"Will she answer him?"
"Eventually, I suppose. Or maybe she's not interested in that particular whippoorwill. Perhaps she doesn't want to be part of his horde. All three that is."
The corner of Holden's lip quirked up and there was a twinkle in his eye as he tilted his head and said, "A persistent fellow like him? Nah, I thought all women liked persistent."
I made a small snorting sound. "Perhaps you don't know as much about women as you believe." I gave him a teasing look. Or maybe you know way too much.
Holden laughed. "I'm beginning to think you might be right." He tilted his head back up to the sun. "This is nice, peaceful."
Yes it was. Even sitting here with him for the first time felt very right, natural. "I know. I come here as often as possible in the summer."
"Alone?"
"Yes, yes, alone."
"Doesn't your mother ever come with you?"
I looked at him sharply, but when he didn't withdraw his question, I sighed, already weary of the tit for tat. It was too much work. "No, my mother doesn't come outside very often. She . . . well, she was injured years ago, and she stays in."
"Injured—"
"What about you? Do your parents live in San Francisco, too?"
Holden paused, his blue eyes lingering on my face for a few moments before he looked out to the water. "No, I'm originally from Ohio, but both my parents have passed."
I watched his profile again as he stared forward, that sad look of loss on his face that he'd had when he told me about his friend, Ryan.
I reached out and put my hand on his thigh, and his gaze jerked down to where my hand touched him. "I'm sorry, Holden. I know what it's like to feel lonely." I felt the heat rise in my cheeks. I shouldn't have said that.
His eyes met mine and though there were questions in his, he simply grasped my hand. "Thank you."
Something electric filled the air, sizzling through the ozone the way lightning does right before it flashes across the sky in a sudden, thrilling arc of intense light. I pulled my hand away and stood up quickly. "Want to see a quicker way of fishing than waiting for a fish to bite the worm?"
Holden laughed. "Yes. Show me."
I removed my boots and my socks and hiked my dress up, tying it in a knot at the side of my thighs. I began wading into the shallow water and when I looked laughingly back at Holden, his gaze on me was intent and filled with something I couldn't define. Something that looked hungry. He looked down to my bare legs and back to my eyes. I swallowed, but brought my finger up to my lips, instructing him to stay very quiet. Then I stood very still in the water, which was just brushing the bottom of my tied-up dress. I didn't move a muscle as I tracked the movement of the fish that swam by my legs, two large trout. In a lightning-swift move, I plunged both hands in the water and made a sound of dismay as I came up empty-handed. Focusing again, I stood still for a long, quiet minute, my eyes again tracking the slippery, silvery bodies of the fish moving past me. Again, I plunged my hands into the water, reaching just slightly in front of where the fish I was tracking swam, laughing out loud when the fish slipped right past my grasp. I jumped to the side as another one swam next to me, again coming up empty-handed. Holden was laughing on the shore. "Have you ever actually caught one like that?" he called.
"Not yet, but I will before this summer is over," I said, laughing back. He grinned at me, and my heart skipped at least three beats in a row. This was the first time I'd seen him looking genuinely carefree and happy, the small lines between his eyes completely smoothed out. When I realized I was simply standing there staring at him, I turned back, looking down to the water again. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Holden walk to the edge of the water. I looked over to see him rolling up his still-wet jeans. He waded in next to me.
For the next fifteen minutes, we tried in vain to grab a trout, both doing ridiculous-looking little hops as fish darted by. Once I almost face-planted in the water, and Holden grabbed me as we both laughed, his arms staying around me for a beat too long as my breath caught and our eyes met.
"Last try," he said. I nodded. We stood still and silent. Suddenly Holden's hands plunged into the water and when he brought them out, a fat trout was wiggling in his hands. I gasped, my mouth falling open. Holden rose slowly to his full height, letting out a small shout.
"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, grinning wildly at Holden, the flailing fish finally stilling in his hands. "I can't believe you just did that."
"I can honestly say I can't either," he said, shaking his head, a look of awed disbelief on his face.
"Beginner's luck," I mumbled, trying to sound displeased. But it came out breathy and impressed. I was impressed. "Or maybe you have experience and didn't tell me."