It was my favorite kind of day at the beach; blustery and clear and practically deserted. We stood at the edge of the water, the waves choppy and unwelcoming. I shivered and wrapped my coat more tightly around me.
“It’s pretty rough out there,” I said.
“You don’t have to worry,” she answered, with a firmness I hadn’t heard in months. The wetsuit hung off her body. I hadn’t realized how much weight she’d lost since Dad died.
She waded out confidently, bent forward against the wind, her flippers giving her a strange duck-like walk.
I knew she wasn’t coming back.
Amanda Hutchins has a BA in Film from the University of Utah and an MBA from Pepperdine University. She is a software consultant by day and a writer by nights and weekends. She lives in Oregon with three spoiled cats and one spoiled husband.