“Charlie, give me the phone. And will you please pipe down while Daddy talks to Uncle Marc?”
“Marcus” came Tom’s warm voice as Charlotte continued to call out to Marcus. “Really sorry about that. She speed-dialed before I had a chance to stop her, the little madam. Listen, you don’t have to do this. I imagine you had a late one last night, it being Saturday and the end of the month. And I know you like to sleep in Sundays. There’ll be other days—”
“Give me an hour. To get ready and get over there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” said Marcus, scrubbing a hand over his eyes before resting his forehead on his pale forearm. “Why not? Need an excuse to get moving on a Sunday. And to be honest, I could do with a dose of sunshine.”
AFTERnegotiating the long queue of excited families—seemed as though the whole world had the same idea that glorious Sunday morning—they finally made their way into the theme park. Tom led the girls away into a single-family cubicle while Marcus changed in the communal men’s area. Apart from feeling a little tired, he felt grateful to be able to spend time with his surrogate family in the sunshine and also to road-test the skimpy designer swimmers his staff had bought him for Christmas. Comprised of comic superheroes in vibrant colors, the stretch material just about covered all the bases. After that, he spent a few minutes plastering on a reasonably protective UV factor sun lotion before donning his designer sunglasses and leather sandals. Unsurprisingly, he was ready and waiting a good ten minutes before Tom and the girls finally emerged. Leaning by a tree opposite the changing facilities, rucksack and cooler box at his feet, and safe behind his shades, he enjoyed noticing the passing stares of appraisal of both men and women.
Tom, by contrast—when they finally emerged—had stripped down to knee-length swimming shorts of navy blue cotton that might have been unflattering on anyone else. Fortunately he chose to go bare-chested, so at least Marcus, along with the rest of the water park, had the pleasure of seeing his defined arms and chest, complete with the mat of dark chest hair. Unlike Marcus, nothing about him had been gym-wrought, everything courtesy of his outdoor physical occupation. Shame he didn’t feel the need to flaunt what he had. Maybe Marcus could work on that.
As soon as the two of them were near enough, both spoke the same words at exactly the same time.
“What the hell are you wearing?”
“Me?” said Tom before Marcus had a chance to reply. If Marcus was not mistaken, his cheeks had colored slightly. “Indecentdoesn’t even begin to describe those—panties. You’re practically naked. Up close I can almost tell what religion you are.”
“Ha, ha, very funny. At least I don’t look like a 1950s soccer player. Exactly how old are those shorts?”
“I’ll have you know these are Fred Perry’s.”
“Then I suggest you give them back to him.”
“Yay, Uncle Marcus. Batman and Superman,” said Charlotte, pointing to Marcus’s swimwear. “And Wonder Woman. Yay. Daddy, you should get some.”
“They’re really cool, Uncle Marc,” agreed Katie.
Marcus lowered his shades to gloat at Tom, which, in return, had Tom grinning and shaking his head.
“I think my point has been made, Grandpa. Now let’s go and find somewhere to set up camp.”
Although Water Kingdom was far from the largest water park in the country, the owners had created an open-air space where families could sit under real trees or on sun beds beneath parasols within easy viewing distance of their brood. More integrated parks had usually opted to house their slides under a large domed roof due to the unreliability of English summers. Water Kingdom sat open to the heavens, with only four towering twisty slides in blues and grays. In a smaller, shallower pool—Treasure Island Cove—they also catered to the smaller children, with shorter slides set amid plastic bamboo shoots and built into waterfalls, sliding down from pirate galleons or carved into models of giant fallen coconut trees.
Even Katie appeared to let go, splashing around in the water, always with her father close by her side. While Charlotte insisted on repeatedly riding the coconut slide with Marcus, after an hour Tom and Katie retreated to the dry shade of the tree where, earlier on, they had claimed a spot and made camp.
“I didn’t want us to overdo it, otherwise Katie gets short of breath,” said Tom, tossing Marcus’s towel to him as they joined them forty-five minutes later.
“Totally understand,” said Marcus, toweling himself down before doing the same to a giggling Charlotte. Once they had finished—the towel draped around his shoulders—and everyone settled, Marcus reached into his rucksack and pulled out some folded-up tartan material.
“Okay. Hands up if you’re hungry?” he said. Of course both girls stuck their hands in the air.
“Because Uncle Marcus has brought a picnic. Charlie and Katie, you’re in charge of the picnic blanket.”
“Marcus, you didn’t need to do that. I was going to take them to the park café.”
“For junk food? Come on, Tom. You know me better than that. Most of this I already had in the fridge. The rest I brought home from the restaurant last night, rather than throw it away,” he said, pulling plastic tubs, plates, and cutlery from his cooler. “Which includes, Mr. Bradford, our very own twist on someone’s favorite dessert cake.”
“You did not bring carrot cake?” said Tom, his eyes lighting up.
“Old Country carrot cake, indeed.”
Later on, with everyone full, Marcus lay on his front in the sun. Tom took the girls to wash the plates and cutlery, and when they returned, they settled back in the shade. Marcus gave the girls one last task: to dispose of the litter in the three recycle bins opposite where they were sitting. He watched them go, holding the shopping bag full of litter between them.
“You’re a real star for doing this,” said Tom. “I hope you realize how much this means to them. And to me.”
“My pleasure,” said Marcus, turning to grin at Tom.
