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“I am!” He was so eager to teach me what he knew about fishing that I found myself just as eager when we grabbed up the fishing gear and made our way to the lake about a quarter mile from our campsite.
It was quiet around the lake since most of the other campers and their chaperones were sleeping off their bellyaches. “This is nice.”
Titus nodded. “The quiet won’t scare away the fish so we can catch lots, even late in the day.”
“How do you know so much about fishing?” I’d known the kid his whole life, where did he pick up these fishing skills?
“YouTube. You can learn anything there.”
“Of course.” I shook my head and frowned. “What’s that red spot?” It was small but bright red.
Titus shrugged and put a hand to the back of his neck. “Just a bite.”
I was about to say more but some flying critter took a bite out of me and I smacked it. Hard. My pole started to move and I felt my excitement grow. “Titus, I think I got something!”
The kid gasped and turned to face me, violet eyes wide as he fought the urge to jump up and down inside the small boat. “Okay, pick up the pole and hold it as tight as you can.”
“Doing that, buddy.”
He giggled. “Now you have to tighten the slack, that means that you have to-,”
“Got it.” I followed his instructions with a smile. “Now what?”
“Pull up hard so you can do what’s called setting the hook, that’s to make sure the fish is on there for real.”
“Is this hard enough? I don’t remember fishing requiring so much arm strength.”
Titus giggled and doubled over as I let out a strained grunt. “Can you feel the fish on the hook?”
I tugged again and nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Reel it in and get the fish!” He jumped up and down as I did all the hard work, pulling the line from the water to see an impressive looking trout. “Wow!”
“Wow is right,” I responded in shock. “I think that’s enough for both of us, don’t you?”
“Oh yeah. Does that mean we’re done?” His shoulders fell in disappointment.
“Nope. Let’s put this one in the box and see if the fishing expert can catch one of his own.”
Titus stood a little taller at the challenge in my voice and stared at the water as if he could simply will a fish to bite. “I can. I will.”
There was that Vanguard stubbornness.
And that thought brought up what Persephone was up against with her ex, no doubt pleading his case at this very moment.
Persy
What the hell is the matter with me?
I was a single mother of an energetic and precocious little boy, and with a full weekend to myself, what do I do? Invite my ex over for dinner so we could talk. What we had to talk about, I hardly had an idea, but Ferguson had paid for a month at one of the B&B spots in town which told me he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“This place is nice.”
I rolled my eyes because this wasn’t a date and I wasn’t trying to impress Ferguson. “Yeah, thanks.”
“No, really. You’ve made a good life for yourself here, Persy.”
“I know that, Ferguson.” As if I needed his approval to feel good about the life I’d built for me and my son, when he opted out of our lives.
He turned away from the wall of photos that mostly featured me and Titus with Ryan, with Megan, Teddy, Gus and Oliver thrown in for good measure. “Of course. I didn’t mean anything by it, just that this place is cozy and nice and,” he shoved his hands in his pockets, suddenly looking nervous “You and Titus seem like you have a good life here. A really good life.”
“We do.” I nodded for the man I used to love to follow me into the kitchen. Dinner was a simple roast chicken with potatoes and root vegetables, because it would make it easier to talk about whatever had brought Ferguson to Jackson’s Ridge. “Drink?”
“Do you have any red wine?”
“I do.” Unlike Ryan, Ferguson was a wine man. Usually I had to coax Ryan into a glass of wine and tell him why it wasn’t disgusting. “Here you go. Enjoy.”
“Thanks.” He took a slow sip that lasted several seconds. When he set the glass down, Ferguson’s shoulders had lowered by a few inches. “I didn’t realize how much I needed that.”
“You seem a little wound up.”
He nodded. “I guess I am. Coming back here, to see you like this, it’s all been a little unnerving.” As if I couldn’t tell by the way he constantly rubbed his palms on his khaki pants, or raked his fingers through thick blond hair.
“Why? It isn’t as if we had a tumultuous relationship or a particularly bad break up.”
