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“Of course.”
“I think Ember might like that. I’ll ask her.”
“There’s something else I’ve heard rumblings about that you haven’t bothered to talk to me about.”
“What’s that?”
Jacob cocked his head. “It seems I might become a grandfather again.”
Jake smiled. “We are working on that, yes.”
“Good.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
Jacob stood and picked up his rod, then cast it into the water. “Yep. Now, are we here to talk or are we here to fish?”
“I believe we’re here to fish.” Jake cast his line in downriver, then glanced at Jacob. “I love you, Dad.”
“I know you do, son. Never doubted that a day in my life. And J.T. was raised by the best. He’ll do just fine.”
“You had a hand in raising him too, Dad.”
“Nah. I was just background noise.”
“No. You were much more than that. Especially after we lost Rachel.”
“We O’Connells do what we need to do.”
After a couple hours of fishing, everybody gathered for the lunch Genny packed. Between the six of them who fished, they ended up with ten nice trout, which was enough to go along with the steaks they’d be grilling for dinner.
The picnic consisted of turkey and Swiss sandwiches, chips, fresh fruit, and brownies. While they ate, current and past fishing stories were shared. With Jacob’s annual story of the twenty-pound catfish he caught in Eddie Stanford’s pond when he was fifteen, being the highlight. Every year, the events of the story got a little more exaggerated. But everyone loved hearing Jacob tell it.
Lucy put a hand on Jacob’s arm. “I’m here to tell you I can vouch for most of that story.”
J.T. laughed. “You were there?”
“No. But I heard about it the next day from Eddie. The fish was a whopper and gave Jacob quite a fight.”
Jake grinned. “Well, we never doubted your story, Dad. But it’s nice to get some confirmation from a reliable source.”
Jacob looked at Lucy. “You had your eye on Eddie back then.”
“No. I had my eye on you. But you had your mind on other things. Like fishing, riding horses, and trying to talk your dad into letting you compete in the junior rodeo.”
“I was a little preoccupied at that age.”
Lucy looked at Ember. “When he was sixteen, he finally noticed me.”
“And how long did you date?”
“Almost three years.” She glanced at Jacob. “And then I’m afraid I broke his heart.”
He took her hand for a moment. “That was a long time ago, Lucy. The fact that you put up with me now more than makes up for it. Besides, it was a journey we needed to take to end up here. In this spot, on this day, with this family.” He got to his feet and looked at J.T. “And speaking of journeys, I need you to come take a walk with me.”
J.T. stood. “Yes, sir.” He glanced at Jake, who raised an eyebrow and nodded.
Jacob started walking across the field with J.T. by his side. When they were out of sight of the rest of the family, Jacob patted J.T.’s back.
