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“That’s fine,” she said, turning to Kristen and Josh. “Are you two
ready?”
Alex spent the next few minutes ferrying the items from the car,
setting up camp near the picnic table closest to the dune, where
high tide wouldn’t encroach. Though there were a few other
families, for the most part they had this section of beach to
themselves. Katie had slipped off her sandals and was standing at
the water’s edge as the kids splashed in the shallows. Her arms
were crossed and even from a distance, Alex noticed a rare
expression of contentment on her face.
He slung a couple of towels over his shoulder as he approached.
“It’s hard to believe there was a storm yesterday, isn’t it?”
She turned at the sound of his voice. “I forgot how much I missed
the ocean.”
“Been awhile?”
“Too long,” she said, listening to the steady rhythm of the waves
as they gently rolled ashore.
Josh ran in and out of the waves, while off to the side Kristen
crouched, searching for collectible seashells.
“It must be hard sometimes, raising them on your own,” Katie
observed.
Alex hesitated, considering it. When he spoke, his voice was soft.
“Most of the time, it isn’t so bad. We kind of get into a rhythm,
you know? In our daily lives? It’s when we do things like this—
where there is no rhythm—that it sometimes gets frustrating.” He
kicked briefly at the sand, making a small furrow at their feet.
“When my wife and I talked about having a third child, she tried
to warn me that a third child would mean moving from ‘man-toman’
to ‘zone’ defense. She used to joke that she wasn’t sure I was
up to it. But here I am, in zone defense every day…” he trailed off,
shaking his head. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”