AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"What if my best isn't good enough?"
Since the plan for the Memorial Day barbecue was to eat some trout along with the steaks, the fishing trip needed to be to the creek. So, Monday morning everyone met at Sage’s house, then they hiked along the creek for a mile to their favorite fishing hole.
It was a pleasant walk, with the weather still in spring mode of the low seventies with a slight breeze. They had standard fishing poles, fly-fishing rods, an assortment of tackle, and a picnic lunch packed by Genny. They also brought two compact folding chairs for Jacob and Lucy, even though both of them insisted they didn’t need them.
Jacob was as recovered as he was going to get from his stroke eight months ago, and he’d regained about eighty percent of the function in his leg. He handled the hike fine with just a slightlimp. When he was in a saddle, you’d never know anything had ever happened.
They arrived at the fishing hole, which had a flat, grassy area under a canopy of trees. Genny and Lucy laid out blankets and set up the chairs as everyone settled in and prepared to fish or just sit and watch. Sawyer and J.T. went upstream to a spot they were sure was going to offer them some good fishing. And Jake and Jacob took their fly rods and walked another hundred yards downriver.
As they picked their spots to fish from, Jacob glanced at Jake.
“Are you going to tell me what’s been going on with my grandson? Hell, with everyone. Seems I’m the only one left out of the loop.”
Jake finished attaching his fly, then looked at Jacob. “We weren’t trying to keep it from you. I just haven’t gotten the opportunity to fill you in. It’s not a casual type of conversation.”
“You’ve got the opportunity now. What’s going on?”
Jake cast his line and dropped the fly on the far side of a rock in the middle of the creek. “Do you remember J.T.’s high school girlfriend?”
“Of course. He said she was back in town.”
“Yeah. It turns out that ah…she has a son.” The fly had floated downriver ten feet and he began reeling in his line. “J.T.’s son.”
Jacob scowled. “And you waited until today to tell me this?”
“We just found out yesterday morning, Dad. We kind of guessed on Saturday. But he asked her outright yesterday, and she confirmed it.”
Jacob sat down on a large round stone. “This isn’t some shakedown?”
Jake shook his head. “No. When you see the boy, you’ll see what we did. He looks just like J.T.”
“And she kept it from him all this time? What’s it been? Six years?”
“Yeah. She let her family convince her he wasn’t interested in the child. She’d written a letter, but it was never sent. Lots of excuses, basically.”
“Damn Freddy, right?”
“Yeah, but Joey isn’t blameless. She should’ve talked to J.T. herself. She bought into Freddy’s lies and let it go at that. Maybe she thought it’d be easier to believe J.T. didn’t want any part of the child’s life. But pretty damn inexcusable as far as I’m concerned.”
“So what happens now?”
“Now, you have a great-grandson.”
Jacob nodded. “Shit. Okay. When do I get to meet him?”
Jake smiled. “That’s up to J.T. I think we should follow his lead. He hasn’t officially met him. Just ran into him and Joey on Saturday.”
“So you’re a grandfather.”
“Yeah. I guess I am.”
Jacob grinned. “How does Ember feel about being a grandmother?”
“She’d like to come up with a term befitting a very young grandmother. It’s a little hard to accept when she’s not even thirty yet.”
“Hmm. I’m sure your grandmother would be honored to pass down Noko to Ember. If that would help. Or Nokomis. It still means grandmother. But it may sound better to her than grandma.”
“Are you sure, Dad?”
