“My contracting work gets a lot of girls going,” he joked.
“No,” she said.
He looked at her.
“Your military work.”
Caleb sat upright, rubbed his leg and sighed. “Oh, that thing.”
“Is that bad?”
“Kinda. You see, a lot of women have this fantasy about military guys. I get it. A big strong dude going off with a big gun to protect the country. But they don’t understand the shit that comes with it. They never do. It’s all bells and whistles until the bells crack and the whistling stops. And you being a hopeless romantic Pisces girl, it’s a fantasy. I respect it, but it’s a fantasy nonetheless. And it’s not as glorious as you think it is.”
“I never said it was glorious because of it being romantic, Caleb. It’s glorious because you’re doing something so selfless to protect people like me. You are doing what I can’t do. I can’t even live on my own without having panic attacks. I get overwhelmed doing a load of dishes. I can’t go to the movies anymore because of just being afraid of everything. Hell, I’m surprised I haven’t gotten anxious out here on this boat yet. But of course, I’m with you. Yet here you are, leaving your home for up to a year at a time, I’m assuming. You come home and still function.”
“Sometimes I don’t.”
She looked at him firmly. “It’s a shame you don’t see how amazing you are. I don’t give a shit if the bells don’t ring and the whistling stops or whatever it is that you said. You’re brave. You’re selfless. You’re strong. You’re everything I’m not.”
He reeled up his line and cast it again, then took another drink of beer. “You say that until I leave for deployment.”
Evie never stopped looking at him as his eyes fixed on the bobber.
“Watch me,” she said firmly. That caught his attention. “People get mad at their spouses for the stupidest things because they’re selfish. They don’t know what they’ve got, and they take it for granted. They act like everyone is replaceable, and they’re not. It’s called being faithful, and it’s called being proud of someone and loving them regardless.”
“Alright. In less than two months, I’m holding you to that,” he warned.
“Hold me to it now. I don’t care.”
They locked eyes and he saw her friendly smile. “If you want me to be, I’ll be here when you leave and when you come home.”
Evie’s bobber went down, and she freaked out, causing Caleb to laugh and urgently tell her what to do.
About five minutes later he took a photo of her holdingup a four-pound bass. She was proud of it. The lips felt slimy and weird in her hand, and she felt horrible for holding it out of the water. So, without consulting Caleb, she threw it back.
“Why’d you do that?” he yelled laughing with his arms outstretched.
She held her mouth. “Oops! Was I supposed to keep it?”
“What’s the point of fishin’ if you don’t keep what you catch?”
Luckily later on, Caleb caught a nice-sized catfish, and when he taught her how to prep it on land, she didn’t like the idea of that one bit. He teased her and went back to scaling it. “I thought you wanted to be brave and strong like me. Afraid of a little ol’ fish?”
She whimpered nervously, “I don’t like hurting sea life.”
He stood up and strutted over to her, leaning his head to the side and then handed her the knife. “It’s not sea life. It’s lake life.” He raised a brow and shrugged. “If I wasn’t here and you were starvin’, what would you do?”
She did it. And with it she learned how to make a saltwater ice slurry and how to store it properly in the cooler, and even how to bleed it. Afterwards, the cooler was put in the truck bed. He assured Evie that with the cold temperatures, the meat would last until tomorrow easily.
The night carried on with them lying by each other in the motel room, the same one they had previously. While Evie slept on his naked chest after making love, Caleb looked up to the ceiling with his arms behind his head. He couldn’t get out of his mind what she had said, how passionate she was towards him. He was unsure if it was even real, for how could anyone, anyhumantruly be that invested in someone? It was difficult for him to grasp the concept that a woman had liked him for almost two years, and she had turned down every suitor that came her way. He only knew that because she regularly posted up how frustrated she was that men wouldn’t leave her alone on Facebook.
“Evie?” he asked quietly.
“Hmmm?” she cooed with her eyes blissfully closed. Her hand rested lovingly across his heart.
“Why did you always turn down other guys who came after you?”
“Just because there are plenty of fish in the lake, doesn’t mean they’re all a great catch.”
