“I’m a carpenter,” she said.
Rory laughed.
“I should have guessed,” he said.
“For real?”
“For real,” she said.
“I probably have sawdust in my hair right now.”
“I was wondering what that was,” he said.
“I thought maybe it was a new Outer Banks trend.”
“It’s just a Daria Cato trend.” Shelly grinned. “I was working on a bookshelf for a cottage in Duck when Chloe told me you were here. There’s always a lot of building going on in the Outer Banks.”
“Are you living here year-round?” he asked. Despite the fact that Shelly’s letter bore the Kill Devil Hills return address, it was hard for him to imagine anyone living here year-round. For him, the Outer Banks had always meant summer and the beach.
“Uh-huh,” Daria said.
“Shelly and I have lived here for the past ten years.”
“Wow.” He wondered what it would be like to live smack on the beach during the winter.
“Daria’s also an EMT,” Shelly said. There was pride in her voice.
“An EMT?” he asked.
“Emergency medical technician?”
“Well, I was,” Daria said.
“I’m taking some time off.”
“A lifesaver.” Rory studied her with admiration.
“You started that avocation early, didn’t you?” He looked at Shelly.
“She was only ten years old when she saved your life.”
“Eleven,” Daria corrected.
“I know,” said Shelly.
“People around here call her Supergirl.”
“I remember!” he said, flashing back to the newspaper articles that followed Shelly’s discovery on the beach.
“They still call you that after all this time?”
‘“Fraid so,” Daria said.
“I’ll be sixty and they’ll still call me Supergirl.”
“It’s because she’s kept on saving people,” Shelly said.
“She’s the local hero.”
“I’ll never forget that day.” He wondered if he should tell them now that Shelly’s letter had prompted his visit to Kill Devil Hills this summer, but he had more catching up to do first. He set his empty glass on the coffee table.
“Is there anybody else left on the cul-de-sac from the old days?” he asked.
“I noticed Cindy Trump’s cottage is gone.”
“There was a bad storm in ‘82,” Daria said.
“The ocean swallowed their cottage in one gulp. It did a lot of damage to the Sea Shanty, too, but your cottage was spared.”
“The Wheelers are still around,” Chloe said.
“Do you remember them?
They live next door. “
“Still?” He remembered a quiet older couple who often strolled on the beach in the evening, hand in hand.
“They’re still living?”
“They’re only in their seventies,” Daria said.
“Their cottage is filled with their grandchildren all summer long.” “Did he know Linda and her dogs?” Shelly asked.
“Yeah, you knew Linda, right?” Daria asked.
He narrowed his eyes in concentration, picturing a mousy young girl lying on the beach with her nose in a book.
“I think so,” he said.
