Anya got smoked by the wave too. Nico throws us a towel to dry off. “Sorry!” he shouts over the motor. “A bit of rough water!”
“Well, I’m awake now,” I mutter. I wipe my face and chest before handing the towel to Anya.
“It’s not like he did it on purpose,” Anya says, mopping the water off her arms and legs.
“I wouldn’t blame him, though. In the space of less than a week I’ve managed to insult his family’s B and Bandaccuse him of being a murderer.” I’m cringing just thinking about it.
“Touché,” Anya says. “At least you realize it. Step one of curing yourself of being a Karen is admitting you have a problem.”
“You’re funny.” I pull a face at Anya. “Be honest. Do I apologize? I don’t really want to, but I also would like to not be so awkward.”
“It’s always worth the effort.” Anya’s only somewhat joking.
“You’re probably right,” I concede. “But we should make sure his cousinisalive and well before I do. Due diligence.”
Anya laughs, and I’m proud to have coaxed it out of her.
The boat slows and Nico throws out an anchor, his biceps flexing. I’m pleased to find that it’s a calm day out on the Mediterranean. Maybe I can lie back and relax while everyone else fishes. But Nico, of course, has other plans.
“You want the full experience,” he says, handing me a rod. “First, we fish for the bait.”
“What? There’s double fishing?” I ask, horrified. This deal continues to get whatever the opposite of sweeter is. Double sour.
“You want everything to come easy, but I promise it’s much more rewarding this way. It will make you appreciate things on an entirely new level.”
I decide to shut up after that.
Marisol is a natural at fishing. She holds on to her fishing pole and casts it out into the sea like she’s a promo girl for Bass Pro Shops. Her lure soars through the skyand lands with a tiny splash. The water ripples as she gently reels her line back in. I watch as she makes subtle jerking movements, reeling slowly, then twitching her wrist, then reeling again, until her lure is dangling back up in the air.
She notices me studying her. “You want to mimic the actual movements of the bait in the water. Fish are much smarter than you realize.” Mari sends her lure flying through the air again.
“I did not know that. But more importantly, how doyou?”
“My grandparents taught us. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten up at the crack of dawn to go fishing with them. Every time I say we’re going to visit, this is usually what we’re doing.”
“You have never once told us that,” Anya says.
“I definitely have.” Mari recasts her line.
“Mari—you got one!” Nico exclaims. And sure enough, her line has gone taut. She expertly and calmly reels in what she’s caught.
“What kind of fish is this?” Mari asks.
“Pezzogna.” Nico helps her remove the fish off the hook. “Queen of the Gulf—the most common fish we have in these waters. It’s not what we are looking for, though, so you can throw it back.”
“It kind of looks like a red snapper.” Mari holds the fish up, posing for a photo. It has a peach tail and fins and large black eyes, and it wiggles back and forth as sheimmerses her hand in the water, gently releasing the fish. “You don’t want to toss it back in, you want to lower it beneath the water and let it swim off, so it knows what direction is up.”
“Spot-on. You’ll be doing that a lot because it’s catch-and-release today,” Nico explains. “We only keep what we are able to eat.”
Anya, meanwhile, is struggling. There’s no fluidity or grace as she flails around, trying to control her line. “I got something!” she yells, and Nico rushes over.
“Ah, it’s only seaweed.” He leans over to gently free it from the hook and then tries to guide Anya’s form as she casts again.
I am also not a natural fisherman. My lure gets caught on the side of the boat, and I wildly thrash my rod up and down to get it free. When it dislodges, it flies through the air. Mari and Anya duck, but the hook comes within millimeters of Nico’s face.
“Careful! Dio mio, woman!” Nico lunges for my lure, securing the hook. “You almost took out my left eye!”
“You’re very dramatic. I had control of it the entire time,” I lie, forfeiting my weapon.
