Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 90098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Alvin handed me his glasses.
I fucking hated seeing my boy this way, even though I knew it would be worth it in the end.
He was trembling, unable to relax fully, which exhausted him and gave him headaches.
He shifted the headphones slightly so he could hear. “We’ll go s-straight to the beach?” he stammered.
I nodded. “I promise. Trace said that earlier too. We might even call Kell and Teresa and have them meet us by the water so we can stay there all day.”
Trace peered over the door. “When you wake up, you’ll see water everywhere.”
Alvin choked out a soft snicker and got tearful at the same time. “I want that.” Tears trickled down, and he grinned, despite the anxiety. “I’m gonna see the ocean, Dad.”
Christ, stab me in the fucking heart—if he got mushy, I got mushy.
“Damn right. We’re so close now.” I cupped his cheek and brushed away a tear. “Just try to get some rest first, okay?”
He whimpered and nodded. “I’m gonna see the ocean.”
Goddammit. Now I had to wipe my own fucking cheek.
Pull it together, man.
I leaned in farther and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Sleep first, then the ocean. I’ll see you on the other side, small fry.”
He sniffled and nodded again, then readjusted his headphones. I pulled the covers up to his chin, and he screwed his eyes shut. I knew he was going to do his exercises where he tensed up every muscle in his body, then slowly tried to relax. It was the best way for him to fight off the sharper edges of the anxiety.
I closed the door carefully, and I blew out a long breath.
Then I turned around and— “Trace?” Why was he heading into the store? We had everything. We’d bought coffee not too long ago, and we had Gatorade and chips.
“I’ll be right back!” he hollered. His voice sounded strange, a little thicker than normal. “I’m gonna buy more sunscreen ’cause we’re staying on that damn beach until he’s overdosed on water.”
I exhaled a laugh and scrubbed a hand over my face.
What the fuck had I done to deserve that man?
Trace and I both exhaled heavily when I killed the engine.
We’d made it.
He’d directed us to the most perfect beach, way off the beaten tourist path.
The sun was going to rise within the hour, and until then, I wanted Alvin to sleep.
Those meds knocked him out cold, which would’ve been great if that was all they did. But he was going to be drowsy most of today, and that was why he didn’t like taking them.
It was a tricky balance. Lower the dosage and sleep restlessly with chest pains zinging and zapping through him, or…keep it the way it was, get some proper rest, and be tired as fuck the following day.
And still, they beat all the other meds he’d tried over the years. Especially those that gave him stomach problems.
“Say I wanted half an hour with you,” Trace said quietly. “You think he’ll wake up?”
“Not a chance.” A half hour sounded great to me, but we could do better. “Let’s take a whole hour.”
There wasn’t much for Alvin to see now anyway. It was too dark.
“Good, ’cause I bought us something. Grab our coffee.” Trace smirked a little and climbed out of the truck, so I followed suit, and we shut the doors as silently as we could.
The first thing that hit me wasn’t the humidity, but the smell of the ocean.
I drew a deep breath and felt some tension leaving my shoulders.
We’d fucking made it. We were in Florida. Maybe some fifty feet from the ocean.
Trace motioned for me to follow him, and I noticed he had a semi-see-through plastic bag from the most recent stop at another gas station.
Glancing around us, I made the call it was safe to leave the truck—and Alvin—behind for a moment. I knew he wasn’t going to wake up, and the area was dead. A single streetlamp illuminated half the gravel parking lot, and that was that.
We trailed over a sandbank, and then I saw the ocean for myself. The moon poked out from the cloud cover, turning the beach sand a pale blue shade.
“I don’t know why I did it,” he said. “The mood struck, I guess.” He dug out a few items from the bag, and I chuckled. A pack of smokes, a lighter, and two Snickers bars. “A new tradition,” he decided. “Only when we’re on vacation, and we only buy one pack.”
I shifted our cups to one hand and put an arm around his shoulders. “That sounds like a great tradition.”
We didn’t walk much farther. I sat down right there in the sand, and I patted the spot between my legs.
He smiled and sat down where I wanted him, and then he lit up our cigarettes.
After he handed me one, he grabbed his coffee and held it up.