“Yeah,” Liam laughs. “So the tide came in faster than we realized while we were busy trying to free the trap, and by the time we’d hoisted it up onto the largest rock, we had to climb up there too because the water was too rough to swim back to shore.”
“Our moms were on the beach yelling at us the whole time, and we didn’t hear them because of the waves, but once we were up on the rock and saw them frantically waving at us,” Aidan says with a chuckle, “we knew we were in big trouble.”
“We weren’t out there that long before the harbormaster showed up in his boat,” Liam says. “Not only was he a grumpy old bastard about having to come fish us off the rocks, but he was also like, ‘You boys have a permit for that trap?’”
Now I’m laughing too. “Did you?”
“Since we’dborrowed”—Liam throws up air quotes—“the trap from our neighbor’s backyard... we most definitely did not.”
“Did you at least catch any lobsters?”
“Yeah, but the Harbor Master threw them back in the ocean because we caught them without a permit.”
“Were you in trouble?”
“Not as much trouble as when we stole a boat,” Aidan says.
“Oh my god, please tell me you weren’t twelve for that one, too?”
“No, we were sixteen,” Liam says.
“Old enough to know better,” Aidan adds. “That one would have beenreallybad if it hadn’t been Bob who caught us.”
“That was my dad,” Liam says, and I note the past tense. “He stopped by the marina to drop off some bait for a charter boat leaving the next day and saw us pulling out into the open ocean.”
“You at least knew how to drive a boat, right?” I confirm.
“Yeah, but we were too young for a boating license and if my dad hadn’t hopped into our other boat to come after us, we actually could have gotten in big trouble if we were caught.”
“We were both grounded for a month for that one,” Aidan says. “Luckily, they didn’t find the beer we’d hidden on the boat earlier that day when we hatched the plan.”
“You guys were such idiots,” I say with a laugh.
“Just normal teenage shit,” Liam says, shaking his head. “Sometimes I wonder how we survived half the stuff we did. God help me when that one is a teenager,” he says, nodding his head toward the ceiling where we can still hear Jack moving around his room even though Liam put him to bed nearly an hour ago.
I glance at Aidan and notice his Adam’s apple bob. I wonder if he’s thinking about Liam being a single parent, and if that brings back memories of his own father’s death when he was a kid.
“Speaking of,” Liam says, when the silence grows heavy because neither Aidan nor I know what to say about the prospect of Liam being a single parent, “I better go check on him. I’m glad you guys stopped by. It’s been... different without you right across the street.” He and Aidan exchange a look I can’t quite read.
“You guys should come into the city and catch a game,” Aidan says.
“Yeah, maybe if we got a box or something it would be possible,” Liam says. I know he can’t go anywhere without the media hounding him these days. He’s been radio silent about his life since his wife passed, and while I respect that he needs his privacy, I also see it through the PR lens of “the less you say, the more people wonder.”
“Anytime,” Aidan says. “You just let me know. You’re welcome to stay at my place too, if you don’t want to trek back down here late at night.”
“A sleepover with Uncle Aidan would be the highlight of Jack’s life, I’m sure,” Liam says with a small smile as he stands to walk us to the door.
As we walk down the stone path that cuts through the front lawn, I don’t miss the way Aidan’s whole body seems less tense. Despite the heaviness of the losses both he and Liam have experienced, he’s at home here—relaxed and comfortable in a way I haven’t seen since our first night in Bermuda.
“You could have told me your best friend was Liam Freaking Walker,” I say when he takes my hand as we cross the street.
He gives me a little squeeze and says, “It was more fun to see how you’d react.”
“Gotta be honest, I was a little starstruck.”
His chuckle rumbles over the sound of crashing waves down at the end of the street. “Most people are.”
“How does the whole world not know you two are childhood best friends?”
