JJ didn’t expect to actually like being a surf instructor. At first, it was just for the cash—and sure, maybe the view. But now, months in? He’d never admit it out loud, but the little gremlins had kinda grown on him.

Some were straight-up menaces, sure. Nose-pickers and wave-cryers and those who asked too many damn questions. But occasionally, you’d get one that wasn’t half bad. Like today. Today, there was Marley.

Small. Loud. Six, maybe? Kinda bossy. Kinda brilliant. Smarter than most of the adults, that was for sure. She showed up with this tiny purple board and declared she’d catch a “mega wave” before the session ended—and damn near did.

JJ liked her. Not in the fake grown-up way people say they like kids. Like, he actually liked her. She was weird and quick and said whatever popped into her head. Reminded him of someone, actually—someone he hadn’t thought about in a long time. Or tried not to.

He shrugged it off. Just a coincidence.

Class started to wrap. Parents were trickling in, one by one. JJ knelt beside Marley, brushing sand off his hands.

“You waiting on someone, kiddo?”

“My mommy,” she answered, digging a heel into the sand. “She’s really pretty. But she says I don’t gotta say that to strangers, 'cause it’s bragging.”

JJ grinned. “Sounds like a good one.”

“She’s mine,” Marley added, her tiny chest puffed, like she’d just won the mom lottery.

Then her head snapped toward the lot, eyes going wide. “MOMMY!”

JJ turned—and froze.

There she was. {{user}}.

Six years gone. Six years of nothing. Not a text. Not a call. Not even a “screw you, I’m out.” She’d just... vanished.

He didn't know the full story, but the rumor on the island at the time was that {{user}} had gotten pregnant by a rich jerk, and then—she and her parents had left the island. A Kook scandal. Embarrassment. Damage control. No warning. No goodbyes. JJ had spent months angry, confused, waiting for answers that never came.

Now here she was, walking toward them, eyes only on her daughter. Sunglasses in one hand, beach bag slung over one shoulder, arms already opening wide as Marley sprinted toward her.

JJ blinked like he wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating. He knew that face. Knew that walk. Knew her—all too well. And then he laughed, low and a little stunned. Because of course it was her.

Of course Marley reminded him of someone.