She giggled. “Doro. We met the other night at McCarthy’s? Your mother said—”

“Whatever she told you, it was bad information. I’m seeing someone.”

“I heard about that. Maddie, right? I don’t know her, but then again we don’t exactly run in the same circles.”

“Lucky for her.”

“Excuse me?”

“Listen, Doro. I’m not interested. Sorry if that hurts your feelings, but please don’t call me again.” Regretting taking the call, he closed the phone before she could reply and stashed it in his bag.

“She doesn’t give up, does she?”

“Who? Doro?”

Maddie rolled her eyes at him. “Your mother.”

He shrugged, knowing he needed to act fast—again—to minimize the damage with Maddie. “That’s her problem, not ours.” He scooped up Thomas and reached out to Maddie. “Come on, let’s go swimming.”

She hesitated for only a second before she took his hand.

At the water’s edge, she eyed the waves with trepidation. “He’s never been in the water before. I don’t know if he’ll like it.”

“We’ll take it nice and slow.” As they waded into the surf, Mac dipped the baby’s feet into the cool water. Thomas bicycled his legs and let out a happy squeal that made them laugh. “Just like the bathtub, buddy, only bigger.” After half an hour of wave jumping, Mac stretched out on the wet sand at the water’s edge and dug a small hole for Thomas to sit in. The waves rushed to the beach, making a pool out of the hole. Thomas splashed and shrieked as Mac drizzled wet sand on his chubby legs.

Mac looked up at Maddie, who was taking pictures of them. “I think it’s safe to say he likes the beach.”

“We’ll be washing sand out of his crevices for a month.”

Mac laughed and plopped an even bigger pile of wet sand on Thomas. They played until Thomas began to yawn and rub at his eyes with sandy hands. “Whoa, dude,” Mac said, grabbing the baby’s hands. “Don’t do that.”

Thomas let out a lusty wail of distress.

Mac took him back in the water to rinse off as much of the sand as he could. Removing Thomas’s tiny bathing suit, he cleaned him up and carried him back to Maddie for a diaper.

“You’ve become an old pro.”

“He makes everything fun.”

Maddie smiled at him. “So do you.”

Mac slid a hand around her neck and brought her in for a tender kiss. “That’s nice of you to say.” He reached for the baby and lowered himself into a beach chair.

Maddie prepared a bottle. “Want me to feed him?”

“Nope.”

Once the bottle was finished, Mac burped him and snuggled him in close. The baby’s sweet breath fanned against his neck. “Is he out?”

“Like a light. You can put him down if you want to.”