He’s smiling as he sends the message, clearly just tossing his good friend a threat he doesn’t mean.
Wyatt
Well, then keep your bare ass covered up, my friend.
Cade
*insert middle finger emoji*
He slips his phone into his pocket and double checks the bed of his truck. “All right, beautiful. Let’s go.”
I climb into the cab of the side-by-side and watch as he starts it up. He drives us back to the timber, snaking through the trees as we head for our destination. I look around, remembering last weekend when we camped out here. The memories are fresh, and even though the weather is already changing, I can’t wait until I have the opportunity to do it again.
We reach the creek at the back of the property and stop. “Ready?” he asks.
“I am.”
“All right, let me get everything set up and then we can bait some hooks.”
I climb out of the cab and look around. “Give me something to do.”
He looks in the bed of the vehicle and pulls out a pair of small chairs. “Go ahead and pick our spot by the water.”
I nod, taking the chairs and moving in the direction of where we’ll be sitting. I glance around the space, finding the perfect spot in a clearing in the trees. There’s a log in the water upstream a bit, but we should be far enough back to avoid getting tangled in it. “How about here?” I ask, turning around to where Cade is setting a tackle box and two poles.
“Perfect.” He returns to his side-by-side and grabs the rest of the gear, including the two bags from the back seat. “The cookies stay by me,” he adds, setting my bag down in front of one of the chairs.
After a few minutes of getting everything situated, he starts to prep the fishing poles. “All right, beautiful, let’s bait the hooks.”
When he pulls a little white container of worms from the cooler, I make a face. “I’ll let you do that part.”
He chuckles and nods. “It’s not bad, let me show you.”
I move closer as he sits down, the pole lying across his lap. He pulls a worm out of the container and holds it up. “You just sort of thread it on, like this,” he says, moving the worm onto the hook with ease.
“That’s it? Well, I can do that,” I insist.
“Well, you can do the next one, how about that?”
“Fine,” I state. I’m a nurse, for God’s sake. I can put a worm on a hook.
When it’s all set, he stands up. “Come ’ere, and I’ll show you how to cast.”
I step over to him and let him position me in front of his body. “Take the pole, like so,” he instructs, demonstrating what I need to do. “Push in this button and angle the tip behind you. Make sure you’re clear of people, trees, and everything else you can get caught on, and then throw, releasing the button as you do it.”
He shows me a few times, and I watch every step he takes.
Nodding, I take the pole and get into the same position he was in, even with him standing directly behind me. I move my arm a few times, just like he did and get a feel for the motion. Then, I push the button in and take a deep breath. I bring the end of the pole forward and release the button, as instructed, and watch the worm fly through the air. It lands with a plop in the water.
“Damn, that was good for your first time. Reel your line until you hear the click, letting you know you have it set.”
Again, I do as instructed, hearing the distinct sound of the click. “That’s it?”
He nods. “That’s it. Now, you wait.”
He opens his tackle box and pulls out a little forked post. He easily slides it into the ground and then takes my pole from my hand, placing it between the teeth. “There. Now you can bait my hook,” he says with a wink.
Cade gets the hook ready while I stare down at the little container of worms. They’re moving around and looking a little nasty, covered in slime and thick dirt. I reach in and grip the closest squiggly worm and pull it out. Exhaling, I mutter, “You can do this.”
