“I’m not asking for quiet—just a little space so he isn’t splashing people or kicking sand onto their things. There’s plenty of room.” The woman’s smile thinned into something brittle. She tapped the trackpad once, as if to punctuate the point.
“I don’t need advice on how to take care of my kid, thank you very much.” A small silence opened. The older man who’d noticed earlier gave the faintest shake of his head, a sympathy that didn’t quite reach intervention.