“Sorry if I’m disturbing your fishing prowess.”
“You’re not.”
“I see that,” she said, nodding at the still-empty stringer.
“You don’t always go fishing just to catch a fish or two. It’s also about peace and quiet and letting go of stress. The motions involved in fishing are good for those things and clearing your mind of all sorts of thoughts.”
“Really?” There was skepticism in her tone. “Guess I was concentrating too hard when I tried it before.”
“Yes, really,” he responded. Then he turned to face her. “I dare you to try it again and see that it is true.” He held out his rod and reel. His expression said he doubted she would take the dare. And that was all it took.
“I accept the dare.” She joined him on the riverbank, pushing the sleeves of her shirt upward on each arm, determination on her face.
“Okay, so let’s see what you got.” He stepped to stand behind her…very close behind her. There was a pause in her bravado. But no turning back. She reached for the reel, but he held it back.
“Carefully,” he instructed, “a good rod and reel deserve respect and handling with care.” He held the reel out to her and nodded as she reached out slowly and grasped the reel with one hand. “Nope, mine is heavier than the one you used before, so use both hands to get it under control.”
She did as instructed. And to her surprise, he was right. It weighed more than she had first thought.
“Okay, now get a grip on it in your left hand.”
“But I’m right-handed,” she pointed out.
“I know, but you have more control of the reel in the left as you have to manipulate the line with your right hand.”
Erin didn’t think that was correct. But she tried it his way. It was awkward. And the weight was not pleasant in her left hand.
“I think this would work much better the other way,” she said, and decided to change things around, which only served to cause the reel to move and begin to bobble around while she tried to catch it, letting the line go and the switch had not been set on the reel, so the weight began spinning the reel and the line began growing in length. She tried to stop it but that’s when he reached for it, too, and she wanted to correct it herself. So she moved to her side and then everything went out of her hands and while he tried to catch it, they bumped into each other and before they could avoid it, the rod and reel went one way into the water, and then Erin slipped on the wet riverbank and let out a cry, which made Rance forget the fishing rod and try to grab for her arm, only he began to slip and lost his balance and there was a big splash as Erin felt the coldness of the spring water hit her full force and then another wave of it hit her when Rance landed in the water beside her.
The quiet and stress relief theory of fishing went by the wayside. The depth was such that, once they got on their feet, they could stand and try to get back onto the riverbank. He made it first, but she was mad. Without thinking she reached for his belt to pull him back and leverage herself at the same time. All she accomplished was to have him slide backwards, throwing him balance-off, and he landed on top of her. She received a gulp of river water for her work. She came up spluttering.
“You tried to drown me! Are you crazy?!” She spat the words out along with the water. Her hair hung over her face, and she tried to remove it so she could see. But her hands had hit the river bottom, and they were coated in mud as she jerked them up and tried to rearrange her hair.
“I’m not trying to drown you! Let me get up there and help you out.”
“I don’t need your help. That’s what got us in here to begin with—your help!” She pushed past his outstretched hands and crawled up the bank on her hands and knees. He stood in the water watching.
Erin finally was able to stand up, and she turned in his direction. Before she could speak, the man burst out in a huge belly roar of a laugh that stopped her still. Her hands went to her hips, and her anger was in the tapping of her foot…in the mud.
“What is so darn amusing?”
He had to take a couple tries to gain some composure to speak through the laughter. Finally, he found his voice. “You…you are so amusing. You can’t see yourself but the mud on your face.” He had to allow more laughter to escape before continuing, “You wiped at it but it is a perfect racoon mask.” Then he burst into laughter again.
Erin felt both angry and embarrassed. So, what did she do? She stomped both her feet, lost her balance again, and went into the water…again. Then the laughter stopped. She threw her wet hair back over her shoulder and turned to glare at him, but he was up and on the bank. Only instead of his laughter, he held out his hand toward her.
“Seriously, give me your hand and let’s get you up here and then you can hit a hot shower.”
Hot shower…those were magic words. Honestly, Erin felt she might not ever get all the mud out of her hair and from every other body part. She looked at the hand still outstretched. But he had laughed…and laughed hard. He hadn’t apologized. She should take his offer. Erin moved closer to the bank. Her hand reached for his; he grasped it with both of his. Then he pulled and out of the water she came. Once more on the bank, she smiled. “I really should thank you.”
And he was caught off guard by her smile. And that was the moment she chose to give him a huge push, while he was off his guard and down he went into another splash.
This time, she turned and gave him her best version of a runway walk, head held high and soggy tennis shoes sloshing their way across the deck. And she laughed the whole way.
*
Rance had just had his shower, and, with a change of clean jeans and red pullover, he had some semblance of a clearheaded person again. Then the phone rang. And his heart did a strange number when he realized it was the captain calling. He sat on the edge of the bed, took a deep breath in, and then answered.
“Captain, how goes it?”
