“Nash would like to take you fishing,” she answered in a cheery voice. “Does that sound fun?”
He looked uncertain. “I don’t know how to fish.”
“I’m going to show you,” I told him. “Let’s go.”
I drove to a sporting goods store and looked like the consummate city boy with my designer jeans and expensive tennis shoes. Saige was wearing tight jeans and flat shoes, but she had that uptown look as well. We didn’t quite fit in with the plaids and old, worn baseball caps, but I didn’t care.
“Let’s start with the necessities,” I said and stopped in front of a row of tackle boxes. I had some at my place, but it wasn’t like I had used them in the last ten years.
“What’s that?” Jace asked and pointed to one of the boxes.
My initial response was surprise. Then I remembered the kid had never been exposed to this kind of thing. “That’s a tackle box,” I answered. “We’re going to buy hooks, bait, weights, and line to put inside it.”
“Why?” he said and touched one of the boxes. “I like this one.”
“Put it in the cart,” I told him. “We need tackle to catch fish.”
“I thought tackle was for football,” he said as we moved down the aisle.
“It is, but this is tackle for fishing. It basically means supplies. Grab some of those.” I pointed to some neon bobbers that we wouldn’t use but I remembered how much I loved bobbers when I was a kid.
“Those are cool,” he said and pointed out another package.
“Grab them,” I said without hesitating.
“What about these?” he asked and held up some neon worms.
“Toss them in. Those too.”
We were only halfway down one aisle and we were already looking at buying a second tackle box to fit all of our gear in. “What about this one?” he asked and pointed to a very large box with telescoping shelves.
I nodded. “I like it. Let’s do it. This one you’ll take home with you.”
“No,” Saige said. “You don’t need to do that. I think one sensible box thingy is enough.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s a tackle box and we need a lot of stuff. You don’t want it scattered all over your house, do you?”
“No, but we don’t need every little thing they have,” she argued.
“Saige, when is the last time you went fishing?”
“That’s not the point,” she argued.
Jace was watching me. This was the part when I was supposed to be a man. I didn’t want him to grow up and be a prick thinking it was okay to talk down to women. “I would like to buy these things,” I said calmly. “Having the right gear for any occasion is the key to success. Please, let me buy this stuff.”
She was looking at me like I’d sprouted a second head. It wasn’t my usual style, but I didn’t usually have an eight-year-old hanging on my every word. She seemed to understand. “Thank you. Jace, what do you say to Nash?”
Jace grinned. “Thanks, Nash. What about poles?” he asked and got right back into the shopping mode.
“Let’s go to the next aisle. This is going to be one of the most important decisions we make all day. This is critical to catching fish.”
He looked at me wide-eyed. “Okay.”
We spent a good thirty minutes handling just about every pole they had. A salesman tried to help, but this was something I wanted to do with the kid. It was fun to dig up all that stuff I remembered from when I was his age. It took me back to a time that was simpler. I wouldn’t say happier, but it was a hell of a lot easier.
“This is really too much,” Saige hissed as we made our way over to the clothing department.
“It’s just enough,” I replied and picked up a camo hoodie that looked like it might fit Jace. “Is this his size?”
“You are not buying him a hoodie,” she argued.
“I’m buying all of us hoodies,” I replied. “We have to look the part. Oh, I want to get one of those vests too!”
“I like it,” Jace said when Saige started to put the hoodie back.
“We’ll wear matching ones,” I told him. “We’ll be down by the water and it’s going to be a little chilly.”
I browsed the fishing vests and found one for each of us. “Don’t even think about it,” Saige said when I held one up to her torso. “There are lines that will not be crossed. I might wear that hoodie,