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“Almost,” I lied again.
Matson couldn’t contain his laughter, which made me laugh too.
Before I knew it, the car was filled with uncontrolled giggling, Ryan included. I’d almost forgotten we were being followed until Ryan pulled his car into the paid parking lot and craned his neck to watch the truck continue down the road past us.
“Maybe we’re just being paranoid? I haven’t heard from him since the windshield night.”
“It was him,” Ryan said firmly.
“How do you know?”
His jaw tightened. “I just do.”
I pulled Matson’s backpack filled with beach toys from the trunk and helped him out of Ryan’s car. The three of us walked to the playground before Matson said he wanted to build a sandcastle first.
“Have you ever caught sand crabs?” Ryan asked.
Matson’s face lit up. “No. Do they hurt? Are they big? Can we catch them? Can we, Mama?” He looked at me, and I nodded.
“Come on. I’ll show you how to find them.” Ryan reached for his hand, and they walked toward the water’s edge.
I snapped a couple of pictures on my phone as I followed behind, my heart nearly bursting at the sweet sight.
“Okay, first we wait for the wave to come in,” he said, still holding Matson’s hand. “And as soon as the wave goes out, we look for little holes in the sand.”
“Holes?” Matson squinted up at him.
“Like that. See?” Ryan pointed at the wet sand where a tiny hole appeared. “It’s an air bubble, and it means they’re in there. Hurry. We have to dig before the wave comes back.”
Ryan fell to his knees and thrust both hands into the wet sand. Matson followed suit, having no idea what he was looking for until Ryan laughed.
“I have one!”
Pulling his hands out of the small hole he’d dug, Ryan showed Matson a fistful of wet sand before shaking it away. The tiny gray sand crab appeared and quickly tried to bury itself back into the sand, but found only his hand instead. The crab kept trying to burrow with all its might, but it was no use.
Matson stared at Ryan’s open palm. “Does it hurt?”
“No, it tickles.”
When Ryan put the tiny crab in Matson’s hand, he giggled before quickly dropping it and watching it disappear into the mud.
“I dropped him.”
“It’s okay, there’s more.” Ryan’s eyes met mine, and I smiled at him. He was so natural with my son, it was like he’d always been in our lives.
“Let’s build a castle first,” Matson exclaimed before running away from the water and toward the playground.
I stared at Ryan until he noticed and stopped walking.
“What?” he asked with a smirk.
“It’s just . . .” I shook my head. “You’re so much more than I expected.”
“You are too.” He leaned down and planted a quick kiss on my cheek.
“Ryan, Mama, come on!” Matson shouted as he plopped down in the sand.
I could tell that Ryan was on edge even as he pretended to be calm. Every so often, he’d stop his work on the sandcastle we were building with Matson and scan all around us.
