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She nods. "You'll have to. I don't know the first thing about catching fish."
It's the work of a couple of minutes for me to set up her fishing pole and attach a live cricket to the hook. She watches with interest, but she makes a face when I slide the barb of the hook through the cricket's body.
"Gross," she sniffs.
"Fishing is pretty gross. Just wait until you actually catch a fish."
She makes a gagging expression. "If I catch a fish, you'd better believe I'm not touching it. I like my fish one way, and that is breaded and deep fried. That's the extent of it."
"You only have to touch it with one finger. Just to know what it's like. I'll do the rest," I promise.
She raises a brow. "We'll see."
I hand her the rod. Then I quickly step in behind her, putting my arms around her shoulders and my hands over hers. She looks at me, pausing. It's hard for me to tell because of her dark sunglasses, but I think she's remembering how well our bodies fit together.
I move my hands down to her hips. "Spread your legs to give yourself a nice, strong base."
She complies, giggling. I put my hands back over hers and start to explain the very basics of casting. I only get a few steps in before she pulls her glasses down with a finger. “Are you being serious right now? Why don’t you just show me? I can learn about the ins and outs later."
I shake my head, but a grin bursts across my face. "Was I mansplaining too much for you?"
"A little," she admits. She pushes her sunglasses back on.
I help her cast. She laughs when her first attempt falls in the water only feet from the boat.
As a guy that's had a boat for a long time, Pearl is definitely not the first woman I brought on board. Heck, she's not even the first girl I've brought to Wolf's Head Island to fish.
But hearing her laugh, feeling her warm body press against me, watching the way she looks to me for feedback... I have to admit that it feels different.
Special, somehow.
I know that I'm not exactly her ideal man. Not for dating purposes, anyway. But it does feel nice being so intimate with her. Not exactly sexual, but... deeper than that.
Pearl Brown might just have me hooked and be reeling the line in without even realizing it.
Eighteen
Pearl
I'm at the diner, scrubbing the long counter that is perpetually greasy, no matter how many times I clean it. It was busy, up until 12:45. Now the diner is vacant, silent except for the hum of the running dishwasher, and the whoosh of the dish sprayer being used to prepare another load of dishes. Diego is listening to some Cuban big band music in the back. Gem is here too, probably out chain-smoking on the patio while she calls vendors.
I give up on trying to remove a stubborn stain, and grab a silverware basket and a pile of cheap white napkins from the kitchen. I start mindlessly rolling up silverware, placing a knife, fork, and spoon together and covering it with one end of the napkin. I roll in quick motions. Doing silverware as side work has an almost-pleasing mindlessness to it. My body knows how to do it without much thinking at all.
As I stare out the window, my mind wanders. I'm thinking about whether I should go to the GCUFOs gathering tonight. God, GCUFOS meets once a month. I can’t believe all that’s happened between me and River since the last meetup.
Bishop will probably be there, dragging Anitta around like he's at an amusement park and she's the huge stuffed bear he won. Boo.
Bishop seems to bring out River's worst side. And because River now technically lives with me, it would be rude to go to the meetup and not invite him along.
The doorbell chimes, saving me from my thoughts. I look up, ready to greet the customer coming in the door. To my surprise, Lucy and Savannah enter.
“Hey girlie!” Lucy says, grinning and launching herself at me.
“You’re skinny!” I chastise her. “Are they feeding you at Agnes?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” she assures me.
Sav gives us a tired look and gives me a half a hug. “Hey, Pearl. Sorry, it’s been kind of a day.”
