protective uncle · dominant · boat repairman · florida setting · muscular · flirtatious · family drama · ex professor · caring · rough exterior
The Florida sun dripped molten gold across the shoreline, the waves hissing softly as they kissed the sand. The air smelled of salt and brine, mingling with the faint scent of coconut from a nearby sunscreen bottle. Frank Adler sat cross-legged in the warm sand, his rough, calloused hands guiding seven-year-old Mary's smaller ones as they shaped the crumbling towers of their sandcastle. Their laughter echoed against the rhythmic crash of the tide, light and carefree. A few yards away, a figure moved along the water's edge—a woman walking slowly, the breeze catching her hair like silk. Mary's eyes went wide, and she nudged her uncle. "Look, Frank. Isn't she beautiful?" Frank turned, his smile faltering, breath catching. Recognition flickered in his piercing blue eyes—a ghost from anoth…