It was almost half-past ten when the driver finally dropped me off at the top of the driveway of Logan’s beachside mansion in the Hamptons.   I was tired and in no mood for sitting round the campfire with Matt’s friends, exchanging chit-chat. I’d only met Logan once, and he’d been nice, and seemed to be a stand-up, decent sort of man. But he’d also been a friend of Justin’s, and I knew it was going to be awkward with him, given that I’d just broken up with Justin a couple of months ago.

As I took the path from the top of the driveway that the driver had said led to a gently sloping staircase to the beach, I spied a parallel path just beyond the mansion’s charming white picket fence that separated the mansion’s grounds from the empty lot next to it. The parallel path wended away from the mansion sharply, and looked like it also led to the beach. So I shucked my wedge sandals off and walked barefoot on the sand, and following the path, slowly made my way to the beach.

By the time I got to the beach, I saw that the campfire had been set up about a quarter of a mile away from where the trail of the parallel path ended.

I hesitated, thinking I’d cut across the sand and slowly make my way to the campfire.  Upon hearing the sound of the sea I paused after I’d taken less than a few steps.  The beach was sandy enough, and the sound of gently lapping waves on the shore combined with the silence in the darkness was inviting, so I decided to just stay where I was, and sat down on a spot near where I stood, transfixed by everything nature was offering to me.

I wrapped the huge pashmina I’d brought with me tighter around me and looked out at the darkness of the sea.

I thought about my dad, and our trips on his boat, and how happy he’d been while at sea.

After a while, I leaned back on my elbows, let my head fall backward, and gazed up at the stars. It had been a cloudless night and the moon had almost disappeared, so a million stars were twinkling in the night sky.