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“Yup. No law against it.” He opened a container of worms and pulled one out. “Huh. This is too big.” He broke the worm in half, and Crystal gasped.
“Oh my God. That’s mean. Why did you do that?”
He cocked his head. “You ever order a burger that came out bigger than you could open your mouth to take a bite?”
“No, but I’ve seen those before in restaurants.”
“Think about it. What size fish are you trying to catch?”
She blinked a couple of times, then grinned. “Got it.”
His belly flopped. So much for not reacting to her.
He made a point of holding up the hook as he threaded it through the worm so she could see what to do.
She winced. “A colonoscopy?”
“Never thought of it that way.” He laughed and plucked a bobber from his tackle box. After attaching it, he cinched on a weight and cast the line.
Crystal checked out her tackle box. She slipped on a pair of latex gloves.
He bit the side of his tongue to keep from making wisecracks.
She mimicked what he’d done with his line. Her face contorted like she was witnessing an autopsy as she baited the hook. “Sorry, sorry, sorry.”
A pang of sympathy went through Zach at the way Crystal cared about hurting the worm.
She cast. In less than a minute, her bobber twitched.
“A fish!” She reeled fast, but the line went slack. “Dang it.”
“Patience,” he said.
Crystal pointed to his bobber, which jiggled. “Something’s biting yours.”
Zach waited. Two more twitches. He reeled in the slack. When the bobber plunged underwater, he jerked his pole in the opposite direction to set the hook. The rod bent, and he reeled in a fish. A pumpkinseed sunfish about the size of his hand.
He unhooked and tossed it into the cooler.
“I saw pictures of those online. Their bright orange color is so pretty.” She brushed her hair back with her forearm and sighed. “I get it. I was too quick before. Now that I see how to do it, I know I can.”
He rebaited his hook and recast. “Of course you can.”
“Another fish.” She froze when her bobber bounced again.
This time she waited, and sure enough, it went under. She yanked her rod like he’d done and brought in the fish.
“Oh my God, I did it.” She jumped up and down.
The fish swung from the end of the rod.
Another pumpkinseed, about the same size as Zach’s. He couldn’t help but smile at her exuberance. “That’s a nice one.”
“It is. But now I have to clean it.”
Zach steeled himself. If she was grossed out by threading a worm, she’d die a slow death gutting a fish. “I’ll do mine too.”
“You will?” Her eyebrows shot up.
