Same Tide, set in 1965, offers a pro­found look at Kya’s life as a nine­teen-year-old girl, stand­ing at the inter­sec­tion of iso­la­tion and long­ing. From her seclud­ed van­tage point on Point Beach, she observes her child­hood peers, a tight-knit group who seem to effort­less­ly live in har­mo­ny with each oth­er. The gulf between Kya and these peers grows with each pass­ing day, as she remains dis­tant from their world, with her only inter­ac­tion being the occa­sion­al brief acknowl­edg­ment from Chase Andrews, a fig­ure she has admired from afar. The sight of Chase caus­es an unex­pect­ed stir with­in her, awak­en­ing an emo­tion­al long­ing that feels both thrilling and painful. Despite her innate shy­ness and deeply root­ed feel­ings of unwor­thi­ness, Kya hopes to find solace in the same space, return­ing to the beach the next day in hopes of encoun­ter­ing him again, only to find her­self alone once more in the qui­et expanse of soli­tude.

Kya’s life, as paint­ed in this chap­ter, reflects the con­stant bat­tle she faces between the crav­ing for con­nec­tion and her deep-seat­ed iso­la­tion. Her avoid­ance of the social spaces, such as the beach where her peers con­gre­gate, fur­ther high­lights the chasm between her and the world that seems to exist just beyond her reach. Instead, she choos­es the solace of the marsh, where she can find peace and rhythm in the nat­ur­al world, sur­round­ed by the qui­et hum of wildlife and the gen­tle rustling of reeds. Her few excur­sions out­side her iso­lat­ed refuge, such as trips to Jumpin’s wharf, only deep­en her sense of yearn­ing for human inter­ac­tion, though the com­fort she finds in soli­tude keeps her teth­ered to the life she has cre­at­ed. These moments reveal a woman caught between two worlds—one of soli­tude and one of social possibility—that shape the emo­tion­al land­scape of her exis­tence.

As Kya’s jour­ney pro­gress­es, a piv­otal shift occurs when Chase Andrews approach­es her at Jumpin’s wharf, ini­ti­at­ing a con­ver­sa­tion that ulti­mate­ly leads to an invi­ta­tion for a pic­nic. This encounter marks a sig­nif­i­cant point in Kya’s jour­ney, as it opens the door to a con­nec­tion that might help her over­come the walls of lone­li­ness she has built around her­self. Despite the reser­va­tions ingrained in her by years of feel­ing reject­ed and ostra­cized as “marsh trash,” Kya finds her­self drawn to the pos­si­bil­i­ty of com­pan­ion­ship. She is torn between the fear of fur­ther aban­don­ment and the deep desire to be seen and under­stood, a con­flict that many can relate to as they nav­i­gate rela­tion­ships. When she ulti­mate­ly accepts Chase’s invi­ta­tion, it sym­bol­izes more than just an after­noon picnic—it becomes an act of courage, a step towards embrac­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of emo­tion­al con­nec­tion despite the pain of past expe­ri­ences.

The chap­ter also delves into Kya’s per­son­al escape through poet­ry, offer­ing a poignant look at her inner world. Her love for recit­ing poet­ry is more than just a hob­by; it is a life­line that helps her express emo­tions too dif­fi­cult to artic­u­late through con­ver­sa­tion. Through her poems, Kya is able to cap­ture the beau­ty and com­plex­i­ty of the world around her, from the small­est details of nature to her deep­est feel­ings about the peo­ple in her life. This out­let pro­vides her with a tem­po­rary respite from the lone­li­ness she often feels, allow­ing her to chan­nel her emo­tions into some­thing mean­ing­ful and expres­sive. In these moments of cre­ative reflec­tion, Kya reveals a side of her­self that tran­scends her iso­la­tion, show­cas­ing the depth of her emo­tion­al and intel­lec­tu­al capac­i­ty.

As the chap­ter draws to a close, it becomes clear that Kya’s rela­tion­ship with Tate, her first love and a sym­bol of her past, remains unre­solved. Although Tate returns and observes Kya from a dis­tance, his pres­ence is a qui­et one, reflect­ing the missed oppor­tu­ni­ties and lin­ger­ing ten­sion between them. The chap­ter leaves read­ers with the sense that, while Kya is forg­ing new con­nec­tions and nav­i­gat­ing her emo­tion­al growth with Chase, there are still echoes of past rela­tion­ships and unre­solved feel­ings that linger in her heart. These unfin­ished chap­ters in Kya’s life add a lay­er of depth to her sto­ry, high­light­ing the com­plex­i­ty of human rela­tion­ships and the emo­tion­al bag­gage that often comes with them. Through the lens of Kya’s jour­ney, read­ers are remind­ed that even in the face of new begin­nings, old con­nec­tions and mem­o­ries can con­tin­ue to shape our paths, leav­ing us to con­front the ques­tion of what we hold onto and what we choose to let go.