Chapter Three

Lance

present day

When you're a kid, summer is the best time of the year. I remembered being eight years old and wanting nothing more than the last day of school to come.

Who was I kidding?

I remembered being eighteen years old and wanting nothing more than for the last day of school.

I much rather preferred being at the beach or hanging with my friends than sitting in some stuffy classroom that cramped my style.

The only reason I even bothered attending my classes was because I was on the swim team and it was a requirement to have my grades up or I'd be kicked off the team. I supposed if they didn't have that rule in place, then no athlete would ever attend class. Why would they need to? They didn't need to know Economics or Algebra in order to be the best in their sport. And, frankly, all it did was give me less time to do what it was I really wanted.

So, yeah, I understood why my eight-year-old son was excited for school to be over and for the summer to finally be here. As an adult, though, and single parent no less, I sort of dreaded the summer. I supposed this was how most parents felt. Unless they were a teacher with summers off, it was difficult to make it work.

I had been a single dad for eight years now, Mason's mother having left him on my doorstep when he was only six weeks old. Just him and a note saying she was sorry and was having a lawyer send me all the papers where she signed all rights over to me. I didn't even know she was pregnant. She was a one-night stand I had during my college orientation. We used protection, and neither of us were looking to have a child. She was a junior and well on her way to graduating top of her class with honors. She was my campus tour guide and we were both looking to blow off some steam. I was getting acquainted with being independent, soon-to-be a college student, and have my own dorm. And she was looking to have some fun before classes started and the demands of her schedule took a toll on her.

Neither one of us were looking to become parents.

We didn't run in the same crowds and I was a freshman, so I didn't see her around campus. I later found out that she transferred schools and was commuting. It wasn't until I found Mason outside of my dorm room that I knew why.

Needless to say, I dropped out of college and never looked back. I couldn't. My parents offered to take care of Mason until I graduated, but I would have missed out on too much of his life. Besides, my college experience was never going to be the same, knowing I had a son at home.

Not that I ever intended on being a young father, but now that I was, I didn't want to look back and question my choices or remember being an absent one, too.

I knew that the only thing left for me to do was get a job to support Mason and I.

Thankfully, in my short time at the University of Miami I made friends with a guy who knew a guy who landed a job at one of the best resorts in Miami. The Emerald Seas Resort was exclusive and getting a job there was no easy feat. You needed a connection. That was where Hunter came in, a lifeguard for the resort. He was a good guy and we quickly became best friends.

He put in a good word for me and I became a surf instructor. It was an easy fit because of my swimming background. I'd always been one with the water. Swimming, boating, surfing, jet skiing, all of it was in my blood. My dad used to be the captain of a small weekend cruise ship, and my mom, well, she might as well have been a mermaid, she spent so much time on the water. So it made sense.

My parents supported me until I saved up enough to pave my own way. Now, they were all over the map, making their way around all forty-eight contiguous states in their RV.

Me, I'd never leave Florida. I lived for the ocean, well, and my son, but the ocean was like my lifeline. It was all I knew.

And I was ready to get out on it. I grabbed Mason's Nintendo Switch from the couch and a book he left on the coffee table, and threw it in his backpack, along with a coloring book and pencils. "Come on, buddy, we're going to be late," I shouted to Mason, who was upstairs, doing heaven knew what.

I placed a hand on the railing and strummed my fingers on it while my other hand held his backpack out for him to take. "Buddy, I mean it. We gotta go."

Mason came running down the stairs with a snorkel mask on and fins in his hand. He kept on running and grabbed his backpack in his other hand. I shook my head and grabbed his fins. "Where do you think you're going with all of this?"

"Snorkeling," he answered, removing the mouthpiece. "Uncle Tyler said he would teach me."

Tyler was my knucklehead friend, who got Mason snorkeling gear for his birthday. I thought he was too young to snorkel, but apparently what I thought didn't matter. Tyler worked with me at the resort as a pool attendant, so lucky for him, I could tell him all about how his little birthday gift caused me to practically be late this morning when I saw him today.

"Not today," I said, holding out a hand for him to take off his mask and pass it to me. "Maybe in a couple of years."

"But Dad!" He stomped his foot on the step and handed me the gear. "That's not fair!"

I took everything from him and walked it over to the kitchen, where I set it on the counter. I couldn't be any later than I already was, so I'd have to put it away later. "You're too young, buddy. Besides Uncle Tyler is working today. He doesn't have time to teach you."

"Fine," he ground out. "Then can I go surfing with you?"

I shook my head and ruffled his hair with my hand. "Not today. I have a full schedule of clients and I'm running late as it is."

He swung the backpack over his shoulder and stomped out to the car without another word. Guess that went well, I thought to myself, as I walked out behind him and locked up.

I got in the car and started it, looking back at him as I pulled out of the driveway. "Are you going to give me the silent treatment the whole ride there or—"

I stopped talking when I got my answer, as he took his Nintendo Switch out of his backpack and looked down.

I looked straight ahead at the road and knew we could be there in less than twenty minutes if the traffic wasn't bad, which it usually wasn't at this time. We had already missed rush hour traffic.

I put on the radio and began flipping through the stations. "Up for our usual game this morning?" I looked back at him in the mirror and noticed he didn't lift his head up. He was clearly intent on ignoring me.

Car rides were always boring and when Mason was little he used to get car sick, so to take his mind off the nausea, we created this little game. We called it Stop and Switch. I turned the dial on the radio and changed it really fast and when Mason called out "stop" whatever station was on stayed on. The switch part came into play because if he didn't like it, he got one chance to say "switch" but then it stayed on whatever the station was he stopped on next and we'd have to listen to it until we got to where we were going. Even after he stopped getting car sick, we kept playing it. It became a tradition of sorts.

I sighed. "Come on, buddy, I can't play it on my own. What do you say?"

I began to slow down and come to a stop as we came to a red light and waited for Mason to give up on this silent treatment he was so determined to give me. Finally, I heard him answer, "Fine."

"Fine?" I asked. "Just fine?" I smiled as I looked at him in the rearview mirror again. "If we weren't in the car, I'd have the tickle monster come and get you."

He laughed. "Stop, Dad."

"You ready?" I questioned, my hand hovering over the dial to switch the radio station.

"Ready!" he practically yelled, placing his game back in his backpack and zipping it up.

Maybe I wasn't going to win any father of the year awards, but I was doing my best and that was really all I could do. My parents weren't perfect, either, but I always knew I was loved, supported, and cared for, and that was all I could ask for when it came to Mason—that he felt the same way. That he knew all of those things to be true for him.

"Stop!" Mason shouted, placing his hand up and leaning forward in his seat.

We listened to the station for a moment and Mason groaned. "Not this one, Dad. This one's horrible."

They were playing oldies, so I could see how Mason was the least bit interested in it. I, on the other hand, knew it well. The song that was playing was Be My Baby by The Ronettes and, while it was still older than my time, I did remember listening to it with my dad when I was Mason's age.

My dad would be washing the car outside and blast the radio. All the neighbors loved it and didn't mind it at all that he was basically disturbing the peace. In fact, some of them even stopped walking and started singing and dancing to the beat.

The Ronettes were one of my dad's favorites. Them and The Temptations. He used to sing My Girl to my mom every time their anniversary rolled around. They were disgustingly happy, but I also knew that was incredibly rare. I was twenty-eight and in no rush to find a soulmate or any of that other nonsense, but it would have been nice to spend my nights with someone. And I always did wish that Mason had a mother-figure in his life. A boy should have a mother. That was something I couldn't give Mason and some days it bothered me more than others.

Mason's voice broke my train of thought. "Switch!" he declared.

I chuckled as I made a right turn. "You sure you want to use your one switch?"

"Mmhmm."

"All right." I switched the station over a few times before he called, "Stop!"

But I could tell he regretted it. In the mirror I watched as his facial expression turned rotten. "What's the matter?" I stifled a laugh. I didn't even need to ask, I already knew. They were playing Jessie's Girl , another oldie my son did not care for. As was obvious by the look he still had on his face.

"This is worse," he cried.

"We're almost there anyway, buddy. Should be there in the next few minutes if I don't hit another red light."

"Who's Jessie?" he asked.

I chuckled. I didn't exactly know and often wondered the same thing. "It sounds like he's a very lucky guy to be loved by some woman and this guy wishes he was with her. That she would love him. Does that make sense?"

Who was I kidding? I was basically trying to explain the complicated nature of love and relationships to an eight-year-old when I barely understood it myself.

I looked in the mirror one last time as I pulled into the resort and parked in my usual spot. "Sort of," he answered.

I chuckled. "All right," I said, as I opened my door and got out to open his, "sorry the music wasn't to your liking."

He shrugged. "It's okay, Dad. You didn't write the songs." He hopped out without preamble.

"Gee, thanks."

"So where am I going today? If Uncle Tyler's busy, can I hang out with Uncle Corey at the cabanas?"

I frowned and grabbed his backpack off the car floor before handing it to him. He put it on his back and asked, "So, can I?"

I shook my head. "Not today. But Stephanie said that you can stay with her at the activities center."

I didn't like how Mason had to hop around at the resort, each day being somewhere different, but I had back-to-back appointments most days and I couldn't very well bring him with me on my surf lessons. Thankfully, my boss and GM, Felicity Anderson, was an old friend and she looked the other way when I needed to bring him with me. And the guys' jobs had better flexibility, so he was often able to spend some of the day with them, but I always liked to ask first and had already asked Stephanie, thinking Mason might like to spend the day in a room literally dedicated to games and activities.

His eyes went wide and I felt optimistic that he'd be happy there today. Until, that was, he asked me, "Is Stephanie single?"

I furrowed my brows. Not this again. It came up every once in a while and I never knew how to handle it. "What makes you ask that?" He was so smart and intuitive most times, but others he stirred up trouble just as much as I used to. Sometimes I wondered what was going on in that little head of his. Scratch that, I wasn't sure I wanted to know. The innermost workings of an eight-year-old's mind was not the place I wanted to be.

"Well, you're always talking and texting," he said, looking up at me as if that made all the sense in the world.

Shaking my head, I shoved my car keys in the pocket of my board shorts. "Son, I talk to a lot of people, it doesn't mean I want to date them," I pointed out, taking his hand in my own and walking with him to the activities center, where Stephanie was expecting us.

He exhaled and kicked a rock as we walked. "I just think you should think about it, Dad."

Laughing, I looked down at him. "Oh, yeah?"

He nodded, his eyes still on the ground. "Yeah, you need a girlfriend. Max's dad got a new one and he's happy. Even Max likes her."

Max was his friend in school. They had a playdate at Max's house last weekend and now I wondered what exactly was going on over there. I'd have to call the fellow single dad and see what was up. "I'm plenty happy, buddy."

"But," he started and I could see this was going nowhere fast.

"Promise me you will not bother Stephanie with this," I said as I opened the door to the activities center, remembering the last time Mason got a bright idea about who I should date. It was years ago now and he involved Felicity, having no shame in bringing it up to her. Luckily, we were friends and she understood, even laughed it off with her wife.

I just hoped he understood that he couldn't keep bringing this up. He needed to accept that sometimes things were out of his control. This was one of those things. I much preferred spending my time with my son, not dating different women to only end up single. I'd been down that road before and didn't care to have a repeat.

And it wasn't like I didn't have the occasional hookup to satisfy my needs, but that was all it was.

Except that one time when I really started falling for this girl, Gemma. She was a guest at the resort—well, technically she was working for the resort—but we met when she was staying here. That ended, too, though, just like all the others.

And none of the women I had been with, not even Gemma, had met Mason. I had to be careful with who I brought around to meet Mason. I didn't want him getting too attached only to later be crushed when things didn't work out. Playing with my own heart was one thing, but my son's was a whole other.

He held out a pinky finger and I took it, holding it tight before releasing it. "Promise," he said, finally acknowledging my request for him not to bother Stephanie about her dating life.

"Pinky promises, those things are the real deal," Stephanie observed as she approached us. "What are you promising? Never mind, it's not for me to know. It's best when they're kept secret." She winked at me and bent down at Mason's side, opening her arms wide. "Am I going to get a hug, or what?"

Mason ran into her arms and gave her a hug. "Dad says I'm going to be staying here today."

"You sure are," she confirmed and then looked up at me as she got up.

I mouthed a quick "thank you" to her and she nodded her acknowledgment.

"How about you go in the back? I got a new game for the kiddos today and don't know the first thing about it. Maybe you can read the instructions and explain it to me?"

"Cool!" Mason ran off to the back, but not before throwing his backpack on the ground.

I bent down and picked it up, placing it on a chair off to the side. "Thank you for this," I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

She brushed off my comment. "Don't worry about it. I'm here anyways and Mason makes my job more fun."

I looked down at my watch and let out a sigh. "All right, well, I hate to just drop him off and leave, but," I let the words fall off as I pointed toward the door. "I have an appointment."

She waved a hand in the air. "Say no more. Go."

"My last appointment is at four, so I'll be by after then to pick him up."

I looked back one last time and waited to see if Mason would come out from the back and race toward me, wrap his little arms around my legs, and give me a hug. But he was getting older and those moments were becoming fewer and farther between.

It may not have been easy, but I wouldn't trade in being Mason's father for anything in the world. He was the light of my life and I was glad I made the choices I did. Otherwise, I would have never had Mason and he was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Once I was outside, I pulled out my phone and went to the group chat I had with The Hurricanes—that was what we called our friend group. And by friend group, I meant Hunter, Tyler, Corey, and myself.

The Hurricanes

Me: Nice going, Ty. You made me late for work.

Tyler: How do you figure?

Me: You and that blasted snorkeling gear. Mason came downstairs with it this morning, insisted you were going to teach him.

Hunter: Hey, hey, take your lovers' spat elsewhere, okay? Nobody's got time for your bull.

Tyler: Lovers' spat, my butt. What the heck is your problem anyway, H? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

Corey: He probably woke up alone again. That can make any man grumpy.

Hunter: Buzz off. I am not grumpy. Just annoyed that I have two chicks for friends.

Corey: You mean Ty and Lance, right?

Me: How did this become about Hunter's problems keeping a girl satisfied?

Hunter: I know how to satisfy a woman plenty.

Corey: Right, that's why you're still single.

Hunter: So are you, jerkhole.

Tyler: You're making fun of him for being single? That's a compliment.

Me: We're all single. Go us. Are you all done playing tiddlywinks now?

Tyler: Where's Mason anyway?

Me: I dropped him off with Steph. Figured he might have some fun with the other kids at the activities center.

Corey: Listen, if you need me to watch him for the day, I'm more than happy to.

Hunter: Yeah, same.

Tyler: Whatever you need, man.

Me: Thanks, guys, but right now I just need to get to work.