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She looks fine as hell sitting in the lawn chair with her feet propped up on the railing of the dock with a fishing pole between her legs.
We haven’t had a bite for a while, and I’m surprised she’s not bored. I’m also surprised she isn’t trying to fill the silence. But she isn’t.
Her foot is tapping in rhythm like there’s a song in her head that she just can’t get out, and I wonder what it is. Knowing Andi, it’s something from the ’80s. That decade seems to be her favorite, even though she missed it by being born a couple of years too late.
Speaking of being born, next weekend is her birthday. I’m sure she’s thinking by now, I’ve forgotten, but I haven’t. It’s her 30th birthday. We need to do it up right. I plan on taking her out of town for a couple of days if she will let me. I have the whole thing planned out, but I don’t know that she will agree to being spoiled all weekend, so I think I’m going to tell her it’s a work trip. Then, when we get there, I’ll surprise her with a lovely quiet weekend in a cabin in the Smokey Mountains…and a few other little surprises sprinkled in.
I pull out my phone to make a few notes of things I need to pick up for the occasion-things that I think she will love.
When I slide my phone back in my pocket, I hear something next to me. When I glance over, low and behold, Andi is fast asleep.
Still holding the fishing pole.
Still sitting up.
And now softly snoring.
Hopefully, she doesn’t get any louder, or she will scare the fish away.
I get lost in my thoughts for a bit before Andi jumps up, suddenly awake.
“Jonas, I think I’ve got something!” She cries, pulling the fishing pole, which now has a ton of tension on it.
“Okay, baby, calm down,” I say, walking over to her. I set my own pole down and wrap my arms around hers, showing her how to reel it in, give it a little slack, and then reel it in again.
It takes a few minutes, but finally, she is pulling her fish out of the water.
“You caught a catfish, baby,” I say, pulling the fish up, careful not to poke myself.
I lay it on the dock, and he’s flopping around like…well…a fish out of water, for lack of a better term. Carefully, I begin to take the hook out of his mouth when I hear a sniffle above me.
When I look up, Andi is wiping a tear away from her eye.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” I worriedly ask.
“He’s just…he’s just. Look at him! He’s so helpless and so scared,” she says, pointing to the fish.
“Baby, did you not realize what we would be doing when we came out here?” I ask.
“I mean, I did, but I didn’t think it would be this sad. Look at him. He’s just a helpless little fish. He was just swimming around trying to find some food. He spots a big fat worm, and I’m sure he got all excited, and then BAM, he’s pulled to his death.” Now she is full-on crying.
I can’t help but laugh. “Do you want to let him go?”
She nods.
“Okay,” I say, picking up the catfish and gently releasing him back into the water.
Once he’s swimming away, she puts her arms around me. “Thank you.”
I kiss the top of her head. “Come on, let’s go back to the house.”
“We don’t have to. I’m sorry. Fishing is what you wanted to do, and I ruined it.”
I grab the fishing poles in one hand and take her hand in the other. “It’s okay. No big deal.”
As we begin to walk away, I add, “Let’s just not tell you what happens to the cows when they leave the ranch.”
Chapter Thirty-five
