Bruce laughed, but the laugh landed a beat late.
“Just guy talk.”
Lily came running up then, sand in her hair and triumph on her face.
“Uncle Jim, come see! It has a moat!”
Jim scooped her up with an exaggerated grunt.
“A moat? What kind of engineer are you, kid?”
“The best one,” Lily declared.
I watched them walk toward the water, my brother and my daughter, and I told myself the tightness I’d noticed in Jim’s jaw was just leftover stress from the move. Bruce reached over and squeezed my hand.
Daddy told me not to tell you…
“You look happy,” he said.
“I am happy.”
And for that afternoon, I let myself believe it, even as some quieter part of me kept circling the beat that had landed late in his laugh.
The fourth afternoon smelled of coconut sunscreen and warm sand. Lily’s small hand tugged at the hem of my beach dress as we walked back toward the resort path.
“Mommy,” she whispered, glancing over her shoulder at Bruce and Jim, who lingered near the water’s edge in low conversation.
I bent slightly, brushing sand from her hair.
