The humidity in the garage was nothing compared to the humidity outside. Sweat dripped down my back within thirty seconds of starting my walk to the beach, the air wrapping around me like a hot, moist blanket.

The sand was already dotted with chairs and towels as I unlocked the shed and pulled out the umbrellas. People immediately streamed my way and I was happy to be occupied with planting and opening umbrellas along the shoreline, forcing my mind away from places it didn’t want to be.

By ten, my umbrellas were all out and I had only a handful of chairs left to rent. The water was filled with kelp and most of the beach-goers had planted themselves on the sand, shielded from the sun, hoping the tides would clear out the thick bundles of June grass.

I was stretched out in a chair, burying my feet in the sand when Jackson came jogging up the sand, waving at me, closely followed by Bella.

Male heads turned casually, trying to steal a quick glance at her as she walked, her slim body exposed in a skimpy, light brown bikini. She wore giant black sunglasses and her hair was pulled back away from her face. There was no denying she was attractive.

“Hey!” he yelled. “Hi!  It’s me!  Jackson!”

I held a hand up and waved at him. “Hey, dude.”

He crashed onto his knees next to me, huffing and puffing, his cheeks bright red. He dropped a plastic basket of beach toys and they spilled out next to him.

Bella strode up the sand behind him, a black nylon backpack slung over her shoulder. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Do you just sit here and bake all day?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.

“Pretty much.”

She shook her head. “You aren’t even under an umbrella.”

“I rented all of them.”

“So do you ever sit under one?”

“No.”

“Didn’t think so.”

“Can I stay with you?” Jackson asked, grabbing my leg.

“What?” I asked, looking at him.

She frowned at Jackson and sighed. “Jackson.”

He squeezed my shin. “Can I?”

I looked at Bella. “Do you need me to watch him?”

“No,” she said. “Well, yeah. I mean…ugh.”  She shifted her feet in the sand. “I need to run a quick errand and he doesn’t wanna go.”

“I wanna build a castle,” he said, digging his hands deep into the sand. “A super big one.”

“He immediately said he wanted to come stay with you. I told him we’d walk down and see what you were doing,” she said. “But I made him no promises because you’re working.”

Jackson twisted his head up to her and squinted. “He’s just sitting here.”

“Jackson. Hush.”

I smiled. “He can stay with me.”

He raised his fists in the air, sand flying everywhere. “Yes!”

“Are you sure?” Bella asked. “I feel like we’re just showing up here and dumping on you.”

“Well. You are.”

Her face flushed.

“I’m kidding,” I said. “Really. It’s fine. He can stay.”

“Are you positive?”

“Yes. Positive.”

She pursed her lips. “I know he doesn’t wanna go and I honestly have no one else to watch him. But…I mean, we barely even know you.”

I shrugged.

“But he asked to come to you,” she said. “He likes you. You were nice to him.”

Jackson already had his hands buried up to his elbows, moving sand around to begin castle construction. I wondered who hadn’t been nice to him.

“I like him, too,” I said.

“I can give you my cell,” she said. “You can call me if you need to?”

“Nah, it’s fine,” I said. “We’ll be right here.”

“Maybe I should get yours?” she said. “Just in case.”

I cleared my throat. “Actually, I don’t have one.”

“You don’t have a phone?”

I shook my head.

“Wow,” she said. “I didn’t know that was allowed anymore.”

It was an inconvenience not having one. It really was. But I knew that getting one would provide a possible route to finding me.

Besides, I had no one to call.

“Okay,” Bella said, adjusting her sunglasses and adjusting the backpack on her shoulder. “Thirty minutes. I promise.”

“We’ll be here.”

“Jackson, you listen to Noah, alright?”  she said. “He’s the boss.”

“He’s the boss,” Jackson said, studying the mountain of sand in front of him. “Okay.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Really. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

I watched her as she walked across the sand, away from the water and toward the dunes and wondered where she was heading.

TWELVE

I couldn’t recall if I’d ever babysat, but if I had, I’d never sat for a kid with half the energy of Jackson.

From the moment Bella left, it was like someone plugged him in and set him on high. I helped him dig a hole about three feet deep. Then we dug a moat around the hole. He grabbed the wall and turret-shaped sand molds he’d brought and we worked together, filling them with sand and placing them around the moat, sculpting a castle.

He was a blur of constant motion, constantly jumping up and running to the other side of the hole to inspect or fix something. Then he’d sprint back and collapse into the sand, deciding on the next piece to build.

He chattered constantly, talking about the castle and the water and dogs and his mom and crackers and just about everything else you might find in an encyclopedia. He laughed randomly at his own words and never once asked where his mother was or when she’d be back.

I envied his carefree attitude and joy at nearly every little thing we did.

After I don’t know how long, we walked down to the water to rinse the sand off of our arms and legs. He splashed me and I splashed him back. He giggled and dropped face first into the waves, popping back up and shaking the water off like a dog.

I laughed and shook my head.

“Are you trying to drown him?”

I turned around and Bella was standing behind us.

“No,” I said. “Just rinsing off.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t blame you,” she said, coming down next to me in the ankle deep water. “I’ve thought about it plenty of times.”

“I doubt that.”

Jackson jumped up and fell backwards into the water.

“You’re probably right,” she said, smiling at her son. “He can be awful cute.”

“You get your stuff done?” I asked.

Her smile broke a bit and she ran a hand through her hair. “Um, yeah. All done.”

Her cheeks were pink, not from the heat, and her ponytail was in disarray. Something was off, but I couldn’t place it.

“He didn’t drive you nuts, did he?” she asked.

“Not at all. We had fun.”

“He can be a handful.”

“He did most of the work,” I said. “I was an assistant.”

A wave rolled in and knocked Jackson off his feet. He bounced up and flexed his tiny muscles, roaring at the water.

She shook her head. “If only he had more confidence.”

I smiled. “He’s a fun kid.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “Thank you. For saying that. And for watching him. And I keep having to thank you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Yes. I do,” she said. “You’ve bailed me out twice in two days.”

I wanted to tell her that playing with her son was as much fun as I’d had in months, but I was fearful of the questions that might bring out. But it was the truth. Playing with Jackson was the first time I’d stopped worrying since I’d left San Diego.

“So I’m gonna need to pay you back again,” she said.

“No, you don’t.”

“I want to,” she said, touching my elbow. “For two days we've invaded your life and you’ve been nothing but kind to me and to Jackson.”  She hesitated and her hand fell away. “It’s been awhile since we’ve…had that.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I watched Jackson do jumping jacks, water spraying all around him.

“Would you like to come over and have dinner with us?” she asked. “Not hamburgers from a window. But a real dinner.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know I don’t, but I’d like to and I’ll feel guilty if you don’t let me,” she said. “Plus, you live in a garage and I don’t think you’re doing a lot of cooking in there.”