able to pick up on, clear as day.
“It’s… nice to know more about him,” I admitted. “Even if the picture I’m getting isn’t that great. My brothers, sometimes they’ll bring up something that happened before I ever got here… but they talk about it like two people who lived through it, you know? And I know it’s not really my place to ask for clarification, because what if they’re talking about something bad that happened with Dad? I wouldn’t want to make them relive that, just for my sake.” I blew out a heavy breath. “Although, my aunt, Tina, always warned me that if I wanted to learn more about my dad, I was just going to end up disappointed. She always said he had a wandering eye, just like he had a wandering heart and a wandering spirit, too. She used to say that all of that added up to a bad man.”
“Do you believe that?” Jack’s voice was low. “Do you think Edward Williams added up to a bad man?”
“I think he added up to someone it might’ve been nice to know, as long as he wasn’t actually responsible for raising me,” I answered. “That seemed to be the problem with him. Having a family. Being expected to… be there for them.”
“Right.” Jack nodded. “You might be onto something there, Austin. And… I’m sorry that was the case. It’s not fair that your father was… well, that he was the way that he was.”
Jack then looked off into the distance, his interest seeming to have waned from the conversation. But just when I was about to excuse myself back into the main room, Jack turned to look over at me once again.
“Do you want to go fishing with me? Tomorrow?” Jack asked, his tone lined with hope.
“Fishing?” I was puzzled by his request. “You want to go fishing with me?”
“It’s just something I used to do with your dad,” Jack continued. “He used to take me out on the lake when I seemed like I was a little too stressed or a little too tired. And he always told me that it was going to make me forget about everything, at least for a little while. And… this might just be me overstepping, but I’m starting to think that you need to forget about a few things, too, Austin. At least for a little while.” Jack offered his hand out toward me to shake. “So? What do you say? Do we have a deal?”
“Why not?” I said as I shook Jack’s hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jack.”
“Right. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Jack beamed, pulling his hand away from mine, something seeming to sparkle right behind his eyes.
I didn’t know why I’d said yes to going fishing with Jack.
I’d never been fishing before in my life, and if anyone had invited me to go fishing back when I lived in the city, I would’ve laughed right in their face. There was absolutely nothing appealing about the concept of waiting around for a small creature to take a bite out of a line, spending my morning and afternoon getting burned by the sun while I sat out on a boat.
Where was the fun in any of that?
And yet, when Jack had asked me to spend tomorrow doing that exact thing, it was like I couldn’t say no to him. Jack was flowing with charisma, his calmness at dinner and his casual way of speaking to me afterward were enough to convince me of that. And as I reminisced about the way Jack had laughed as he’d told that story about his birthday, about how my father managed to salvage the party by bringing it to his doorstep, I caught myself lightly laughing, even though I was all alone.
And then, when I thought back to the way Jack shook my hand for a second time that day, the way his soft skin pressed against my own, rougher palm, I couldn’t stop the heat that rose to my cheeks. There was something slightly tantalizing about the thought of Jack wondering what I did for a living, curious about why a guy who worked at a Bed & Breakfast had hands that implied he worked in a rougher trade for a living.
Although, the more the thought crossed my mind, the more I realized that it was less about Jack being curious about my career as a cop, and more about the fact that Jack may have been thinking about me at all.
I really