STILL AMPED UP from his evening with Bella, Caden awoke early the next morning and went for a run on the beach. Running usually cleared his head, and he wanted to try to get a handle on the emotions that had his pulse quickening at the very thought of her.
Sweat beaded Caden’s brow as he ran across the wet sand at a fast pace. A cool breeze swept over his heated skin. He reveled in the momentary chill. He passed a man with his young son building a sand castle, and it sparked a memory of taking Evan, then a curious toddler, to the beach with his parents. As a child, Evan had been an early riser, and Caden had made a habit of rising before the sun so he could be showered and dressed before Evan woke up. That summer, Evan’s internal alarm clock had gone off even earlier, and by six o’clock each morning, Caden had breakfast packed, blankets, and towels stowed in the stroller, and a very happy Evan anxiously awaiting their walk to the beach. In their sweatshirts and shorts, they built sand castles and walked along the shoreline in search of rocks and shells until it was a reasonable hour for Evan’s incessant toddler chattering to wake up his parents.
He cherished those memories.
He picked up his pace when he came to a couple walking hand in hand. When Evan was younger, Caden would fall into bed at night too exhausted to think about being with a woman. But there were times when he’d pass a loving couple whispering to each other, or nuzzling on a park bench, and part of him ached for a lasting, intimate relationship. But they were only flashes of longing for what he’d never allow himself to have, and after a few minutes, the urge would pass and his life would be whole again. Spending time with Bella brought those lonely times to the forefront. He was no longer a kid raising a baby and building a career. He was a man with a teenage son.
A teenage son.
He couldn’t imagine how the time had passed so quickly, and he didn’t want to think about a few years from now, when Evan would be off to college, and shortly thereafter, be the age Caden was when Evan was born. His mind drifted back to Bella, to the look in her eyes when they were talking up in the fire tower and the love he felt radiating from her when they’d kissed. He’d sent her a text when he arrived home last night with the picture of them he’d taken, even though he knew she probably wouldn’t check it until the next time she needed to make a call. He couldn’t help himself. It was a simple text, but he hoped it brought a smile to her beautiful lips.
He ran back down the beach the way he’d come, and when he reached the access road, he ran toward home. He reached up and touched his cell phone in the armband he wore when he ran and wondered what it would be like not to be tethered to it every minute of the day. He’d noticed that Bella and her friends didn’t carry their phones everywhere like most people did. He’d never had the pleasure of feeling so free. He wouldn’t want to. He liked being only a phone call away from Evan—and now from Bella, as well.
The house was quiet when he arrived home. He did a few sets of push-ups and sit-ups in the living room. Still warm from his workout, he filled a glass with ice water and went outside on the deck to cool off. His cell phone vibrated, and Bella’s name appeared on the screen, spurring another quickening of his pulse.
A picture popped up on the screen, and he laughed out loud. Bella was standing in a colorful beach cover-up with her hair pulled up in a high ponytail. Her hands formed the shape of a heart in front of her chest—thumb to thumb, her knuckles bent and pressed together. To her right, Amy held a sign with a red arrow across the top that pointed at Bella. The sign read SHE MIGHT. Beside her Jenna held a sign that read WANT TO, on Jenna’s other side, Leanna held a sign that read DATE YOU.
When he’d sent her the photo of them last night, he’d given it the caption, FUTURE DATERS. He thought it might make her laugh, but this…this made his heart so full he thought he might burst.
He texted back, I like my girlfriends in leather and lace, no boots required, and hoped she’d get the reference to her handyman comment the evening before. He paced the deck as he waited for her response. When it didn’t come right away, he worried that he’d sent the absolute wrong message.
After fifteen minutes, he went inside to take a cold shower and mentally orchestrated an apology. He could drive over and explain face-to-face that it was a joke. The last thing he needed was for her to bring up the whole fetish thing again. He knew she’d been kidding about the fetish stuff, but he also knew he had been out of the real dating realm long enough that he was probably behind the times with what was appropriate and what wasn’t when texting a woman. He probably would have been better off sending a stupid naked selfie. The thought made him cringe—he’d never understand the fascination with sending pictures that anyone could hack into.
He showered and changed, and when he came out of the bedroom, Evan was standing in the kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of cargo shorts and a troublesome grin—and staring at Caden’s phone.
“Uh, Dad? I thought you and Bella weren’t dating.”
“We kind of are now. I think.” Caden reached for the phone.
“I’d say you are for sure.” Evan laughed as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.
Caden glanced at the phone. He wasn’t sure which was worse, the fact that he was getting turned on by Bella’s selfie, or knowing his son had just seen his girlfriend wearing nothing but a pink lacy nighty and a pair of knee-high leather boots.
WHEN BELLA HAD taken on the summer project, she’d thought local businesses would jump at the chance to hire high school students. They were cheap labor, they needed to get good grades to graduate, so they were likely to be responsible, and the business owners would be helping the kids to be better prepared for their future. It was with those hopes that she set out that morning to meet with three separate business owners. Her first stop was with Wellfleet Automotive, a company that had not only been on Bella’s list of possibilities because she’d read an interview with the owner in an archive of the Cape Codder newspaper, but also one that was on Wilma’s list. From the article, he seemed down-to-earth, and since he’d gotten his start in the business as a teenager shadowing his father, who had owned two auto shops at the time, Bella hoped he’d be open to the idea of joining the work-study program.