Summer By The Sea

He exhaled and held up his hands. “Sorry, but this is an emergency. I’m looking for my daughter, Lucy. She’s eleven. Medium-length brown hair. Yea high.” He used his hand to approximate her height. “Please, I can’t get hold of the woman who was taking care of her. Cassandra Shipp, you must know her? She’s a children’s book illustrator who lives on Wallis Point beach.”

“Yes, of course I know Cassandra.” The librarian smiled and stepped out from behind the desk. Luckily for him, she seemed to understand his state of mind. No mention of his bare feet, bare chest or orange lifeguard trunks. “I think I can help you, sir. I know where your daughter is.”

“It’s Sam,” he said in relief. “And thank you. I’m going out of my mind, here.”

“It’s not a problem.” She smiled sympathetically and beckoned him to follow her.

They zig-zagged through stacks of books that gave off a slight musty smell and finally ended up in a small open area with a row of computers.

Lucy was sitting alone nearby at a large wooden table. She was squinting in concentration as she tapped on her iPad.

“Lucy!” He ran over and hugged her to his chest. “I was worried something had happened to you!”

Lucy stiffened and frowned up at him.

The librarian hovered nearby, watching them. At Lucy’s less than enthusiastic reception, she suddenly seemed worried. “Is everything okay, dear?” she asked Lucy. “Do you need me to get you some help?”

Sam tried not to be insulted. He knew the librarian was just doing her job. He was trained to be sensitive toward dangerous situations with kids, too, so he understood her response. What he didn’t understand was Lucy’s reaction. It made him feel sick. But if he’d had a closer relationship with Lucy, frankly, then none of this would be happening.

His serious daughter shook her head at the librarian. “This is Sam Logan. He’s my father.”

Not a huge recommendation on his behalf.

“Yes,” the librarian said, “I understand. But are you all right to go with him?”

The breath seemed to leave Sam. He felt chilled, and when he saw the look in Lucy’s eyes, the chill deepened. Was she that indifferent to him? Did he not matter to her at all?

“I’m fine,” Lucy murmured, so self-possessed for a girl her age that he still couldn’t believe it. She went about shutting down her iPad.

“Are you sure?” the librarian pressed.

“Yes.” But Lucy didn’t look at her.

The librarian didn’t seem convinced. She pursed her lips. Her gaze dropped again to Sam’s swim trunks. “You’re a local lifeguard?” she asked. “At Wallis Point beach?”

“I am,” he answered dully. “I also teach earth science at Wallis Point Middle School. Sam Logan. I’m a registered mandated reporter.”

This meant he was trained to recognize signs of child abuse and to report them to the appropriate authorities. He took out the driver’s license he always kept in the pocket of his swim trunks in case he needed to show his identification on the beach and handed it to the librarian. “You can call my school principal and check on me. I’m sure you know who Tara is.”

The librarian squinted at his ID. “Yes, I know Tara quite well. Excuse me.”

She walked away, and Sam was quite sure she really was going to call his boss and check up on him.

He couldn’t remember if Tara knew about Lucy or not. Lucy didn’t live in Wallis Point, so she wasn’t a student in his school system. He didn’t talk about his personal life to his coworkers much. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so private about Lucy.

He definitely should have made her matter to him more. And until now, he hadn’t realized how important she really was to him. Until this, the first time he thought that he’d almost lost her.

While Lucy finished packing up her notes and papers, he sat with his elbow on the library table, nose pinched between his fingers. He just felt so beaten down.

Lucy stared at him, and her lip quivered. Maybe he was scaring her with his reaction, too. “Didn’t you get our letter, Sam?” she asked softly.