wait until after Lindy went away to college.
Then Lindy’s aunt had vacationed in South Carolina and noticed a boat business for sale. Lindy’s parents had decided it was fate. It was time to follow their dreams—now.
Lindy tugged on a strand of her dark hair. Her best friend, Tara, liked to tease her about that habit. She said Lindy would pull out all her hair and end up as bald as Mr. Dann, their third-grade math teacher.
Thinking about Tara—and even about Mr. Dann—made Lindy sad. What was Tara doing right now? Was she wearing the bracelet Lindy had made her as a good-bye present?
Lindy reached into the car and grabbed her pink backpack. Her going-away gift from Tara was inside. Lindy wanted to unzip the flap so she could touch it. But she didn’t want her parents to see.
“Your room is on the top floor,” Lindy’s mom said. “Isn’t that cool? You’ll be able to see the whole island.”
“And the ocean,” Mr. Michaels said with a wink. “You can watch for sea monstersand pirate ships from up there.”
Usually Lindy loved her dad’s goofy sense of humor. He could almost always make her laugh.
She wasn’t in the mood to laugh right now, though. She felt more like crying. She blinked her eyes very fast to stop the tears from coming. When she looked at her parents to see if they’d noticed, they were staring in the other direction.
“Well, hello there!” her father called out cheerfully. Mrs. Michaels waved and smiled.
They were looking toward the left side of the house. It was very rocky over there. Stones of all shapes and sizes covered a steep slope, down from the sandy side yard. At the bottom, a row of craggy gray boulders stood at the edge of the water, holding back the waves. The boulders looked like aline of hunched-over old men. There was even bright green moss on some that looked like hair.
A boy around Lindy’s age was on the near side of the boulders. He was standing in a large puddle in the rocky ground. Scrambling out of the water, he sloshed along a narrow, sandy path up the hill. The path led toward Lindy and her parents.
Lindy watched the boy. He had messy brown hair that looked like it should have a bird nesting in it. His shoulders were sunburned, and he wore faded board shorts and flip-flops. Dangling from one hand was a slimy-looking orange starfish.
“Hi,” he said when he reached them. “Are you the new people on the island?”
“Yes, we are,” Lindy’s mom said. “We’re the Michaels family. We’re moving in today.”
“I’m Matthew. I live over there.” Matthew waved the starfish toward some scrubby trees to the right of the bug house.
“Matthew!” a new voice called. “Where are you?”
A girl hurried into sight between the trees. She was about twelve years old and had light brown hair with sunny blond streaks. She was carrying a baby dressed in a sparkly green bathing suit with a mermaid’s tail.
Matthew made a face and pointed at the baby. “That’s one of my little sisters,” he said.
“There you are!” the older girl said when she saw him. “I thought you were going to help me watch the babies so they could play in the water.” Then she noticed the others. “Oh! Hello. You must be the Michaels family.”
“That’s right,” Lindy’s dad said with a smile. “Are you Matthew’s sister?”
“No way!” Matthew said quickly. “She’s Jessica. She lives down the road.”
Jessica laughed. “I’m Jessica Trenton. Welcome to Little Hermit’s Cove.”
“Thank you, Jessica. It’s lovely to meet you,” Lindy’s mom said. “And you and your sister, too, Matthew.”
“He has two more little sisters. They’re triplets.” Jessica shifted the baby she was holding to her other hip. “Isn’t that cool?”
Matthew rolled his eyes. “Only if you don’t have to smell their stinky diapers,” he said.
“Gross,” Lindy muttered. Her parents chuckled.
“This is our daughter,” Mr. Michaels said. “Lindy, say hello to
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