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Wiping at the corner of his eye as his own laugh settled, the captain told me, “I had a customer catch a thirteen-pound, eight-ounce flounder once. It was just three ounces shy of the state record.”
“No shit? That’s pretty cool.”
“Yep.”
As our food was delivered, we both tucked into our meals, and the conversation stayed on fishing until we finished. As we stood together, I asked, “How long are you going to be in town?”
And just like that, the smile I’d worked so hard to pull from him died on his lips as reality returned.
“Fuck, I don’t know,” he admitted with a weary sigh as he ripped off his hat to run a hand over his balding head. “I want to be close when Raina wakes, but I can’t afford to leave my charter for long. And then there’s all the decisions to be made about Kinsey. I only booked a room for the night at the nearest hotel, but…”
“It’s a lot,” I said with a sad, understanding nod. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“No, no.” He waved a hand to refuse. “You’ve already done too much, taking my mind off everything for the past hour. You don’t have to worry about me. I’m sure you have other things to do.”
I only shrugged, glancing at Raina, who’d grown concerningly quiet and couldn’t seem to move far from her father’s side. She needed more time with him. So I said, “Actually, football season’s over and I don’t have to work today, so… I promised my dad I’d help him with my sister’s car this afternoon, but other than that, I’m free.”
The captain’s gaze lit up. “What’s wrong with the car?”
“Possibly the CV joint, so Dad wants to check out the axle shaft.”
“That could take the rest of the day if you’re checking all four.”
I shrugged. “I think we’re just going to work on the front two.”
“Still.” The captain winced and then sent me a hopeful glance. “If you need another set of hands to help out…”
My lips parted as I realized he wanted more distractions to keep his mind off the painful shit.
Nodding my head, I announced, “You’re on. My dad never turns down free labor.”
* * *
So Captain Chumfollowed me home and spent the rest of the afternoon with my family. When Reed wandered out to the garage to watch us, he and the captain got to talking about fishing, and before long, Reed ran inside to get some paper and a pen to write notes for a story idea.
After Mom learned he was the father of the girl who’d gotten into the car accident, she made him stay for supper.
My siblings were confused about who Raina was, so I had to confess that I’d never actually met her. She was simply a friend of a friend, and I’d run into her dad at the hospital when I’d been visiting Raina with the others.
Thankfully, they dropped the issue easily enough. But then the captain mentioned Kinsey’s death not long after all my siblings left the table, and that really got my parents into opening up with him about Hayes and dealing with the loss of a child.
All the while, the chatty, cheerful Raina I’d first met seemed to withdraw farther and farther inside herself, no longer speaking or trying to interact, just curled in the corner and out of the way so no one could walk through her.
It was about forty-five minutes before visiting hours ended at the hospital when the captain announced that he wanted to stop by and visit her room once more this evening. So I walked him out to his truck.
All three of us were quiet until he reached his door. Then, the captain paused and glanced back at me.
“You know,” he started, “I don’t think I ever believed in fate until you walked up to my bench outside that hospital today. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it through the next hour, let alone the rest of my life. But you—you just led me right through it all, step-by-step. And then meeting your parents…” He shook his head sadly. “Hearing about their experience…” Voice shaking, he admitted, “I needed that. I had no idea how much I needed it until I heard them talk.”
The evening had turned dark, so I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he’d started to cry.
Next to me, Raina gripped her face and sobbed, “Oh, Captain.” Turning to me, she said, “I—I’ve never seen him cry before today. I don’t think I can take much more of it.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, sir,” I choked out, stepping toward him and opening my arms for a hug. He latched onto me gratefully and held on for a good ten seconds.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you.”
By the time he pulled away again, he was clearing his throat and wiping at his eyes. “You sure you don’t know my Raina?” he asked with a nervous laugh, clearly uncomfortable with revealing so much vulnerability. “I just never met a complete stranger who went to such lengths for me before.”
