maybe we should try to get the ordinance changed," I said. "Can we get it on the ballot for the next town meeting or something? Couldn't we go to a selectmen's meeting and try?"

"Have you ever been to a selectmen's meeting?" Rosie asked. "You can actually die of boredom."

"I know," Tess said. "We could just wrap up all the selectmen and women..."

"Selectpeople," Rosie said.

"...whatever, tie them all up in clothesline, and leave them dangling somewhere. We wouldn't hurt them. We'd just make our statement, followed by a quick getaway to Sequim."

"You know," I said. "One of my regrets is that I've never really taken a stand. Activism doesn't have to be just about the big things, you know."

"Hey, don't lecture me," Tess said. "Who's the card-carrying member of Project Air Dry here?"

"I don't think we need to tie anybody up or anything," I said. "But what if we just started a petition? Or we could make some signs and hang them up all over town?"

"I think there's an ordinance against that," Rosie said.

MY MOTHER WAS dressed in black and green spandex and talking on the phone in the kitchen when I got back from walking. dressed in black and green spandex and talking on the phone in the kitchen when I got back from walking.

"Lovely to talk to you," my mother said. "Here she is."

She picked up my old bike helmet from the counter and held out the phone to me.

"Bike ride with Kent," she mouthed.

I nodded. "Be careful," I mouthed.

My mother kissed me on the cheek.

"Hello," I said.

"It's me," Sherry said. "You don't want to go out tonight, do you?"

"Hi," I said. "Sorry, I've got a trip coming up, and I haven't even started packing. How 'bout I give you a call when I get back?"

Sherry gulped back a sob.

"Okay," I said. "Not a problem. How about Splash at six-thirty?"

"Thanks," Sherry said. "See you then."

As soon as I hung up the phone, I got busy. I gift wrapped the two retractable clotheslines. I put my mother's in the back of my closet. I'd been thinking she would just naturally go somewhere else when I left for Sequim, but I wasn't seeing any signs of her requiring a going-away present yet.

I left Annalisa's in the garage. The plan was that Tess would add it to the box of journals and pens in the morning and mail the package before we left for Sequim. I circled back around to my kitchen to grab a glass of water. I stood at the counter, drinking and looking out my kitchen window. My lavender was barely flowering, and now my clothesline was gone. Or at least coiled up and tucked against the side of my house.

Change was in the air.

SHERRY WAS ALREADY seated at a table when I got to Splash. She looked up at me with sad, puffy eyes. seated at a table when I got to Splash. She looked up at me with sad, puffy eyes.

I slid into the chair across from her. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"That guy I was seeing," she said. "He broke up with me."

"Jerk," I said.

A glass of white wine was already waiting. I took a sip. It looked like Sherry was already working on her second glass.

"Wait," I said. "He actually broke up with you?"

Sherry looked at her cell phone, which was sitting in the middle of the table. "He just stopped answering my calls."

"Maybe...," I said. We each took a sip of our wine.

I took a deep breath. "Listen," I said. "I should have told you this last time. I know it's Michael Carleton you were seeing."

Sherry opened her eyes wide. "How?" she said.

"Because I was sneaking around with him, too. I should have told you when I realized it, but I was jealous. I'm so glad you didn't take a buyout unless you were sure you wanted to, because he'll never leave to go cross country with you in a van, even if he said he would, and by the way, that was my garter belt, and he never slept with it. He didn't even know me in junior high."

Sherry put her glass down on the table with a thunk thunk. "What an asshole," she said. "I can't believe I fell for him."

"It happens," I said.

Sherry took another sip of her wine. "Well, we can't let him get away with it. I know, I'll leave a message saying I have something life or death to tell him, and he has to meet me. And then when he shows up, we'll both be waiting...."

I shook my head.

Sherry leaned forward over the table. "Okay, I'll send an e-blast to everybody in the sneaker industry. It's too late to stop his buyout, but we can make sure he never gets a foot in the door again."

"He's not worth it," I said.

Sherry's eyes teared up.

I held up my glass. "To better choices next time around."

She clinked her glass to mine.

I took a sip, then picked up my menu.

"Come on," I said. "Let's eat."

Sherry gave her cell phone one more glance, and then she reached for her menu.

Day 24

10,873 steps

"WE HAVE TO DO IT BEFORE WE LEAVE," TESS SAID TESS SAID. "IT'LL be like throwing ourselves a bon voyage party. I'll mail the journals and glitter pens..." be like throwing ourselves a bon voyage party. I'll mail the journals and glitter pens..."

"And the retractable clothesline," I said.

"...and the retractable clothesline. Then tonight we'll paper the town with right-to-dry signs and hit the road with our tires squealing. We won't tell a soul, so nobody can rat us out even if they want to."

"There's no way I can add one more thing to my day," Rosie said. "I'll be lucky to get out of my house by morning as it is."

"Okay," Tess said. "Noreen and I will do it. Just be on standby in case we need you to bail us out or anything."

That got my attention. "You're kidding, right?"

Tess shrugged. "Whatever it takes to fight the good fight."

We stepped through the opening in the seawall. The tide was really high today. "Just think," I said, "the next time we set foot on a beach, we'll be looking at a different ocean."

"Cool," Rosie said. "But can we pick up the pace a little? I've got a gazillion things to do."

We finished our walk in record time. Just as I was reaching for my door, my mother opened it. She was wearing a big white T-shirt and black leggings. Silver humpback whale earrings dangled beneath my former bicycle helmet. Rosie's dad was wearing the same outfit, minus the humpbacks.

My mother gave me a big smile. "Oh, hi, honey. I left your breakfast on the stove. You can pop it in the microwave if it's not hot enough. Kent and I are going to ride our bikes to the Y for a tai chi class."

I hoped that didn't mean she'd paid for a lifetime membership. "Hi, Mr. Stockton," I said.

He kissed my hand. "Kent. Lovely to see you, Noreen. Come on, Lo, we need all the chi we can get at our age."

"Oh, you," my mother said.