"Fourteen kids," Alex said, counting heads. "Definitely enough to make a monster sand castle. Anybody interested?"

"We are!" Jordan said, speaking for the triplets. "Come on, guys, let's start on the base." He turned to Sheila's twin brothers. "You can be helpers," he said generously.

We all walked down to the water's edge, and I noticed that Stacey and Toby never took their eyes off each other. Stacey seemed thrilled to see Toby again, but I reminded myself that she had acted exactly the same way around Pierre, a boy we met at a ski lodge. And there'd been Scott, the Sea City lifeguard, too. Toby was at the top of the list for the moment, but who knew if it would last?

I noticed that Sheila looked a little left out, so I took her by the hand. "I'll show you how to decorate the sand castle," I said, putting some wet sand in her hand. "Just let it dribble out slowly."

At first Sheila didn't want to touch the sand, but then she tried it and shrieked with delight. "Birthday cake," she said loudly, and Alex laughed.

"That's right. It's just like the decorations on your birthday cake."

Everything went smoothly for the next few minutes, but then Sheila's foot slipped and she accidentally kicked the castle. A portion of the wall fell away and Claire hooted.

"Stupey-silly-billy-goo-goo," she shouted, and Sheila began to cry.

"Claire!" I said sharply. "It was an accident." Then I bent down and handed Sheila a plastic shovel. "Here," I said. "I've got a very special job for you to do." She stopped crying and looked at me. "You can make a tunnel that will lead all the way to the castle." I led her to a spot a few feet away, and she started digging happily. I watched her for a moment and then stood by Alex.

"I'm really glad we ran into each other again," he said quietly.

"I'm glad, too." The understatement of the year! There were a million things I wanted to say to Alex, but I knew the beach wasn't the time or the place. Particularly with fourteen kids around. I wondered if he remembered the last night we spent together in Sea City, and if he still had the ring I gave him. (I know he wasn't wearing it, because I looked.) I even found myself wondering if he had a girlfriend