Liam sighed as he pushed his finger into the damp sand, making a hole.
A shadow fell over him.
Peering up, Liam frowned. With the direction that his thoughts had taken, Liam wasn’t prepared to deal with hisgrumpy neighbor. Who Liam refused to acknowledge would make the best Daddy.
“What?” he whined. “It’s cloudy outside! I’m not getting sunburned.”
Jude thrust another tall glass of lemonade at him.
“Sandy!” Liam said as he held up his dirty hands.
“It’s glass. It’ll wash. Drink.”
He sighed but Liam was thirsty, and the lemonade was so good. Liam wrapped his hands around the glass and drank deeply.
“And just because it’s overcast doesn’t mean you won’t get burned. There’s a better chance of burning since you aren’t thinking about the sun,” Jude said.
“I’m wearing a shirt.” Liam held out one arm just to prove his point.
“No hat or sunglasses. Do you have sunglasses?”
“Yes,” Liam replied. They were just in his SUV where sunglasses belonged.
Jude sighed before he pulled a spray bottle of sunscreen from his pocket.
“But I’m all sandy still,” Liam argued. “And I’m not done playing!”
“I figured you were still working on this,” Jude said as he toed one of his collapsing walls. The sand toppled over. “Oops.”
Liam huffed. “I’ll get better! This is the first time I’ve ever built sandcastles!”
Jude crouched down in front of him. “Not even when you were a kid?”
“We lived in Missouri. We didn’t have an ocean.”
“What about in a sandbox?”
Liam shook his head.
“On vacation?”
Again, he shook his head. Liam didn’t want to admit that building sandcastles felt like a little thing to do, and he’d been too embarrassed to try before.
Jude shook his head. “That’s not right. Everyone should build sandcastles.”
Liam beamed at him. “It’s fun.”
“It’s thirsty dirty work. You drink your lemonade and if you’ll allow…I can help you put some sunscreen on.”
“You’ll do that?” Liam couldn’t believe it.
Jude nodded sharply.
“Thanks.” He had to swallow back his emotions. Jude was a total Daddy. This was just proving Liam’s point. “I appreciate it.”
“Hold the glass away from you so I don’t get anything in it,” Jude ordered.
Liam did so.
