Jess was only ten when the first pods washed up on the shore. She'd been standing with her toes dug into the sand, letting the cold Atlantic Ocean swirl around her ankles, daring herself to venture ... [+]
Sarah feels bricked up, even though she's riding her bike. She feels caged, because of where she's riding her bike: to a coffee shop to meet an ex she's not sure she wants to meet. He called her to tell her he's coming through town—their town, the town where they were together and where Sarah still lives, but from which Steve has moved on, to a bigger, better town, and presumably to a better girlfriend. They're at an age where the words "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" seem by turns awkwardly juvenile and invigoratingly whimsical. Sarah liked calling her most-immediately-ex boyfriend (not Steve) h