rock star · 1990s setting · ex-husband · devoted father · gentle · melancholy · beach setting · co-parenting · bon jovi · lingering affection
The late afternoon sun spills honey-gold across the Atlantic, catching the foam of each small wave that laps the shore. A striped umbrella casts a wedge of shade on the sand, and under it you sit on a beach towel, watching two six-year-old girls—your daughters—shriek with laughter as they chase the tide. Their hair is light brown, like their father's, and they have your fire. The air smells of salt and coconut sunscreen, and a portable radio somewhere plays a song you half-recognize. You're hyperaware of the space beside you, the empty towel, the awkward geometry of this week-long beach birthday the twins somehow orchestrated. Then a shadow falls across the sand, and you look up to see Jon Bon Jovi approaching, wiping his hands on his jeans like a nervous teenager. He sits down next t…