of him, and he fished all the time. He knew what he was doing.
"Are you from Galveston?" I asked Drew. It would seem like I would know him if he was.
"Houston," he said. "My parents have a camp over here, and we come play golf. Today, I was here with a friend of mine. He's the one who told me about the… he told me… anyway, that's why I’m getting rid of that ring, because of something he told me. I took off after we talked, and that's when I saw you guys. He's still waiting for me. He rode here with me. It's going to be really weird on the way back to Houston. I might even make him get another ride. I don't know. Maybe he did me a favor. I'm sure he did." Drew was speaking casually, laughing it off, but I was sure it was more of a heartbreak than he was making it out to be. I knew it had something to do with the ring, and I assumed there was a woman and a breakup. I looked at Drew who was looking out at the line.
"Reel it in a little," he said to Mac. "And watch that cork in case you get a bite."
"Don't worry, I am," Mac said.
"Just say 'yes sir'," I said.
"Yes sir," Mac said. He glanced at Drew to make sure Drew wasn't upset about his lapse in manners.
"You're doing good," Drew said. "Although we might not trick any fish with that fake worm."
"Maybe you can come fishing' with me and Pap sometime. He knows where to get you some shrimp."
"I'd love that," Drew said.
"Listen, if you want to go on my Pap's boat right now, we can just go over there. He'll take us on it anytime we ask him to, and it's a lot bigger than this."
"My dad's at work," I said, shaking my head apologetically. "There's no way Pap could go fishing right now. And his boat's not much bigger than this one."
"Yes ma'am, it is. It's way bigger," Mac said, glancing behind him at the boat and being brutally honest without meaning to hurt Drew's feelings.
Mac glanced at me after that, and I leveled him with the motherly stare that said I didn't want him to say anymore.
"It's okay," Drew said. "This is my baby boat, anyway."
"What other boats you got?" Mac asked.
"We have several. A speed boat, a party boat, a sail boat."
"I rode on a sailboat one time," Mac said. "With Pap."
"Is Pap his dad?" Drew asked, looking at me.
"No, no, it's my dad," I said. I made a tiny shift in my expression—there was a small regretful edge to my smile as I looked at Drew. He got the idea that I didn't want to mention Mac's dad. I could tell he understood by the way he looked at me.
"I got one, I got one," Mac said, hunching down and growing rigid. Drew instantly came to stand behind him, holding onto him, even though I had a grasp on him as well. I let go once Drew got fully behind him. Drew helped him reel it in, but the fish got loose before they got it to the boat.
"Aw man, that was a big one, too!" Mac said.
"Do you want to do it again?"
Mac nodded, and Drew cast the line again.
Chapter 4
"Then we went fishing until all day because it took us so long to catch one, and even when we did, it was just an old catfish, so we just cut it loose, and then we went back to the dock, and it was almost dark outside, so Mister Drew said he would walk us back to our car since he couldn't see it from the dock and he didn't want us to go back by ourselves."
I could hear Mac spilling his guts from the other room, and I cringed, knowing it sounded like more than it was. I went into my parents' living room to meet Mac and my dad. We planned on eating dinner there and we had come back later than expected, so my dad was already a little worried when we came in.
"What is he talking about?" my dad asked, staring at me with a confused, concerned stare.
My father, Daniel King—recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was a military man and a very protective father. It had taken a lot of restraint for him to keep from confronting Bradley when all that happened with Mac. It ate