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She steps back, pulling her rod with her. I come up behind her and take her hands in mine, helping her reel it back in.
Caleb looks over at us and rolls his eyes. “Girls,” he says.
Taeli gasps and kicks at him, splashing water onto his waders.
“You’re gonna scare the fish,” he scolds.
She looks at me. “One afternoon fishing with your brother, and suddenly, he’s an expert.”
“He is a better student than you are,” I say.
Her mouth falls open.
“It’s true. Now, let’s give you a lesson in casting, so you don’t tangle with us or scare the trout.”
It’s a fun afternoon. Taeli never quite picks up the rhythm needed to be a good fisherwoman, but she tries, and Caleb has a great time, instructing her.
By the time dust settles over the mountain, he and I have bagged three nice-sized trout.
“Can we try one more cast? I want to catch another one, so Graham and I will be even,” Caleb pleads.
“One more,” Taeli agrees.
After we all get our lines in the water, I get her attention.
“Tell him now,” I whisper.
She nods.
“Hey, bud,” she calls.
“Yeah?”
“Remember that trip to Cabo with Dad?”
He nods.
“Well, he called this morning, and an emergency came up, so he won’t be able to go now,” she tells him.
He looks straight ahead and doesn’t respond.
“Caleb, did you hear what I said?” she asks gently.
“Yep.”
“Are you upset?” she asks.
Again, he doesn’t respond.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No. It’s fine. I’ll just see him when we get home,” he says, and the emotion is heavy in his voice.
Taeli cuts her eyes to me.
“At least you’ll get to see the fireworks with Tucker now,” she offers.
“Won’t that be fun?” I ask, trying to help.
He looks over his shoulder at us. His brave face is firmly in place, but he is clearly disappointed.
He nods. “That’s what I wanted to do. I should have told him no in the first place,” he says.
The fact that he was more worried about hurting his father’s feelings than his father was about hurting his makes me want to drive all night to Illinois to punch Damon in the face.
Caleb gets a tug at his line, and his head snaps around as he shouts, “I got one!”
I rush over to help him with his reel, and he is back to excitement when he pulls in the biggest catch of the day. He holds it up to proudly show his mother.
When he turns around, she mouths, Thank you, to me.
Being in the creek and having a good day softened the blow that I had known his father’s cancellation would deliver.
I’m glad I was able to help.
We gather our gear and our catches and pile back into the truck. I take Taeli and Caleb to dinner in the valley before taking them home.
“I’ll take the fish and put them on ice so that I can show you how to clean them tomorrow,” I tell Caleb.
“Cool, I’m going to go find Granna,” he says before hopping out and running inside to tell his grandmother about his day.
“You all right?” I ask Taeli.
