Page 24 of Twice Shy

Chapter Nine

Beach Fun Run, Saturday October 12th

As a born and bred Coloradan, mountains were more Ollie’s style than the ocean. But in the two years he’d been living on Long Island, he’d gotten accustomed to the beach—at least, in the summer. He was still struggling with the idea of frolicking around on the sand in the middle of October with a brisk onshore wind cutting through his jacket and making his ears sting. Should have worn a hat. But the good people of New Milton—at least, those of them on the PTA—apparently thought it was a great idea to hold their Beach Fun Run on the second weekend of October.

So there he was, plowing his way with the kids through the soft sand at the top of the beach to where he could see Mr. Morgan and Alyssa holding broom handles and marking out a race track. At least it was a sunny afternoon, the glare on the foreshore blinding as it lanced up off the wet sand. Thankfully, he’d remembered his sunglasses.

He was holding both boys’ hands, but as soon as Rory saw his friends he squirmed his fingers free. “There’s Mateo!”

Glancing down the beach, he saw Mateo Flores and his mom. She lifted her hand to wave when she saw Ollie. “Go on then,” he said. “But donotgo into the water, okay?”

“Okay!” Rory called, the word whisked away by the sharp breeze as he raced off. He was getting tall, Ollie thought. Tall like his father. And skinny, too. Much more of a boy than the toddler he’d been about two minutes—and half a lifetime—ago. Parent time moved weirdly, Ollie was discovering. At once eternal and gone in a flash. Rainy afternoons racing toy cars along plastic tracks lasted forever, and yet he knew he’d turn around in five minutes time and find Rory at high school.

Next to him, Luis made a grunt of displeasure and sat down on the sand. “Sorry buddy,” Ollie said, looking down at him. “You need longer legs before you can keep up with Rory. You’re stuck with me again.”

Hoisting Luis back to his feet before his backside got too damp, Ollie headed down to where Alyssa and Morgan were hard at work. He supposed he could have gone to find Jackie instead but, well, here he was.

“Hey,” he said as he joined them, watching with a hand lifted to cut the glare as Rory and Mateo dashed about further down the beach. “How can I help?”

Alyssa turned with a smile. “Hey Ollie! Hey Luis, how you doing?”

She reached down and ruffled his soft hair. It needed a cut, and Ollie should probably take him to a barber this time. His own efforts with the scissors wouldn’t cut it much longer—no pun intended. Like Rory, Luis was transforming into a little boy. “We’re ready to help, aren’t we, buddy?”

Luis answered with the universal pick me up sign, chubby arms stretched up, so Ollie scooped him onto his hip, doing his best to dust the wet sand from Luis’s boots before it got all over his jeans. He cast a surreptitious glance at Morgan, feeling awkward after the way he’d fled after last week’s meeting. But Morgan’s gaze was directed up the beach.

“You want to hand out stickers to the runners?” Alyssa suggested. “Everyone who signs up gets a number so we can verify how far they ran for their sponsor forms.”

“I think we can do that, right, Luis?” He glanced over at Morgan, who still hadn’t spoken, and said, “Hey.”

Morgan gave a tense nod. “Hey.” Like Ollie, his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. Unlike Ollie, his looked expensive and high-tech while Ollie’s had cost five bucks at the gas station. Still, they did the trick.

“Hoping we’re not gonna get wet today,” Ollie said, trying for lighthearted.

Morgan nodded again, and then smiled. It looked reluctant. “Yeah, let’s try to keep everyone out of the water.”

What Ollie thought of as his kid-radar pinged and he glanced over, tensing for a moment when he couldn’t see Rory, then relaxing when he spotted him and Mateo digging in the dryer sand at the top of the beach. They both looked okay and he could see Mateo’s mom close by. Kids around New Milton were used to the beach and Rory knew never to go into the water without an adult. Still, Ollie wanted to keep an eye on him even while he tried to give him freedom to play and explore. Like everything else about raising kids, it was a difficult line to walk.

“Are you running today?” Alyssa said, nodding at his battered old running shoes.

“Sure—with Luis in the pre-school run. Hoping I’m in good enough shape to keep up.”

Alyssa grinned. “Those preschoolers can move fast, huh?”

“Right? Especially when you’re not looking. But the kids’ grandparents sponsored them ten bucks each, so there’s money riding on us.”

“Aww, that’s cute.”

He gave an equivocal shrug. The Palmers could have easily donated a lot more. But they didn’t approve of Ollie moving to New Milton. They didn’t approve of his decision to send the kids to public school. They didn’t approve of Ollie, period. In fact, they’d fought his right to custody every step of the way, even though he was the nominated guardian in both their son’s and daughter-in-law’s wills. They’d lost and were retaliating by letting Ollie sink or swim on his own, hoping he’d be forced to admit he couldn’t manage without their help. And their money. They’d be waiting a long time. Nevertheless, despite the bad blood, he did his utmost to keep the kids in contact with their grandparents, hence their sponsoring them for today’s fun run. But he couldn’t pretend to be sorry they’d decided to stay home.

Squinting along the beach to where a couple of flags fluttered further down, he said, “So the deal is we do as many laps as possible?”

“Adults do as many as they can in an hour, but the kids—”

“Alyssa!” Jackie’s shrill voice came floating—or, perhaps, dive-bombing like a seagull, along the beach. “Alyssa, do you have the medals?” She was heading their way in bright pink rubber boots and a coat to match, ubiquitous clipboard in hand.

“Crap,” Alyssa said, and threw Morgan an apologetic smile. “Sorry, sir.” He rolled his eyes, which made Ollie grin despite the weird tension between them this morning. “The damn medals are still in my garage. Here”—she shoved the broom handle at Ollie—“help Mr. Morgan finish the lines? I need to go get the medals before Jackie has an aneurism.”

Alyssa headed off, hands raised placatingly, to talk to Jackie, leaving Ollie and Morgan together.

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