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“White perch, if they’re biting, and maybe some bream.” He had four rods with reels in the boat already. Two with red and white corks to float the hooks to catch bream, and two with weights to pull the hook to lower, cooler depths for catching the perch.
“Crickets and shiners?” I asked. Shiners referred to small bait minnows used to catch white perch, or crappie, as they were also called. The minnows had to be kept in a Styrofoam bucket in coldish water so they would stay alive and active. The crickets were, well, crickets.
Casual looked good on Tanner, and discussing bait and gear gave my tummy a little tingle. This was a different side to him, and I liked it.
“I stopped by the bait store on my way home.” He held up a little screened bucket to show me the live crickets crawling around inside. “The shiners looked pretty good. Big.”
He grabbed the bucket with the shiners still in the plastic bag filled with air and water for safe transport from the store.
“If we catch any, you get to clean them.” I drew the line at fileting fish. I remember helping Daddy as a kid, but it was a skill I’d never become proficient at.
“Deal. But you’ve got to stay for dinner.” His eyebrows lifted.
“Only if we fry them.” There was nothing like fresh, cornmeal-crusted, fried fish from the lake or bayou. What we called the bayou had some pretty fresh water and moved enough to keep from becoming too marshy, especially in the area where Tanner lived. There were some parts farther down that were a tad bit swampier. But cypress trees, hung with moss, grew along most of the banks, giving the appearance of a slower-moving traditional bayou.
“Deal.”
We climbed into the small boat—much smaller now with the two of us and all our gear. Tanner was a large man. And he smelled like sunscreen and sunshine.
*
Tanner
“I’m impressed byyour skills.”
Carly’s cast landed her wiggly cricket a foot from a floating piece of dead wood beside the bank. “We fished a lot as kids with Daddy.”
“That’s obvious. Not everybody has such a way with a rod and reel.” Had that sounded suggestive?
She shot him a look that said it had, but he was spared her comment when she got a hit on her bait. “I’ve got one.” She reeled and pulled the slack, reeled, then pulled, handling the catch without a lot of drama. Like an old pro. Tanner grabbed the net when she got the fish close enough.
“Looks like you’ve got a good-size bass there.” They’d caught a half-dozen bream between them so far. This was the first bass.
“Not bad for a cricket as bait.”
“We can rig up a couple rods for bass fishing if they’re biting.” The hooks for bass fishing were significantly larger and more substantial than for bream since the mouths on the fish were much bigger. Bass fishing was a little more involved, mostly using rubber worms and a lot of casting outside the boat, but when bass were biting, you had to get them when they were hot.
Carly struggled a little to reel in the fish. “He’s a big guy. Should feed us both.” Tanner could tell Carly was excited about her catch. He scooped the fish the moment she’d reeled it close enough as it flopped to avoid capture. They both laughed as the fishy lake water hit them square in the face. “Might want to put on a little more sunscreen. Looks like your nose is getting a bit pink.”
“Yes. I guess if we’re going to be out here awhile, I’d better.” Tanner had stared at her nose for a second too long and he hoped she hadn’t noticed.
Tanner snapped the live well that held their catch shut and used the foot pedal on the troll motor to guide the boat back toward the dock.
“Oh, are we going back?” Carly seemed surprised.
“Um, nature’s calling me. I thought we might want to wash our hands and use an actual bathroom. If I were out here by myself, I would do things a little differently.”
Carly laughed. “Yes. I guess I could use a handwashing too.” Code word for bathroom.
By the time they’d both gone to the bathroom, washed hands, and unpacked the food, it was almost three o’clock. They ate under Tanner’s retractable awning in the shade. He had a small picnic table set up outside.
“This is nice.” Carly did indeed have a bit of sunburn on her face.
“Thanks. It works well most of the time. I like the solitude.” And he did, most of the time. But he had to admit that it was nice sitting here with her having lunch. The fishing was fun too. How long had it been since he’d shared anything with a woman? Too long, probably. His history with women and dating wasn’t anything much worth sharing.
He’d had a serious girlfriend, a fiancée even, but Kerry-Ann had gotten a better offer. She’d gotten into Harvard Law after a deferral at the end of their first year at LSU. So, she went. A long-distance relationship hadn’t been an option at the time. The workload and time required by school was all-consuming. She’d chosen her career over Tanner. And he hadn’t blamed her. But it had hurt, badly.
His heart was worth protecting, though it was probably time to allow himself to ease up on the care he took with not getting hurt. At some point he wanted what his brother had. He wanted a family. Maybe a couple kids. He’d heard from a former classmate that Kerry-Ann was living her best life practicing law in Boston. It only caused a twinge now.
