I understood the whole point of fishing in the first place. Between the moments of silence, the moments when we thought maybe there was something nibbling on the end of either of our fishing poles, the moments where fish seemed to dash around right below the surface of the water before disappearing further into the blue, a sense of calm poured over me, one I hadn’t felt in weeks.
One I hadn’t really felt in years.
And even though I’d never had the chance to meet my father when he was alive, in those small moments it felt like he was standing right beside me and Jack. Like he would’ve been there on the pier with us, his hand rifling through the tackle box as he playfully harassed Jack about forgetting to bring beer along for the fishing trip, as he cracked a joke or two about the fact that I’d never been fishing before that afternoon.
“Did you have fun fishing today, Austin?” Jack asked as we stepped into the Bed & Breakfast lobby. We’d been walking back toward the building for the last few minutes, our conversation dying down as we made the trek. “Or did I just completely waste your time?”
“I had fun.” I smiled as I spoke. “I can see why you and my father used to go fishing. It’s… calming, in a weird way.”
“Why weird?”
“Because you’d think not catching anything would be frustrating,” I explained. “But instead, it’s… nice. Just the idea of catching something feels better than actually shoving a fish into a box, you know?”
Jack smiled in response. “You’re a lot more like your dad than you’ll ever know, Austin.”
“How so?”
“Saying the idea of something is more fun than the thing itself?” Jack lightly laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything more Edward Williams in my entire life.”
“I guess it’s just something in the genes.” I chuckled along with Jack before I noticed a young woman, huffing and puffing as she leaned against the front desk.
“Excuse me? Excuse me?” she whined as she tapped her manicured fingernails along the countertop. “Oh my God. Don’t these people have a bell or something?” She turned around toward me and Jack with a frustrated look on her face. “Sorry to bother you guys, but do you know how to get in contact with the people who run this place? I swear, I’ve been trying to get someone to help me for forever.”
“Well, I wasn’t supposed to be on shift until later in the afternoon… but I think I might be able to help with that.” I beamed, walking over to the front desk, soon taking my place behind it. “What seems to be the problem?”
“Oh. Oh my God.” The woman’s face fell into a grimace. “I’m totally sorry! You and your boyfriend were on a lunch date or something, weren’t you?”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“You don’t have to do that.” The woman giggled as she shook her head. “Seriously. It’s not a big deal. My best friend’s gay.” She waved her hand as she went on. “Anyway, I just wanted to check into my room. I reserved a suite online, but I forgot to print out my reservation information. Would it be all right if I showed you everything on my phone? And you can totally call HQ or whatever to confirm the details.”
“Sure. That works for me.” I nodded and held out my palm.
The young woman then placed her phone in my hands. “You can scroll down to see everything.”
“Can I see some ID, too?” I asked as I started to scroll through her online reservation. “And we’re going to need to hold a card, too, just in case there are any charges to the room.”
“Of course—”
“Shit! Sorry!” Eddie apologized, his footsteps headed right in my direction. “I know I was supposed to be working the front desk, but I got caught up with something for Search and Rescue. Turns out, it wasn’t a big deal, though.” Eddie’s gaze then shifted over to the young woman checking in. “Sorry about that, ma’am. You weren’t waiting too long, were you?”
“It’s no big deal.” She smiled back at him. “He was just helping me check-in—”
“Austin, why do you have her phone?” Eddie turned his attention to me.
“Because I was looking at her online reservation—”
“That’s my fault,” the woman chimed into the conversation. “I was running late for my flight and I forgot to print it out.”
“No, that’s fine,” Eddie assured her, plucking her phone out of my grip and handing