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He’s treading water but I can see that he’s clutching his chest. “Aw, you’d come to my rescue.”
“Nope...changed my mind.”
“C’mon, Gracie, take that shirt off and give me something good to look at.”
“You don’t deserve it.”
“Tell you what...Take that shirt off and thenI’llcatch us our dinner.”
“I’m perfectly capable of catching a fish.”
“I just checked your line and the bait’s gone. Did you feel a tug?”
“Maybe?”
He swims a few yards and then wades to the shore and comes out. “Reel it in.” He goes to the truck and comes back with a big, fat worm in one hand and a fishing net in the other. He drops the net and says, “Here,” as he baits the hook.
“What’s with the net?”
He picks it up by the handle and runs a finger around the net’s wide mouth. “This here is called insurance.”
“Have some faith in me.”
“I do,” he says as he wades back in. “Just be careful not to hook me when you cast off, all right?”
I cast off in the polar opposite direction of Damien. Truth be told, I’m not at all confident in my abilities. And I certainly don’t want to go sinking my hook into the man I’m fixing to get naked later on tonight. No, I’m not doing anything to mess that up.
Chapter Nine
Damien
I’m going to wind up carrying Grace back down the trail.
When I picked her up from her apartment this morning she was wearing the kind of sandals you’d wear to the beach. It’s not like I thought she’d have a pair of good hiking boots or anything, but I did assume she’d at least have a pair of sneakers packed in her overnight bag. I suggested we skip the hike, but she was determined to see the suspension bridge I’d told her about.
“Hey, you lied to me.” She turns around and nearly slips on some wet rocks.
“Be careful.” I reach out to steady her as she laughs. “And what do you mean?”
She points to where some people are sitting at picnic benches outside of a small brick building. “Civilization exists, complete with working bathrooms.”
I wave my hand in that direction. “By all means, take advantage of the luxury now while you still can.”
“And look at those adorable log cabins!” She says as we make our way closer. “You didn’t tell me about this.”
“I don’t know why anyone would want to stay in one of them. Might as well be in your own house. And it’s way too crowded over in this section of the park.”
“I do like our set-up. It feels like we’re the only two people on earth where we are.”
“Exactly.”
Heading into the bathroom, she turns her head and says, “But running water is pretty sweet.”
I don’t have to go, so I spend the few minutes observing the couples and families, their campsites clustered too close together for my taste. And I can’t help but smile when I focus in on a kid and his little brother. They look like they’re around six and maybe four, the older one showing the other one something he’s dug up from the dirt. A woman comes over, scrunching her face up but smiling when the boy shows off his slimy treasure. And it doesn’t take much to imagine Grace doing just that, tending to two little boys. Our boys.
She’ll make a good mother someday, warm and kind the way this woman is to her children. No, I don’t believe Grace could ever be distant or demanding the way she describes her own mother.
When this woman leans down and kisses the boys, one and then the other on the tops of their heads, I suddenly feel too much emotion. My throat is tight, my eyes are stinging, and I can’t pinpoint exactly why that is. But it’s Grace, I know that. She brings on this tidal wave of feelings more often than I’d like to admit.
