Liam’s life could be better. He’s recovering from a divorce and a bitter custody battle, which he loses. He dearly loves his six-year-old son, Lucas, but seeing him every second weekend is never enough. His one salvation is the sea. When he’s sitting on the sand, watching the waves rolling in, he feels at peace, calmed and restored.<br><br>One day, the waves are particularly high, and the sea particularly rough. He’s surprised to see someone swimming in such choppy seas. When Liam calls out to the man, asking if he needs help, the man simply waves back. Liam thinks he must be an idiot. Little does he know the person he sees is no man, which he discovers two days later.<br><br>When they meet, Liam is both horrified and fascinated. His curiosity produces a strange attraction that changes their lives irreversibly forever.

The Sound of the Sea

After ten minutes or so, Lucas started to get out of breath and had trouble swimming about.


“But, Dad, I haven’t seen hardly anything.”


Liam grabbed his son’s leg and pulled the boy to him. He turned and wrapped the boy’s arms over his shoulders. “Hop on. Are you holding on?”


He swam back to shore, carrying Lucas on his back.


“We can go back out when you’ve had a rest.” He took the goggles and snorkel from Lucas. “Are you thirsty?”


Afterwards, Liam put more sun cream on Lucas’s face and shoulders, then sent him off to play with his bucket and spade. He took out his mobile phone and started going through his messages. When he’d finished, he logged onto Facebook and skimmed all the meaningless posts the few people he considered friends had added.


Chapter 29