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Gloomieswas a word his dad had used ever since Jon could remember. It aptly described Kylie’s expression and Jon’s own state of mind. Some mountains seemed insurmountable, and Kylie’s disdain was one of those.
Jon pulled a hand-tied fly out of his pocket. “I thought I’d see if she wanted to try this.”
“You still have your touch. Good fly.”
“I made it this morning. I wanted to show her how to tie them, but she wouldn’t look at me so I didn’t ask.”
“You have to ignore a kid’s bad humor and go for the jugular with something interesting. Like fly-fishing.” His dad took the fly and tucked it into the pocket of his chambray shirt. “Come with me. I’ll show you how it’s done.”
Not that it would do Jon any good. He already knew Kylie liked his dad and Martha. But he bit back his objections and grabbed a chair to follow his dad out onto the pier.
Kylie shot a glance their way before going back to watching the water.
Jon set down the chair for his dad, who awkwardly lowered himself onto it. He wanted to say something to Kylie, but he didn’t want to be humiliated in front of his father, so he settled on the pier a few feet away so he didn’t crowd her.
“What are you looking at out there? Mermaids?”
She tipped up her chin. “Mermaids live in the ocean, not Lake Superior.”
“I don’t know. I’ve always thought the Bete Grise Beach maiden was a mermaid.” The beach wasn’t far, farther on up the Keweenaw Peninsula. He could take her up there sometime.
She turned her attention to Jon. “What maiden?”
“According to legend, she was an Ojibwa maiden who loved a warrior across the Gitche Gumee, but they were never able to marry. When she wanted to connect to him, she’d walk the sand at the beach and sing to him. After she was gone, supposedly you can rotate your hand on the sand and hear her singing to her lost love.”
“Have you ever heard the singing sand?”
“She doesn’t like me.” Her gaze said she understood that sentiment, and he suppressed a grin. “I can take you up there sometime.”
“Maybe. But I’d like to see the ocean.”
Jon made a mental note of her comment. Maybe they could all go to Pelican Harbor or Hope Beach one day soon. He could get her scuba lessons when she turned ten.
Jon’s dad held out a fishing pole. “Let’s see if the fish are biting.”
She brightened and took the pole. “I don’t know why Mom had to leave me here. I could have gone with her or to Anu’s when Bree had to conduct a search.”
Jon bit back the explanation Annie had already tried. Mason was on official sheriff business. A little girl had no business going along on something like that. And she already knew Bree hadn’t gotten called out on an emergency search.
“What kind of fish do you like to catch?” his dad asked.
Kylie examined her pole. “The bass are jumping. I saw a couple of them.”
“I’ve got the perfect fly.” The older man handed her the fly Jon had tied.
She examined it, then attached it to her pole. “Did you tie it?”
“Jon did. He started making flies when he was your age.”
Jon thought he saw a hint of respect in her eyes when she glanced his way. He smiled at her, but she looked away. So much for that.
“I could teach you,” he said.
She pressed her lips together. “Not today.” She tossed her line in the water, and the red-and-white bobber bounced in the waves twenty feet away.
His phone rang, and he glanced at it. A call from the office manager back home was unusual enough that he rose and walked toward shore to talk. “Good morning, Norman. How’s it going in Rochester?”
“Sorry to bother you, but we’ve got a problem you should know about.” Norman had been part of the orthopedic practice since the beginning, and he believed in speaking his mind.The business wouldn’t have been so successful without his management.
