No one followed.
Captain Reyes watched until she was gone.
Then he brought the golden box to Noah.
He carefully lowered himself onto one knee.
“Mind if I sit here, Buddy?”
Noah wiped his cheeks with the back of his wrist.
“My castle is broken.”
Noah stared at the ocean.
“She did it on purpose.”
“She did.”
The lifeguard did not soften the answer.
He did not pretend otherwise.
He gave Noah the truth.
Then Captain Reyes placed the golden box on the sand between them.
“Can I show you something your dad left behind without knowing it?”
I stared at him.
So did Noah.
“My dad?”
Captain Reyes opened the box once more.
This time, he lifted the velvet lining.
Hidden beneath it was a laminated photograph, its edges faded from years of sunlight and dust inside a drawer.
He passed it to me first.
The man in the picture was younger, barefoot and shirtless, with wet sand covering his arms to the elbows.