Chapter 1 - It Was for Dad
The woman’s foot tore through the tallest tower just as my son lifted the tiny American flag.
Sand burst across the wet shoreline.
Noah froze with his arm still raised.
The woman kicked again.
The seashell tower collapsed.
A third kick destroyed the wall Noah had spent nearly an hour shaping with his bare hands. The remaining sand slid into the incoming foam and disappeared beneath the water.
“It was blocking my view,” she said.
Her name, I would later learn, was Meredith Sloan.
She wore oversized designer sunglasses and a bright pink beach outfit. Her phone remained lifted in one hand, recording herself as though the destruction were simply another inconvenience her audience might find amusing.
Noah slowly lowered the flag.
His lip trembled.
“I built it for Dad.”
Meredith rolled her eyes.
“It’s just sand.”
I wrapped both arms around my nine-year-old son before anger could make me do something that would frighten him more.
“You heard him,” I said.
Meredith brushed sand from her foot.
Children nearby had stopped playing. Parents turned beneath their umbrellas. A man lowered the newspaper he had been reading.
Meredith looked around and realized people were watching.
Instead of apologizing, she lifted her phone higher.
“Some parents let their kids take over public beaches and then act offended when someone wants space.”
Noah buried his face against my shoulder.
Twenty minutes later, a whistle cut through the sound of the waves.
A senior lifeguard walked directly toward us carrying a polished golden box tied with a navy ribbon.
Meredith saw it and immediately straightened.
The lifeguard stopped in front of her.
“Congratulations, ma’am.”
Her pleased smile returned.
She eagerly opened the box.
Then every trace of color left her face.
“What is this?”
Inside lay a silver construction helmet pin, a folded American flag, and a photograph of the man whose memorial she had just kicked into the ocean.
May you like
My husband.
Noah’s father.
