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I stopped and looked up at him with a question in my eyes.
He returned it with a half-smile. “I hate to say this, but I wouldn’t count your ex out.”
I let out a heavy breath and continued down the path. “You have no idea what I did.”
“Must not be too bad.”
“Oh, it was.” I didn’t elaborate. Ryder—and Macey—caught up with us.
Julian held out his hand to Ryder. “I don’t think we were properly introduced. I’m Julian.”
“Ryder.” His voice sounded strained.
“I’m Macey.”
Julian surprised me by not ogling her, only politely acknowledging her. Instead, he kept pace with me. “Do you like to fish, Shelby?”
“Um . . . yeah.” I tucked some tendrils of hair behind my ear.
“Really?”
“That surprises you?”
“Most women I know would rather not.”
“Well, it’s all about who you’re with when you do it.” I swallowed.
He put his arm around me and gave me a quick squeeze. “I agree.”
Ryder took my other side.
Julian dropped his arm and flashed Ryder a devious smile just like Bobby Jay would have done. “Would you agree, Ryder?”
I wasn’t sure if he was taunting him or trying to help him out. Maybe Julian wasn’t sure himself. Men. They confused me.
Ryder scowled at Julian. “Never had a woman complain about it.”
I faced my ex-fiancé with a raised brow. “Do you take a lot of women fishing?”
“Only one.” He gave me a wicked grin.
I tried to hide the zing that went through me. “Now that we’ve settled that,” I said in a high-pitched voice, “does anyone know how we are going to fish without poles?”
“Jaime knows all sorts of ways how,” Macey piped in.
I turned around and gave Macey a pointed look. “He’s pretty amazing.”
Macey hung her head without a word.
The river was in view.
“All right, boys, don’t worry when I catch more fish than you,” I declared.
Both men chuckled. I missed that sound coming out of Ryder.
We found Jaime giving demonstrations about how to fish using only fishline, a sinker, a hook, and bait. He looked absolutely adorable and in his element. He probably wouldn’t appreciate that assessment, but the pure joy that radiated from him as he tossed his line out into the river’s current was refreshing.
“Now,” Jaime said, “since it’s the heat of the day, it’s best that you look for a deep pocket of water or a shady spot. Fish like to keep cool too.” He pulled in his line and turned around to face his captive audience. “So, who wants to try?” He happened to lock eyes with Macey. Macey wearing hardly a thing. Jaime’s jaw dropped while he turned multiple shades of red. “Man, it’s warm out here,” his voice squeaked. Poor man was smitten.
Macey, for her part, at least looked pleased that Jaime was so taken with her. Which made me even more confused. Were she and Ryder a thing? Would Macey try to start something with him if he was dating Marlowe? Was he dating Marlowe? Could he find a way to forgive me? My head hurt thinking about it all.
Everyone who had come to learn from Jaime stepped forward to try out this unusual way of fishing. Even some hikers not from our group joined in.
Jaime did his best to engage Macey and tried to get her to try it, but she was repulsed by the nightcrawlers he had dug up for bait. Macey batted her baby blues and asked Ryder if he would hook her worm. I watched and listened with interest to see how that would go.
“Darlin’, if you can’t hook the worm, you shouldn’t be fishing.”
I pressed my lips to hide my smirk. He had always baited my hooks for me. Not because I refused to, but because he loved me. A tiny shred of hope rose in my chest.
Jaime took that opportunity and offered to help Macey. Meanwhile, I unwillingly sacrificed the life of the slimy worm covered in dirt.
“Don’t forget to cover the entire hook,” Ryder whispered close to my ear, sending volts of electricity down my spine.
It took everything I had not to smile at him and ask him if he wanted to relive some of our “fishing” trips. Instead, I played it cool and baited the hook properly. “Watch and learn.” I headed up river looking for a shallow, shaded bank.
Julian laughed and followed. Ryder’s eyes said, who is this woman? He came along too. Thankfully Macey stayed put with Jaime.
Julian decided to make friends with Ryder on our walk, which was more like an obstacle course. We had to traverse rocks and walk under low lying branches. “What do you do for a living?” he asked Ryder.
“I own a software company.”
“Cool. What sort of software do you sell?”
“We launched the Worlds Collide app.”
“No way! My buddies and I use that all the time. We got a sweet deal on parasailing during spring break in Cali.”
