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watched, startled, before breaking into loud laughter.
    â€œThose are the kinds of moments you can’t plan,” Aunt Netty said as Kate handed her back the camera. “But now you’ve caught it forever, and every time you look at those pictures you’ll remember how that little girl looked and how happy the dog was.”
    Kate looked at her aunt’s face as she spoke. There was a look in her eyes that Kate couldn’t really read. It was as if she was thinking about the thing she loved most in the world, but instead of being totally happy about it she was kind of sad, too. Kate almost asked her what she was thinking, but something told her it was a moment her aunt wanted to keep for herself.
    â€œWhy don’t we go get some lunch?” Aunt Netty said, breaking the silence. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
    They walked to the end of the pier to a restaurant that had a big deck with tables that overlooked the water. The waiter led them to one that was partially shaded by a big umbrella, and they sat down. As Kate perused the menu, she felt the sun on her skin and smelled the sea breeze and decided that it was going to be the best summer ever.
    â€œAny idea what you want?” asked her aunt.
    â€œThe clam strips sound great,” Kate answered. “But I think that’s an awful lot of fat. Maybe I should just have the grilled chicken salad.”
    â€œGo for the clam strips,” replied her aunt. “Life’s too short to worry about a little bit of fat. In fact, I insist that you have the clam strips and the cheesecake afterward.”
    â€œWell, if you insist ,” Kate said, closing her menu.
    The waiter appeared, and Kate gave him her order. When it was Aunt Netty’s turn she ordered grilled red snapper.
    â€œOh, so I’m supposed to order the fattening stuff while you eat healthy, is that it?” Kate said when the waiter had taken their menus.
    Her aunt put her arms on the table and leaned forward. “When you’re thirty-four years old and can’t fit into your favorite jeans anymore, then you can worry about what you eat,” she said. “Until then, enjoy yourself.”
    Kate giggled. “But you look great,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so thin before.”
    For a moment it looked as if Aunt Netty’s smile faltered. But then she perked up again. “So tell me about your life,” she said. “And I don’t mean what you want to do this summer or anything like that. Tell me all the stuff you don’t tell your mother.”
    Kate leaned back in her chair and took a sip of iced tea. What should she tell her aunt? It was true that they were more like best friends than relatives. She had always told Aunt Netty everything, even the things she was afraid to share with her parents. She never worried that her aunt would tell anyone else, and she’d always believed that she could tell her anything.
    But was that true? Could she, for instance, tell Aunt Netty that she had been studying Wicca for almost four months, and that she’d gotten into it because she’d done a spell that landed her the boyfriend she’d so recently dumped? Could she tell her aunt that she had a makeshift altar in her bedroom, and that sometimes when no one else was home she did rituals to the Goddess? What would Aunt Netty think of her then? Would Kate still be her favorite niece, or would everything change? Kate didn’t know, and for the first time in her life she’d found something she couldn’t tell her aunt about.
    â€œWell, you know about Tyler,” Kate said, trying to buy time. “Things are going really well with him. And Annie and Cooper are okay, too. I hate to sound boring, but everything is pretty much fine. I don’t throw up my dinner. I’m not using any controlled substances. And I haven’t sent anyone naked pictures of myself over