Before Dad died, we would all spend the summer at the beach. Mom and I would leave sometime after school had ended, and then Dad would fly out for long weekends. At the end of August, he would come stay for his two weeks of vacation before we would all head back home to Chicago together. When it was time for Dad to join us, he would work the night before and then take the red-eye, arriving at the beach house early the next morning. He always came straight to my room and woke me up so we could watch the sun rising over the beach together.
“Tyler,” he would say, shaking me gently. “Tyler. Come on. Let’s go.” When I was still young, he would pull me from underneath my covers and hold me in his arms, swaying back and forth as I slowly woke up. “Hot chocolate downstairs, buddy. Hurry, it will get cold.” He’d set me down on the edge of the bed and disappear through my door. I would search for my hooded sweatshirt, pulling it on over my pajamas and slip downstairs.
In the kitchen, Dad poured hot chocolate into his thermos. Then we headed outside and down the street to the beach. Sprinklers turned on and off as we walked past the immaculate lawns. I loved how the air smelled of salt and fresh-cut grass and the way the sun just peeked over the dunes at the end of the street. When we reached the beach, Dad opened his thermos and took a deep whiff of the steam rising out of it. He was a connoisseur of foods, always smelling and tasting. After smelling the chocolate in the thermos, he poured some in the cap and handed me the rest. I smelled it too, imitating what he did. I closed my eyes and inhaled fast and deeply, puffing out my chest and filling my lungs. A rich and sweet scent danced through my nose and then was gone. I tried to imagine what it was we were smelling, but I never asked him. I wanted him to think I knew.
As the tide moved in, Dad and I would stand side by side and watch the ocean crashing hard against the sand, frothing and foaming as it slowly advanced toward us. I nursed my chocolate—Dad always made me too much, and so early in the morning it was too sweet and heavy for my stomach. With both hands wrapped around the thermos, I crunched the sand between my toes, squeezing it tightly until my calves strained. The seagulls flew above us. They always knew when we had food. Sometimes I shouted at them or waved my arms to scare them away. But Dad put his hand on my arm. “Let them be,” he said. So I would.
After the sun came up and we finished our hot chocolate, we went back to the house where Dad made breakfast as I napped on the couch. He prided himself in his pancakes. “The best buckwheat pancakes the world over,” he told me as he slid a plate in front of me. “Take your time. Not everyone gets to eat these. Savor them.” Then he sipped his coffee and read the New Yorker as I ate.
I loved being up early with Dad more than I loved the pancakes.
My freshman year I joined the high school cross-country team. I was surprised at how good I was and how much I liked it. What I’d always thought to be a curse of being skinny and gangly was suddenly a gift. I was thin and lithe, with long legs that were built for long runs. I wasn’t the fastest guy on the team, but I held my own. Having been a bit of a loner in junior high, I now had friends on the cross-country team. We weren’t the coolest jocks in school, but we were a close group. And I liked being a runner.
During the school year, I ran early each morning by myself on Lake Shore Path. Running along Lake Michigan in Chicago reminded me of being on the beach over the summer: the birds overhead, the sound of the water, the mist in the air. When summer came, I started running along the beach in Stone Harbor. That first summer after I joined the team, Dad arrived at the beach house just as I was getting dressed to run.
“Hey, Marathon Man,” he said, appearing at my door.
“Hey,” I said, pulling my head through a long-sleeved running shirt. His eyes were dark and heavy looking. His gray slacks were wrinkled, and his red sweater hung from his shoulders. His hair was cut short, and little white hairs stood out against his scalp. He arrived earlier than I had anticipated—I had hoped I would be able to finish my run before he landed. He looked tired, and I felt guilty, thinking he had rushed to see me before the sunrise and I wasn’t going to spend it with him.
“How far you going?” he whispered. Even though Mom was down the hall in their room, he would whisper as we talked. He liked the stillness of the morning.
“Three. Maybe four. We’ll see.”
“No shoes?” He pointed to my bare feet.
I shook my head. I liked the way the sand felt against my bare feet. It would crunch up beneath my toes, just like when I was younger. “Too hard to run in the sand with shoes.”
“Oh.” He raised his eyebrows and cracked a smile. “Well, let’s go. I’ll walk down with you.”
We walked along the same street, the houses quiet, the lawns still immaculate. Dad carried his thermos. Not knowing I was running, he had already made hot chocolate for both of us. After that, he stopped making hot chocolate in the thermos and brought with him just a single cup of coffee. I wondered how he felt about that, the change from hot chocolate for two to coffee for one. But I never got to ask.
“Long flight?” I asked.
“Always,” he laughed.
“Get everything done before you left?”
“Never, but that doesn’t matter. People will still get their news, both today and tomorrow. And I get to be here with you.” Dad was the publisher of the Chicago Tribune, making sure the company hit its targets for the number of readers and revenue from advertisements. As a rule, the beach house had no television. When he was here with us, he’d say, he was all ours.
We reached the beach and he sipped his coffee. The waves attacked and retreated, and the wind ruffled my shirt against my chest. I jumped up and down and swung my arms in the air, trying to get my heart rate up. Once I felt ready to spring, I whispered, “Okay,” mostly to myself but loud enough for Dad to hear.
“Go get ’em, killer,” Dad said, tousling my curly, chestnut hair. Then I left him, smelling his coffee and watching me as I took off along the water.