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I glanced over at Raina standing next to me. She wept openly, looking scared and alone, as she watched her dad mourn her.
Not sure what to do to help either of them, I sank back against the wall and tried to act invisible as all the misery in the room swarmed around me. When it caught hold of me, latching on hard, anxiety tickled the back of my throat.
I squeezed my eyes shut to combat it and made myself imagine different football plays to get through.
16
FOSTER
Istayed with Captain Chum for a couple of hours, until I thought my stomach was going to start eating itself.
“Can I take you out to lunch, sir?” I asked him, praying he agreed because I was starving.
But the captain only shook his head and waved a dismissive hand. “I’m not hungry.”
Next to me, Raina said, “Don’t believe him. He’s always hungry.”
So I pressed, “You need to eat. To keep your strength up.”
When the captain blinked at me in surprise, I flushed. “Sorry. That was just the most common thing everyone told me after my brother died. But I was nine at the time, so…”
Sympathy and understanding flickered through his hazel eyes, and he said, “No, you’re actually right. I can’t remember when I last ate. I probablydoneed something in my stomach.”
“He likes hamburgers the most,” Raina told me. “Those old-time grill, burger joints.”
“The Hamburger Shack is just down the road,” I offered. “We can walk there from here and take in some air along the way. It’s the best place in town, run by the same family since the seventies.”
“Alright.” The captain nodded before gifting me with a small, grateful smile. “You talked me into it.”
* * *
At the Hamburger Shack,the kid at the checkout counter recognized me, and his eyes grew big before he asked if he could take a picture with me.
I did so graciously, and the captain eyed me curiously, no doubt trying to figure out who I was. But he waited until after we put in our order and found a seat with our fountain drinks before he said, “What’d you say your name was again?”
“Foster,” I answered, only to shrug. “Foster Union. I play football.”
“That’s right.” Shaking his finger at me, he began to nod. “I didn’t put two and two together earlier. You’re that famous quarterback. I watched your championship game.”
Sitting next to him in the booth across from me, Raina assured, “I didn’t tell him I had a huge, groupie crush on you. Don’t worry about that.”
I glanced her way briefly, failing once again to pretend that I wasn’t seeing someone else. Then I managed to turn back to her dad. “You ever play?” I asked, trying to turn the subject from myself.
“Me?” The captain shook his head. “Naw, never. Fishing was always my passion.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I heard you owned a charter service. What type of catch do you specialize in?”
“Oh, I’ll chase just about anything that can be caught. Depends on what the customer is interested in. If they want to stay bayside, we’ll play around with the speckled trout, flounder, and redfish the most. Or if they’d like to head out into the bay, I have equipment for marlin, kingfish, red snappers, mahi-mahi, cobia, wahoo, you name it.”
“Nice,” I said, wishing I knew more about the subject. But all I really had was, “My dad likes to fish. I’ve only ever been with him a handful of times, but my little brother Reed, he’s going to be the fisherman in the family. He and Dad pulled in a thirty-two-pound redfish once, thirty-eight inches long.”
The captain drew out a long, impressed whistle. “Now there’s a trophy piece, right there.”
I smiled proudly. “Yeah. We have it hanging above the mantle in the living room. The kid’s a natural, and yet he loves reading and writingaboutfishing more. He’s always jotting down these short stories and saying there aren’t enough fiction books about fishing out there.” With a chuckle, I shook my head. “I swear, he’s going to be the next great American novelist.”
“Instead ofOld Man in the Sea, we’re going to haveLittle Tyke in the Big Bay, huh?”
I laughed. “Yeah. Exactly.”
