“It’s not that much. At least it’s not a full weekend—then we’d need a lot more.”
“True.” I haul the coolers while he carries the tackle box and the poles, and we make our way to his boat. It’s a fifteen-footer, just right for a day out on the lake. Once we’re settled in, he steers us to a nice empty spot.
“I’m seeing someone,” I choke out, trying to be open with the only person who never stopped loving me.
“That’s good.” He doesn’t seem happy about it. “Do you want to tell me about her?”
I chuckle because he’s gotten the wrong idea. I wouldn’t hurt Amelia like that. The thought of anyone else is too disgusting to me to even consider. “It’s a him, and it’s not that kind of seeing. He’s a therapist.”
His face lights up. “Wow. That’s incredible. When did you start that?”
“The day after I went home.”
“That’s very good news. Does this have to do with Amelia?”
I nod, casting my reel into the water. “Of course. She’s the air that I breathe, and now she hates me,” I mutter as my bobber splashes in the water.
“I’m sure you could make it up to her for being a dick. She knows you’ve been going through some women issues.”
“I know. I heard her mother talking to her the day I left.”
“She doesn’t know the truth. She only knows that your mother fucked up your head.”
“Thanks,” I grumble inwardly. That sucks to hear, but I need the honest truth.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so blunt. I saw a therapist a long time ago about it all, but I didn’t think it did any good. The day I met Rachel, I realized everything the therapist and I discussed finally made sense. I’d found someone who could heal the broken parts. Well, at least some of them. She saved me when one of those parts gave out.”
“I’m glad you’re happy. I truly am.”
He frowns at me. “But you’re not sure about her, are you?”
“I want to be. It’s not easy.” So far, Rachel has been everything he claimed she is.
“I know. So let’s enjoy this time. Tell me about your life.” That’s a pathetic and short tale.
“Then we’re not going to have a good time. I don’t do anything besides work, exercise, see the therapist, and think about Amelia.”
“My boy.” He pulls me in for a hug. “You can do this. That pretty little girl hasn’t done anything to make you distrust her, has she?”
“No, but I’ve made a very bad impression on her.”
“Give it time. She’s going to be in New York with you. Maybe you could take her to the Met or even Central Park. Show her that you can be a gentleman when you try.”
“Thanks. The therapist agrees that I need to let Anna go and remember that not all women are evil. Amelia’s a brat, but I push her into acting that way.” At least that’s what my therapist believes. I had mentioned our kitchen incident, and he believes she has more than a passing interest in me, but he can’t say for himself because he doesn’t know her.
“Yes, well, she’s only eighteen and you’re technically step-siblings, so bickering is pretty normal.”
“You’ve got a point there. I just don’t want to fight with her. I look at her and think of a future I never expected.” I needed a good talk with my dad. He’s right. If he can trust after what my mother did to him, then I can trust again. Just then, his line tugs and the catch has begun. We reel it in, only to have a big laugh. The thing can’t be more than six inches long. He tosses it back, and we begin again.
We fish until the sun gets low in the sky. “It’s probably time to pack it up. The girls are wondering what we’re having for dinner.”
“It ain’t fish,” I add with a chuckle. It started out promising and then went quickly south. We spent all day fishing and only caught a couple of baby ones that we tossed back, the first being our largest. Nothing to brag about, so we haul it all in.
“Do you think they’d want to go to dinner?” he asks as we load the stuff into the bed.
I’d love to take Amelia out on a date, but I’m not sure she’d go anywhere alone with me. “That’s a good idea.”
“How about Maggiano’s?”
“I used to love that place.” We haven’t been there together since I was a boy.
“Good. We’ll get the girls and tell them to be ready.” He calls them, and I wait on edge to hear what they have to say. “They’ll be ready by the time we get there.”
We hop in his pickup and drive back to the house. My anxiousness has me silent for the entire ride while catching a side-eye from my dad. We pull up to the house about forty minutes later, needing to freshen up as well. “I’m gonna take a quick shower.”