Evan glanced in the direction and then turned back. “I don’t know what you want, buddy.”
Shaun’s eyebrows drew down, and he struck the cereal bowl with one hand, causing the spoon to fly free. Milk and soggy flakes spattered the table, and a few dollops landed on Evan’s thigh.
“Shit! Stop it, Shaun,” he said, grabbing Shaun’s flailing arm.
“Wawee! Wawee!” Shaun cried, tears beginning to run down his cheeks.
Evan stood and hugged his son’s arms tight to his body.
“Shhhh, honey, stop, you’re going to hurt yourself. Don’t, don’t, don’t.”
The boy continued to struggle, but his movements became less frantic, and gradually he lapsed into simply crying.
“I know, buddy, I know it’s hard. I’m sorry I can’t understand sometimes.” Evan looked at the kitchen counter and saw the iPad there. “Do you want your iPad? Flash cards?”
He grabbed the slim case and held it out to Shaun. Shaun shook his head.
“Na.”
“Okay, okay, buddy.” He set the device down, and his shoulders sagged. “Let’s just get ready to go.”
~
They left the island in the pontoon half an hour later, the day warm but muddled with shining silver clouds in the sky. Evan began to steer toward the little marina on the mainland, but a thought struck him like a hammer.
A boat.
If Becky’s father had really come to the house last night, he would’ve come in a boat. Evan scanned the shoreline on the west side of the island. No crafts jutted out into the water, and from what he could see, none were pulled up into the woods.
“Let’s take a little side trip, buddy,” he said, turning the pontoon south.
They cruised over the calm water, around the end of the island, the little clearing with the fire pit coming into view after a few minutes. When they rounded the heavily wooded southeastern side, Evan let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Small waves lapped against rocky shore. He could see no boats anchored along its edge. To be sure, he throttled up and cruised the entire length and turned left, until he could see their dock again.
A strange relief came over him, followed by a layer of fear on its heels. Not seeing a boat made him believe that nothing had happened the night before, but the absence of one confirmed the cold inkling that had been with him all morning.
You’re going crazy.
That’s what’d been happening since they arrived. All the unsettling occurances, they were all in his mind.
He looked at Shaun, who was enraptured by the approaching land as he always was. What would happen to Shaun if he lost it completely? He would have nowhere to go. Evan’s parents lived in southern Florida and didn’t have the capabilities to care for Shaun, and he had no other close relatives, since Elle’s parents were deceased. There was only Jason and Lisa, and although Jason meant well, he wondered if his best friend could care for Shaun in the way he deserved.
Stop it, he chided himself. Just stop. He wouldn’t lose Shaun, and he wasn’t going crazy. It had been a dream, a horrible and realistic dream, but a dream nonetheless. There were no other explanations.
Ghosts.
The word floated through his mind, wrapped in absurdity as well as a niggling fear.
“Ghosts,” he said, tasting the word while feeling foolish at the same time.
So you don’t believe in ghosts, but you believe in time travel?
“How about a dream, Shaun?” he said, drowning out the voice’s annoying musings. “How about that’s what it was. No more fried food for Dad before bed.”
Shaun looked at him and smiled. The simplicity of joking out loud did wonders for him, and he breathed in the fresh air, feeling better. Or maybe it was putting distance between them and the island.
Evan focused on the approaching dock and shut all other thoughts off.
“Too much thinking never does anyone any good,” he said, in a bravado he didn’t feel.
Shaun didn’t respond, and Evan wondered if he would agree if he could.
~
After dropping Shaun off at the hospital for therapy, Evan drove through town, not entirely sure where he was going. He found himself back at Collins Outfitters, and sat looking at the side of the building for over a minute before he climbed out and headed for the door. Arnold and Wendal were at their customary posts, and Evan realized their seats had been empty when he and Shaun came through earlier.
“Morning,” Evan said.
Arnold nodded. “Morning to you, young fella.”
“Going to be hot today, you think?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s hot every day now that the snow’s gone.”
Evan laughed, struck by how normal the conversation seemed, in contrast with what had happened the night before.
The dream.
“You get ahold of old Cecil out there?” Arnold asked.
A little twinkle in his eye told Evan he already thought he knew the answer.
“Actually, I did,” Evan said, satisfied at the startled look both the twins gave him.
“You’re kidding?” Arnold said.
“Nope. She even let me come inside.”
“Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. That’s the first I’ve heard of her talking to someone besides the grocer or repairman.” Arnold eyed him up and down. “You must’ve had a silver tongue to charm that old biddy.”
“Something like that. Is Jacob in, by chance?”
“Oh yeah, the old mick’s in there somewhere.”
“Thanks.”
Evan moved past the twins, through the door of the building. He wanted to stop and go back, to tell them both off for not having said anything about Jason’s grandparents, for they surely knew about what had happened. Well, he couldn’t fault Wendal for not saying anything. The dark humor made him smile a little.
“What’s so funny, boyo?” Jacob said, standing behind a counter.
“Nothing. How’s it going today?” Evan reached out and shook the older man’s hand.
“Goin’ well, goin’ well. Didn’t see ya come in with yer boy this mornin’.”