“The ice pnt used to be down here, before Naples had refrigerators. Two kinds of ice, one aerated for human consumption and one not, for packing fish.” Ronnie was tour guide this morning. She could pull it off. She had heard enough of her dad’s lectures on the history of Naples.

  “I remember my dad stopping here to buy ice when I was very little,” said Joey. “My real dad, not Wayne.”

  “Way back, the generators that powered the city were here too.” They were pedaling along Tenth Avenue South, between Fifth and Sixth Streets. Ronnie, Joey, Kris and James—the rest of the Summerlins were in their Buick wagon, headed for Miami International.

  The goodbye to Lin had been brief and not at all emotional. That’s not to say Ronnie wouldn’t miss her. She was sure her friends felt the same and James even more. He seemed to connect more with Lin than anyone else in his family. Maybe the reverse was also true.

  “Where now? Down to the city docks?” They were close.

  “We’re not looking for sailors anymore,” Joey sang out.

  “And they’ll be crowded on a Saturday morning,” Kris added to this. “The rec center would be too.” They were only two blocks over from it, and from Saint Ann School, where Joey and James had both attended. A block from the back of the school, and the church too, for that matter. Ronnie was sure they had seen enough of both.

  They were building a new, bigger church beside the old one, much grander than the small, simple rectangur pce that had been in use since the Fifties. It might be fun to watch that go up. Her father would enjoy it, anyway, all the while grumbling about another change to the old Naples.

  “Let’s just go around to my house,” continued Kris. “We can get a drink and take things from there.”

  No one raised an objection. The Greenes’ residence y close too. A right at the next corner. There was still some of the really old Naples down here, shanty-like houses from the Twenties or earlier, little businesses that had been grandfathered in. Ronnie had no illusions that these would st forever. Progress and bulldozers would come here sooner or ter. There might be some attempt to preserve an artificial quaintness for the sake of tourists.

  Right again and headed back in the direction of the beach and Kris’s home to the left. Another nondescript ranch on a street of ranches, but that street was in a choice part of town. They left their bikes lying on the front wn.

  “It’s about time we hung out at someone else’s house,” said James. “I may just rotate among staying with each of you for the rest of the summer.”

  “Why not with An, too?” asked Joey. “He could use help with the animals.”

  To this, Kris added, “I’m sure Will’s family would like you as a house guest.”

  “I would suspect they’d treat me better than you three do. Is your family home, Kris? I don’t want to intrude.”

  Kris looked slightly guilty. “Mom and Donny went to temple. Dad may be somewhere around. His car is here.” She nodded toward the dark Chrysler.

  “No wyering on the Sabbath?”

  “Or on Saturday mornings.”

  “Where is his office anyway?” asked Ronnie. She’d never thought about it before. She was pretty certain it wasn’t in any part of the old downtown.

  “Out the East Trail, close to the courthouse. Further than I’d want to ride my bike, that’s for sure!”

  Me neither, thought Ronnie, following her into the house. Nor even drive. She didn’t think she’d bring up anything about a job with Mister Greene. Probably not with anyone, with half the summer gone.

  And she’d be sitting in css in Gainesville in two months. It seemed further away than any map would indicate; she would be as unlikely to get home from college there as if she were attending on the other side of the country. Ronnie had given thought to jettisoning her University of Florida pns and attending Edison College with Joey. This wasn’t something she would tell her friends and it wasn’t something she was actually likely to do. But it had been a thought she wasn’t willing to completely dismiss.

  No one greeted them. “Dad’s ignoring us, I think,” said Kris. “He doesn’t know we snuck a boy into the house.”

  “And a Summerlin, to boot,” added James.

  “Shh. If he hears that he’ll want to argue politics with you.”

  “I’m not my dad. And you know, our fathers are really pretty close to each other in their politics. One is a moderate democrat and the other is a moderate republican.”

  “And our parties have left both of us behind, it seems.” David Thomas Greene, attorney at w, was standing in the kitchen doorway in a ragged tee and cut-off jeans. “More importantly, do you know anything about wnmowers?”

  “Only that they’re noisy, sir.”

  “Not when they won’t run. Oh, well.” He returned to the kitchen.

  Ronnie leaned in to whisper to Joey, “I’ll bet you could fix it.”

  “Maybe. Let’s get something to drink and then go somepce.”

  She and Kris followed Mister Greene into the kitchen. To Ronnie, James murmured, “Joey seems sort of—low, this morning.”

  “She gets that way sometimes.” She hesitated before adding, “Always has.”

  James only nodded, offering no immediate, off the top of his head advice, none of the opinions she had come to expect from him.

  “I have sisters, you know,” he said after a while. Ronnie could only nod in return. Maybe they could talk about all that ter. No, she was unlikely to bring it up. James was not quite someone she felt comfortable confiding in.

  Kris returned with gsses of lemonade. “Joey took some out to my dad. Maybe she’ll help him get the mower started after all.”

  A couple minutes ter, they heard the raucous notes of a small engine outside. “Either Dad is mowing or we’re being invaded by a gang on motor scooters,” said Kris.

  “Angelica has made some noise about getting a scooter,” said James, settled on the arm of an overstuffed chair and sipping his iced drink. “I think she’s jealous of my bike and wants to one-up me.”

  Kris’s smile was brief. “I can believe that. I can believe just about anything when it comes to Jelly.”

  Ronnie could too. For the most part. Angelica could be so, well, likable one moment and so obnoxious the next. And it seemed like a game, like she was completely aware of what she was doing. Not like her sister, whose moods felt very real and very much a part of her.

  Joey returned, with her own gss of lemonade. “I moved your bikes so Mister Greene can mow,” she informed them. She didn’t sit but leaned against the frame of the doorway.

  “He should just hire someone like we do,” James said. “Like my mother does, I should say.”

  “He could hire Ronnie. She does want to work for a wyer.”

  James gave Ronnie a rather long look. “Really? I could say something to Dad.”

  Now she was on the spot. “It’s too te this summer, isn’t it? Besides, the Triumvirate is pledged to only py until—until we say goodbye.”

  “There’s always next summer. You’ll be here then, right?” He looked to Kris and then to Joey. “All of you?”

  Kris nodded. “I’m not even leaving,” said Joey. “And I truly will need some sort of job come fall.”

  “Small engine repair?” asked Kris.

  “You could dig footers for Mister Sterne when Daryl’s gone,” offered Ronnie. “I can put in a good word for you.”

  “And I’d be good at it,” Joey asserted. “Hey Kris, you should show Jam your artwork while he’s here.”

  “Yes,” Ronnie agreed. “Her bedroom walls are pstered with sketches.” No sooner had she said it than she thought maybe she shouldn’t put her friend on the spot. Of course, she might want James to see the pictures.

  “What? Your parents haven’t taped them to the refrigerator?” he asked, his smile innocent. Then, “I’d love to see a portfolio of your best sometime but I wouldn’t think of barging into your inner sanctum.”

  “A gentleman at st!”

  “It’s too bad,” said Joey, “that none of us are dies.” She drained her gss. “Let’s get out of here.”