CHAPTER 8
Aiden dashed the tears from his eyes. My life might be over, but I will not die crying. I’m a man, and I will die like a man.
The sun beat down on his skin, and the hot pavement burned his feet. What a strange place, he thought, not for the first time, as he eyed the unusual creatures meandering by. He was not the only person walking down the street in a bathing suit. No one spared him a second glance, except a bony girl in a stringy bikini, who gave him a hungry look.
He turned away, walking slowly towards the water. How I hate being hot and dry. I want my sealskin. I want to swim away with Lia to somewhere quiet and peaceful and forget this whole thing ever happened. How could I have been so foolish?
In his mind, Aiden returned to that day, over four decades past, when he’d
