The grip Cap had on him tightened. “Please, Darrius. Fishing is what brings you peace. If you stay here, you’ll never get out of this dark hole you are in.”
I took a step forward. “He’s right, Darrius. Getting out and moving around has helped me tremendously. You should go with him.”
His eyes, a warm chocolate brown, met mine.
“Will you come too?” he asked, practically begging.
Cap’s eyes pleaded for me to go with them.How could I say no?
“Yeah, I’ll go with you. Though, I’ve never actually been fishing before.”
Darrius smiled. It was the first smile I’d seen since walking through the door. Some of that emptiness in his eyes filled with actual hope. “It’s easy. I’ll show you.”
His demeanor changed completely. He went from sobbing to smiling within seconds. The man may be grieving, but it looked like he just didn’t want to be alone. I felt that. Since Cap came into my life, I didn’t think about my loneliness anymore, I just enjoyed his company, as infuriating as he may be sometimes.
“Come on, Darrius. Let’s go fishing,” Cap exclaimed, after finishing gathering their poles and gear.
Within a half an hour, we were standing by a river, getting ready to fish. The view was absolutely breathtaking. All around me, the sun hit various flora and foliage giving each branch a sun-kissed look that made it seem like it was in the middle of a painting. The water was a crystal blue, and was barely moving across the rocks that were jutting out from below the surface. It didn’t look too deep, but in the center, the water would probably come up to my mid-thigh. Bird-song filled the air, as various insects flitted from flower to flower, collecting pollen from the pistils. I watched as a rabbit appeared on the other side of the river, took one look at us, and disappeared into a bush. This was the closest to nature I had been in a while.
“People think that the lake is the best spot for fishing…” Darrius said with a devious smile. “But Cap and I found this spot, and the fish are always biting.”
Cap moved over to me and put a hand on my hip as he leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Thank you,” he exclaimed. The way his breath cooled against my skin was alluring. Part of me leaned backward, hoping to feel those succulent lips against the nape ofmy neck, but he quickly pulled out of my embrace, walking over to where Darrius was finishing rigging his poles.
“The secret to fishing is staying quiet and calm,” he informed me, handing me the smallest pole. “Hold it here, and then pull your arm back like this, and let it fly. Keep holding the pole though. Otherwise, it will end up in the river and we’ll have to fish it out.” He laughed. “I inadvertently made a fish pun there.”
Cap smiled at him.
It was odd how quickly the man switched from seconds away from taking his own life, to happy-go-lucky. Cap had mentioned once that this is where Darrius found peace, and the way his eyes danced and jittered like the river rushing before us, I could see why.
Darrius stood beside me as I followed his instructions, casting the line into the river on my first try. It went out quite a way, then followed the currents until it was just dangling in the water.
“You can leave it there, or you can reel it in every few minutes and recast. Fishing is all about luck and timing. We may not catch anything due to how late in the afternoon it is. The best time to catch a fish is early in the morning or when the sun starts to set. Perfect water temperatures then.”
“How did you learn how to fish?” I asked him.
He took a step back, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. “My grandfather taught me when I was little, then my father kept taking me after his passing. It was the way I bonded with them both.” He frowned. “I was hoping to teach Greg, but I never got that far.”
“Can I ask what happened to him?”
Darrius took a seat on a big rock, his eyes scanning the water’s surface as tears began to form.
“You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to, I was just curious.” Still holding the pole, I took a seat next to him,watching as Cap moved a little down the river and threw out his own line. For some reason, he was giving us space.
Didn’t Darrius need him?
Darrius cleared his throat. “No, it’s okay. Cap told me it helps to talk about it. Though it hurts to do so.”
“I know how you feel. Talking about the night I lost my husband always makes me feel like my insides are being taken through a cheese grater. It never seems to get better.”
“What happened to your husband?” he asked, taking the opportunity to redirect the conversation to something easier for him to discuss.
“We had been at a friend’s party, and my husband, his name was Chase, had been drinking… a lot. I tried to get him to stop, but I think he had a lot of inner demons he was battling because he assured me that he could drive and he wasn’t that drunk. My gut told me otherwise, but I couldn’t say no to him. We ended up swerving into oncoming traffic, and he went through the windshield. Somehow, I survived, and I’ve had really bad survivor’s guilt ever since. I don’t know why I was spared, and he was taken. I would’ve rather died that day.”
Darrius nodded in agreement. “When Greg passed away, there were many times I wondered what I could’ve done differently to change the fate of his stars.” He hung his head in shame. “I wasn’t paying attention to him, and got wrapped up in something to do with work. His mom was out, and it was just me and Greg at home. He kept asking me if he could go outside and go swimming in the pool because it was really hot, and I told him we could do it later when I wasn’t so busy with work. Somewhere in between when I told him no, and when I realized I couldn’t hear him moving around inside the house anymore, Greg had unlatched the lock to the back door. I found him face down in the pool.”
Tears poured down his cheeks, and instinctively I started rubbing his back. “It’s not your fault, Darrius.”
“But it is. I should’ve paid more attention to him. Checked the latch… I dunno… I should’ve done something to prevent him from going outside that day.” He started to sob again, so I just kept rubbing his back, glancing up every so often to find Cap watching us.
