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The zipper-like sound as they cast their lines filled the air. Well, all but one, since as he’d warned, Paul had managed to hook his…in his mom’s hair. Worm and all.
“Ouch. Ouch,” Daisy said, trying to find the end of the line. “Oh my God. Please tell me the worm is not in my hair.” Her voice had taken on an unnaturally high tone that told him she was doing her hardest not to freak out.
“Paul. Take my rod, and you two make sure your lines don’t cross. Here,” he said, reaching Daisy’s side, trying not to laugh even if the picture of her stuck on the end of the rod was a tiny bit funny.
“You’re not finding this amusing, are you?” she asked, giving him a side-eyed look.
“Never.” He tried to unthread the hook and line from her hair. “I’m going to need to take the braid out, is that okay?”
“Yes, fine, just get it out.”
He slipped the elastic from the bottom and pulled his fingers through the heavy softness to break up the plaits before returning to focus on the hook. Only, with the massive amount of hair she had, he wasn’t sure he wasn’t making things worse. Then there was the fact that even though the smell of fish bait had filled his nose moments ago, it was hard to miss the fresh, fruity smell of strawberries that wafted from Daisy’s dark tresses.
When the thought had passed his mind a time or two of what it would feel like to run his fingers through this mass, he hadn’t imagined he’d be digging out a wiggling worm as did so. He choked back a laugh.
“I can hear you laughing,” she said in a warning voice.
“Sorry. I’m going to have to cut the line. Hold on.” He squatted and dug around for the pocketknife he kept in his fishing box.
There.
Flicking his wrist, he opened it, and the blade caught the sunlight.
Daisy’s eyes were wide as she saw it. “You know what you’re doing?”
“For the most part.” He cut the end closest to the hook and let the pole drop to the deck. To save her from further worry, he pulled the worm from the hook and tossed it into the water. “Worm’s gone. Now, just another minute…”
It was strangely intoxicating standing so close to Daisy, his leg occasionally bumping against hers as the boat rocked idly over each wave. Her breathing was a little unsteady and he wondered if the effect was caused by the once wiggling worm caught in her hair…or from him.
It took a minute to finally retrieve the hook and he held it up for her approval. “There. You’re free.”
She took a step back. “Thanks. And I think on that note, I’m going to safely watch the three of you fishing from”—she waved her hand toward the older girls—“over there.”
Jack watched as she moved a little unsteadily across the deck, her hips swinging softy, before catching himself.
He wasn’t seriously ogling a single mom in front of not just her three kids, but his own daughter as well, was he?
He pulled his attention back to Natalie and Paul who had the cutest expressions on their faces as they watched the lines completely enthralled.
“Am I holding it right?” Paul asked.
It was hard to miss the need for approval in his tone.
“You’re doing perfect. You both are. We’ll just be sure to work on your casting the next time.” Jack added another mark against the guy who not only let a woman like Daisy get away, but who clearly didn’t see the value in spending time with his own kids.
He glanced back at Daisy, who had been watching them with a strange smile on her face, but at meeting his eyes, looked quickly away.
“What are you working on, Lily?” she asked, gazing down at the iPad in his daughter’s hands.
Without taking her attention from the screen, Lily explained the latest game she’d installed and how to earn bonus points. Jenna, he noticed, had tried to keep her gaze on the drawing she was doing in a sketchpad, but was now craning her head past her mom to see.
“Don’t you play this game on my phone, too, Jenna?” Daisy asked.
Reluctantly, Jenna nodded. “Sometimes.”
“Have you gotten to the seventh level?” Lily asked.
“The one with the crossbows and limestone? Yep.”
