The beach property next door to Mo was perfect. The sand dunes were blown into place by the wind in a way that obscured all but the top half of the second floor of Mo’s house. If we built a house on the beach, Harley and I would have both privacy and a stunning ocean view.

The ocean waves were much calmer than the day before. Harley let Rudy off his leash. We all watched as Rudy tore down the beach into the water. Harley called for him, and Rudy dutifully turned around and paddled his way back to shore. As he neared us, Rudy shook hard and sprayed us all with salty ocean water.

Jack said, “Thanks, Rudy. I didn’t need another shower today, but the spritz is refreshing.”

I grinned. “You should see Rudy after we give him a bath.”

Mo asked, “Don’t you take him to a groomer? I’d think that would be the easiest way to do it. No muss. No fuss, and he comes back with a great haircut.”

I suggested something similar to Mo’s idea when we first discussed how to bathe Rudy, but Harley would have none of trusting the dog to an outside groomer. He looked at Mo and shook his head. “No, we do it like my family gives Tex baths. One of us takes Rudy into the shower enclosure, strips down and bathes him in the shower. He looks like he’s a criminal with a death sentence, but it gets the job done.”

I said, “What happens next is we open the bathroom door to let Rudy out, and he races around the apartment shaking and spraying everything in sight with water. I have to follow in his wake wiping down anything that might be at risk from the water.”

Mo said, “Groomers are the way to go. There’s no mess, and he looks smart and sharp with the trim.”

Harley asked, “But what’s the fun in that? It would change Rudy’s entire personality, and I love him the way he is.” Harley kicked off his shoes, stripped off his T-Shirt, and jogged down to the edge of the water with Rudy at his side.”

Mo called after him. “If you want to get naked, we won’t tell anybody!”

I said, “I think it’s too chilly for that. Of course, I probably wouldn’t say no if that’s what Harley wanted to do.”

Harley kicked at the water as the waves slowly surged onto the beach. He shouted, “C’mon guys, join me! The water is excellent this morning. I can’t believe how warm it is once you get in it. Does anybody have a ball or something I can throw for Rudy?”

We all shrugged. Jack said, “I guess we didn’t think about that. There are some small balls up in the house that float, but we’ll have to do that later.”

Mo added, “We can try giving him a workout with old baseballs. I have plenty of those. Usually, they’ll float for about a minute before they start to sink. We could give Rudy the challenge to get there before the ball disappears.”

I imagined an ocean floor littered with Mo’s old baseballs. Maybe tiny coral animals would attach themselves to the baseball leather and eventually form a reef.

While Harley played in the waves, Mo paced out space among the dunes and said, “I think you could put a house right around here. You don’t have to build one as big as mine if you don’t plan to do a lot of entertaining. You don’t want anything too fancy either. Most of these houses will probably eventually be claimed by a hurricane. Sometimes, I think my house is overkill, but if I got Chase and Aaron to come out here and join the four of us along with Javier and his woman, we would need all of the guest rooms.”

I asked, “What are the restaurants and bars like around here? Are they good? One of the things I love about the Sea Islands in Georgia is the seafood is some of the best I’ve ever eaten. It doesn’t come from upscale places either. Some of the best fried fish is served up out of buildings that aren’t much more than weatherbeaten shacks.”

Mo said, “There are great places in Kitty Hawk and bars down here on Hatteras and even Ocracoke. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed about that. Jack and I went out for New Year’s Eve in Kitty Hawk. That’s where we started burying the old hatchets and thinking about what we could be if we took a new look at each other.”

I turned toward Jack. “You went out for New Year’s Eve? That’s romantic.” I thought about my upcoming first New Year’s Eve with Harley. For a moment, I closed my eyes and saw us dancing with confetti drifting down from above.

I opened my eyes when Jack spoke. “And we ended up dancing on the beach.”

I raised an eyebrow and pointed at Mo. “You mean that big lug dances?”

Jack nodded. “He’s good at it, too.”

I gestured toward a flat spot in the sand. “Show me.”

Mo didn’t hesitate. He adopted a dancing pose, and Jack joined him. They each kicked off their shoes, and Mo began to hum as they gracefully danced around in the sand.

Harley jogged up to join us with Rudy at his side. He said, “Wow, I never knew that Mo could look so graceful dancing. I envy that.”

I asked, “Can you dance, Harley?”

“I can slow dance like we did the other day, but I would need some training to be as graceful as they are.”

Mo and Jack stopped the dancing, and Mo said, “Maybe if you do well enough the next few seasons, they’ll invite you onto one of those TV dancing competition shows and teach you how to do it. I’ve seen other baseball players learn.”

Harley shook his head. “It sounds like a sure route to embarrassment on national TV.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think the viewers would love you, and then we could dance together.”

Mo asked, “So what are your thoughts on the land? I’ll call the owner, and we’ll get the papers put together if you want it. I don’t think the land is officially on the market yet, but he told me to let him know if I knew someone with a genuine interest.”

I looked at Harley, and he looked back at me. I asked, “Is there any reason to say no? We could come up here on the days off during the season next year. It would be a lot of fun. The drive isn’t that far. It’s six hours. That’s easy to do in a day.”

Harley nodded. “I think we’ll do it!” He held up his hands for Jack and Mo. We all high-fived in celebration.

Mo said, “Jack, I think we’ve got neighbors.”

Jack smiled. “I think we have the best neighbors. I’m looking forward to it. The two of you are a great couple!”