The rest of the day was spent on Peggy’s private beach.  The sun was just now setting, casting an orange glow over the beach and over the girls.  Bette sat close to Helena, their toes touching under the sand.  Bette tugged on her shorts, trying to keep the sand from under them.

“You look beautiful in this light.” Bette whispered, kissing Helena on the cheek.

Helena knew that she never felt this way before.  She remembered how only a month ago she hated Bette—with every ounce of her soul she despised her.  Now she couldn’t imagine her life without her.  She tucked her arm under Bette’s.

“Are you starting to get cold?”

“I’ll be okay.” Bette rested her head on Helena’s shoulder.

She breathed in her scent.  She was in love again and, as much as it scared her, she was excited.

They could hear footsteps behind them and turned around.  Just above them, at the end of the stairs that came from the house down to the beach, a man, not too much older than Bette, stood.  His dark hair was short and curly and even through the increasing darkness, his steel blue eyes were obvious.

“Helena, I’ve been wondering where you were?”

“Luke, is that you?” Helena asked, standing up in the sand.  Bette stood up with her.

“In the flesh.”

Luke walked closer to the two girls.  He looked as if he just stepped out of a J. Crew catalog.  Helena hugged him tightly.

“Luke, I’d like you to meet Bette Porter, my girlfriend.”

Luke smiled, “I’ve heard all about you from Mummy.  I’m Helena’s older brother.”

“I didn’t know she had an older brother.” Bette looked toward Helena who kept her eyes on Luke.

“Sometimes she doesn’t tell people about me.  I’ll never know why.”

“What are you doing here, Luke?” Helena asked, annoyed simply by his presence.

Helena and Luke always had a tumultuous relationship.  Luke was smart, charming, and good-looking.  It wasn’t as if Helena was did not possess those qualities, but Luke always seemed to move about life easier—and move about women just as easy.  There was always a direct competition between the two—for their mother’s attention, for the attention of girls, for everything.  Luke was 4 years her senior.