Tamed By The Professor

Chapter 3

The seaplane engines cut to a low growl and the little red and white bird skimmed across the water. Eliot could see fish darting beneath them like silver coins.

Liam had his face glued to the window the entire forty five minute flight from Malé, his nose leaving greasy prints on the glass.

"Papa, look. The sea has stripes",He calls out to his father. Eliot followed his son's finger.

The Maldives looked like God had spilled turquoise paint across a dark blue canvas and then dotted it with perfect green commas of palm trees.

The plane banked, the pontoons kissing the lagoon and taxied toward a wooden jetty that stretched out from a crescent of white sand.

A sign read: WELCOME TO PARADISE ISLAND RESORT & SPA. A staff member in a crisp white shirt and sarong waved a paddle that said REYES PARTY.

Liam bounced in his seat. "That’s us. We are a party.",Liam shouted happily.

Eliot laughed, the sound startling him. He couldn't remember the last time he had laughed like that. They were greeted with cold towels that smelled of lemongrass and two pineapple drinks in plastic cups.

Liam slurped his so fast he got brain freeze and ran in circles on the jetty yelling "Ow ow ow!",while the staff pretended not to be charmed.

Their room was at the very end of the beach which was the smallest category. Eliot had booked the cheapest over water villa he could find and still has air conditioning and a bed for Liam.

It was tiny, the ceiling low, the bathroom barely bigger than a closet, but the deck opened straight onto the lagoon and the water was every shade of impossible blue.

Liam dropped his backpack and cannonballed off the deck fully clothed. Eliot let him. They had two whole weeks. Let the kid be feral.

They changed into dry clothes and headed to the main restaurant for lunch. The buffet was included, so Eliot loaded two plates of fried rice, chicken satay, fresh tuna curry, mango salad and a mountain of watermelon for Liam. They sat at a table half buried in sand.

A group of European women at the next table kept glancing over. One, a blonde in a pink bikini top, smiled at Eliot and raised her glass. He pretended to be fascinated by cutting Liam's chicken into tiny pieces.

Liam noticed everything. "Papa, that lady is staring at your arms",he tells his father. "Eat your rice", Eliot answered.

"She's doing it again. And the one with the big hat too. They think you are handsome". He drew the word out like it was three separate syllables.

Eliot snorted. He felt heat crawl up his neck. He had spent years wearing oversized barong tagalog to hide the body he had built hauling cement sacks in college, but the Maldives sun demanded T-shirts. The faded gray one he wore now clung to places it probably shouldn't.

"Mind your plate, Captain Obvious", Eliot teased. Liam grinned, mouth full of watermelon. "You should say hi. Maybe she has a kid and we can play",he suggested.

"I'm on vacation from women, remember?", Eliot answered.

"That's dumb. You're old. You need a girlfriend before you get wrinkles".

Eliot choked on his iced tea. "I'm m thirty",he corrects. "Exactly, Ancient man".

After lunch they rented rusty bicycles from the dive shop and pedaled the narrow sandy paths that looped the island. The place was only a kilometer long.

They passed over water villas twice the size of their apartment back home, infinity pools that poured straight into the sea, honeymooners feeding each other strawberries on day beds.

Eliot felt the familiar twist of class awareness, but then Liam rang his bicycle bell like a madman and shouted "Race you to the turtle pond!",and the feeling anything except joy became impossible.

At the turtle sanctuary Liam lay flat on the jetty watching baby hawksbills paddle in a shallow tank. Eliot sat beside him,his sunglasses hiding the fact that he was watching people instead.

A yoga class was happening on the beach which consist of twenty women in designer leggings bending like pretzels while a tanned instructor murmured namaste. Several heads turned when Eliot walked past carrying Liam on his shoulders. One woman actually dropped her downward dog.

Liam noticed that too. He leaned down, upside down hair flopping, and whispered loudly, "Papa, I think your muscles are famous here",he teased.

Eliot flicked his ear. "You're enjoying this too much".

"It's funny! Back home the tita at the palengke says you look tired. Here everybody wants to marry you",Liam says. Eliot groaned. "No more telenovelas for you, young man".

They ended the afternoon at the kids' club where Liam immediately made best friends with a Swedish boy named Leo and a Filipino girl from Cebu whose parents owned half of Cebu.

Eliot left him building the world's most ambitious sandcastle under the watchful eye of two nannies and wandered to the sunset bar for a single bear.

He chose a stool facing the ocean. The sky was turning mango and violet, the kind of sunset that made you believe in things like second chances. A woman in a red sarong slid onto the stool beside him.

"You’re new", she said in a British accent. Eliot smiled politely. "Just arrived with my son",he answered.

"Ah. The little one building the fortress. He's adorable", She leaned closer, "And you're… very not adorable. In the best way".

He laughed under his breath. "Thank you, I think",He says. She waited for a while but he didn't offer his name. After a beat she shrugged and moved on to easier prey.

Eliot finished his beer, left a tip he couldn't afford, and went to collect Liam, who was now covered head to toe in sand and declaring he was never leaving, ever.

As they walked back along the beach at twilight, Liam holding a glow stick the kids' club gave out, he tugged Eliot's hand. "Papa?",Liam calls out.

"Hmm?", Eliot hums in response. "You smiled a lot today",Liam says. Eliot looked down at the small, serious face. "Yeah?".

"Yeah. You should do it more. It makes the pretty ladies dizzy",Liam suggest.

Eliot burst out laughing so hard he scared a heron into flight.

That night, after Liam passed out mid sentence while reading a picture book about sharks, Eliot stood on their tiny deck watching moonlight ripple across the lagoon. The air smelled of salt and frangipani. For the first time in years his shoulders didn’t ache.