Page 68 of Tide Over

Heather chuckles, shaking her head. “And have some fun too, Isla.”

But once Heather is gone, Mason jumps to his feet, looking up at me.

“Can we look for worms? Can we fish? Can we use my diggers in the sand? In thewater?Can I dig a hole? Then fill in the hole? Can you throw me in the ocean like you promised?”

Liam stifles a laugh behind him, and Isla sighs loudly with a shake of her head.

I nod slowly, trying to contain my own laughter. “Yeah, bud. Why not?”

“Yeah!” Mason pumps his fist in the air. “Let’s go!”

Isla pushes to her feet with a sigh as Mason runs to the door to put his shoes on. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to read.”

I nod, placing my hands on her shoulders to steer her towards her books on the kitchen island. “I’ll bring a chair down to the dock for you.”

She smiles widely and picks up her books, clutching them tightly to her chest. “Perfect!”

Liam grabs one of the Adirondack chairs for Isla and takes it down to the dock while I help Mason bring his bag of diggers. He settles near the rocky shoreline beside the dock and dives into his project right away, digging a hole as if his life depends on it. Within minutes, he’s covered in mud and sand, grinning from ear to ear, and the happiest I think I’ve ever seen this kid.

We sit on the edge of the dock, drinking our coffee, as the warm sunshine offers a comforting contrast to the cool water as we dangle our toes in it. Liam chuckles beside me as we watch Mason play, and Isla lounges in her chair with a book, completely absorbed in her own world.

“You might have to dunk him in here after all,” Liam says, taking a sip of his coffee.

I huff out a laugh, watching Mason reach deep into his hole and pull out a handful of dirt. He sifts through it in search of worms, and when he doesn’t find any, he wipes his hand on his shirt and reaches in again.

“Or hose him off.” I shrug. “Pretty sure he’d be down for either.”

“I found one!” Mason says suddenly, jumping to his feet and holding his hand in the air. “I got a worm!”

“Awesome,” I say with a chuckle, watching as he runs up the dock towards us.

He holds it out proudly when he reaches us. “Liam, look!”

Liam laughs, leaning in to inspect his worm. “That’s a big one. You could catch two fish with that.”

Mason’s eyes practically pop out of his head. “Can I…?” His eyes dart to me.

“Well,” I say, pushing to my feet, “we do need something for lunch. Let’s catch some fish.”

He lifts both hands in the air and tilts his head back. “Yeah!! Best dayever!”

Isla glances up from her book with a furrowed brow. “Do I have to stop reading?”

“No,” I say with a laugh. “Read all you want.”

She grins, grabbing another book from her stack. “Best dayever.”

By the time I grab the fishing rods from the barn and Liam helps Mason bait his hook, the kid is vibrating with excitement.

“I’m going to catchtwofish,” Mason declares, beaming as Liam passes him his rod.

“Two more than your uncle then,” Liam says, smirking as I hand him his rod.

I shoot him a look. “You’re full of it. You only caught a couple more than me.”

Liam huffs as he grabs a worm from the bait box. “More than a couple.”

Mason looks up at me with a furrowed brow, then to Liam. “Uncle Theo fishes lobster. Maybe he needs help with mackerel?”

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