8. Chapter 8

Ollie

I didn't really have any plans for our visit to the island. Like I'd told Carey, I just wanted to eat some of the food and experience everything. Besides, most of the stuff like snorkeling or parasailing was expensive, and I might have splurged on the cruise, but I didn't want to spend the rest of my savings if I could help it.

I messaged Carey after breakfast to check and see how his evening went and to make sure he was all set for today. I had my fingers crossed that he'd found someone to hang out with because I really wanted to spend the day with my Daddy, but I wouldn't leave my friend to explore the island alone.

To my delight, he said he'd met a really nice man last night at the karaoke party, and that he and a few of the other people were planning to go out on a catamaran for the day. He said he was going to message me and see if we wanted to join them, but honestly, I didn't really want to. Adam left it up to me, so I told Carey to have a great time but that we had other plans.

The island hadn't been anything like what I expected. Not that I was disappointed because I wasn't at all. I guess I was just picturing some little town with huts and seaside stands selling trinkets. Not that I thought the whole island was that way, but I figured they played it up for the tourists. But instead, this was a full-blown city.

We had six hours to kill, and we started out just by wandering around the shops and taking it all in. I learned pretty quickly not to admire anything too much or comment about how cool something was, or the next thing I knew, Adam would be haggling with the seller and buying it for me. I'd tried to protest the first time he did it when I stopped to look at a bracelet that caught my eye. It wasn't anything expensive or fancy, but it had a really cool island vibe that I liked.

"That suits you," he said when he saw me looking at it. "Let's get it." He motioned to the guy who was manning that booth to come over.

"No, Daddy, you don't have to do that," I insisted.

He leaned over and kissed me on the temple. "Baby boy, I don't have to do anything. I want to." Once he was done negotiating and I had the bracelet on my wrist, I tried again.

"Really, you don't have to buy me things."

"Listen to me. This is a special trip for you, and I know you're on a budget. Do you know who isn't on a budget? Your Daddy. Which means, you need to just go with the flow. Buying you things brings me joy, so come on, you don't want to deprive me of that, now do you?"

I would have continued to press my point, but something in the way he looked at me when he said that stopped me. I wasn't asking for anything, and if he wanted to do it, then why shouldn't I let him. There had never been a time in my life when I could have whatever I wanted, and probably never would be again, so while I refused to take advantage, I could let him spoil me just a little.

We wandered around until it was time for lunch. I had a whole list of food I wanted to try, so we made our way to a nice little restaurant with outdoor dining that one of the merchants had suggested. We sat at a table that overlooked the water, and we ordered a little bit of everything just so I could try it.

I couldn't imagine a better companion to travel with. Adam enjoyed everything, and I told him so.

"Baby boy," he said, laughing. "This is all you, not me. I never go anywhere or try anything new. Do you know why my sister bought me this cruise for my birthday?"

I shook my head, eager to hear why.

"She bought this for me because she said I was in a rut and needed to have some fun. Hell, she said she thought I'd forgotten what fun even was."

"Seriously? No way? You've been having fun since the minute I met you!" I mean, at least he'd seemed like he had. I don't know when I'd laughed as much as I had with him yesterday and today.

"Like I said, baby boy, you're good for me. With you, I'm having fun. Now, what shall we do for the rest of the day?"

I shrugged, not wanting to admit that I couldn't afford most of the things I'd like to do.

"Come on now, don't be silly. When are you going to do this again? Let's make the most of it. So what do you want to do? Parasailing?"

"Oh, Lord, no. I'd be terrified," I exclaimed.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Okay, note to self, no heights for Ollie."

"I don't mind heights, as long as there's a nice firm floor of some kind below me."

"Gotcha. How about snorkeling?" I thought about that for a minute. I wouldn't mind snorkeling. "Or, how about swimming with the dolphins? That sounds fun."

I tried not to let it show, but that was the one thing I wished I could do but decided not to because of the cost. I must have done a poor job of hiding the thought because he laughed and said, "Ah, so you want to swim with the dolphins, then. Let's do it."

I mentally calculated how much that would cost me, but then I figured since Adam had purchased the souvenirs for me at the shop, I could maybe swing it.

"Hey," he said, firmly, almost like he could read my mind. "My treat. That's the first rule you have to learn about being with me. Daddy always pays."

"But…" I started to say that he wasn't really my Daddy and that this was only for the cruise, and he shouldn't have to shell out a bunch of cash just because he'd agreed to spend the week playing Daddy for me, but the look on his face stopped me. "Okay."

"Okay, what?" he asked sternly.

"Okay, Daddy."

"Much better, now let's go find you some dolphins."

Adam

I hadn't really ever given any thought to swimming with dolphins, but I was more than happy to do it if that was what Ollie wanted to do. I made a couple calls and found out where we needed to go and made the arrangements, and then we made our way to the facility.

I purchased our tickets, and then we got changed into our swimsuits before walking down a set of stairs to a beach where the trainer waited for us. I wondered what exactly the plan was. The area where the dolphins were was massive, so I didn't know if we'd have to swim out or if we'd be taking a boat out to where they were. I wondered about all of that and thought I really should've taken a minute to look into everything so I'd be prepared when I heard a splash as Ollie squealed beside me, grabbing my arm. I looked around to see what had happened, ready to grab my boy and pull him behind me if there was a threat, when a dolphin leaped up out of the water right in front of us. Then as it went back down headfirst, it waved its tail at us.

"Oh my god! Did you see it? Did you see it?" he asked.

"I did," I said, chuckling.

The dolphin popped back up out of the water headfirst this time and swam just a few feet in front of us.

There was a woman just ahead of us dressed in swim gear. She was grinning at Ollie obviously enjoying his enthusiasm. "Hi, My name is Trina. I'll be your guide. We're going to go out there and swim with her, but first, I want to teach you a few hand signals and gestures that she knows and that you can use to play with her."

I knew I probably needed to know the signals, but I was too busy watching Ollie to pay attention to what she was saying. He was watching her and mimicking everything she did so carefully it was like he was preparing to take a final exam. I was so happy I'd insisted on giving this experience to him. From there, my mind went to all the other incredible life experiences I not only wanted him to have, but I realized I also wanted to be there with him to watch as they happened. My boy and I were going to have to have a serious talk before this cruise was over because, in a very short time, that was exactly what he'd become, my boy. And there was no way I was going to let it all end when we pulled back into port in Fort Lauderdale.

"Okay, are you guys ready to swim?" she asked as she jumped into the water and moved a little further out, with the dolphin following her and swimming around her in circles.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"So, so ready," he answered as he jumped in and swam towards them.

I went with him, happy to just be there with him, watching as he spun in a circle, and laughed as the dolphin did the same.