Burning the Midnight Oil: A Single Dad Small Town Romance

Chapter 6

“Daddy, it’s so early,” Suzy whines as I unbuckle her car seat and get her out of my truck. “The sun is barely in the sky.”

The hood on her Powder Ridge Arena sweatshirt is pulled up over her messy blonde hair tied up into a bun, and her mouth is turned down into a frown as she looks up at me with a furrowed brow. I can’t help but chuckle as I watch her because this was her idea. She’s been begging me to take her fishing.

“Princess, this is the best time to catch the fish. We gotta come this early.”

“What if the fish are still sleeping?”

“Well, if so, they’re about to wake the hell up here in a minute,” Grady quips as he rounds the truck and opens the tailgate.

Suzy sighs exaggeratively. “You’re not supposed to say hell, Uncle Grady.”

A boyish grin tugs on his lips as his eyes dart to mine. “Neither are you, pretty girl,” he replies, shrugging innocently at me, and I can’t help but chuckle.

Grady grabs the tackle box and the camping chairs while I grab the fishing poles, then we start toward the dock, which is empty, thankfully. I was hoping getting here early would ensure there wasn’t a crowd, and it looks like I was correct. It’s not often that I go fishing anymore, don’t really have the time, but I do enjoy it every once in a while. This’ll be my first time bringing Suzy, and I’m not all that convinced she’ll even like it, but she’s been wanting me to take her ever since she found a picture of me and my dad fishing when I was a kid. It was something we did all the time when he wasn’t on the road. Saturday morning fishing with him was one of my favorite things to do when I was younger.

“Are those worms?” Suzy shrieks, jumping back a step from Grady.

Grady’s down on one knee, and he breathes out a laugh as his hazel eyes flit to mine, before he looks at Suzy. “Yeah, pretty girl. They’re worms. That’s how you catch the fish.”

Her face screws up, and she crosses her little arms over her chest defiantly. “Yuck. I am not touching the worms, Uncle Grady.”

Chuckling, he replies, “That’s okay, you don’t have to. I think between your daddy and I, we can bait the hooks just fine.”

Pressing my hand to her shoulder, I say, “Why don’t you set the chairs up, princess. That way, we have somewhere to sit once we’re ready.”

Uncrossing her arms, she looks up at me with a sharp nod. “I can do that!”

A little while later, we have our lines cast and we’re sitting in the camping chairs Suzy set up for us. Grady and I are both on the outside, while Suzy is in the middle. The sun is now shining down on us, the sky crystal clear, and it’s still cool out. But I’m sure that won’t last long. It’s quiet out here, serene… That, too, won’t last very long.

I’m proven right not even thirty seconds later when Suzy asks, “When do we catch the fish?”

I can’t help but huff a laugh because the lines have been in the water for maybe three minutes. Before I have a chance to explain the process to her again, Grady speaks up. “Fishing is a waiting game, pretty girl,” he tells her. “It can sometimes take a while. A long while. There’re fish all over this lake, but that doesn’t mean there’re fish specifically where our lines are cast. We have to wait for them to see and bite our bait.”

Her shoulders slump a little. “Well, what are we ’posed to do while we wait?”

Grady reaches into the pocket of the sweats he’s wearing and pulls out his phone. “Let’s put on some music,” he says in a hushed tone. “But we have to keep it nice and quiet, otherwise the fish won’t come to us, okay?”

Suzy nods, whispering loudly, “Okay.”

Alan Jackson’s Chattahoochee starts playing, and I snort. Grady’s eyes dart to mine, a smile spreading on his face as he takes in my barely contained laugh. “What? You cannot tell me this isn’t the perfect fishing song.”

Holding my hands up in front of me, I murmur, “I didn’t say a word.”

Suzy and Grady end up playing a quiet but heated game of I Spy while we sit around and wait for anything to happen. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if all three of us don’t catch a single fish because every time Suzy calls out what Grady is spying, she giggles and jumps up and down, most likely scaring off any potential winners. But to be honest, I don’t mind. Watching them play together is better than catching fish.

“Okay, your turn.” Grady gestures to Suzy.

Suzy does a quick shimmy in her seat as she scans the area, her pointer finger tapping on her chin. “Um…okay! I spy with my little eye something brown.”

A quick glance around our surrounding area, I find a huge cottonwood tree, and I’m willing to bet the trunk is the something brown she’s referring to. One look at Grady, and I know he sees it too, but he continues to look around like he has no clue.

“Hmm, that’s a toughie, Suzy Q,” he muses. “Brown… Let’s see…”

She giggles, antsy in her seat, so I know she’s getting excited, thinking she’s won.

“Is it the sand?” he asks facetiously, lips pursed like he’s deep in thought.

“Uncle Grady!” Suzy stands up and laughs. “The sand isn’t brown, silly goose. It was the tree behind Daddy!”

“Oh, the tree!” Smacking his palm against his forehead, he says, “That was my second guess.”

They continue on like this for a while. Something deep in my chest squeezes as I watch my daughter interact with him. I know he’s her uncle, but he’s so good with her. She loves him, and it’s clear how much he loves her too, but because of college, he’s never really gotten to spend much time with her. I feel ridiculous for getting upset with Jade for saying he could stay with us for the summer. I should’ve known it would’ve been fine. Every once in a while, he’ll flit his gaze over to me, and the smile on his face as he looks at me makes my heart thump a little harder, and I wish I knew why.

By some miracle, Suzy passes out with her head rested against my shoulder. She was getting restless and whiny, and I figured she was probably tired, but I didn’t think she’d actually sleep out here. The music still plays at a quiet volume, and that, paired with the calmness of the water, makes for a relaxing moment. Glancing over at Grady, he’s messing around on his phone. His brows are furrowed and his bottom lip is tucked between his teeth.

“When do you have to go back to school?” I ask him, finding myself wanting to talk with him over sitting in silence, which kind of surprises me.

Tucking his phone into his pocket, his gaze flits over to me without actually meeting my eyes before looking ahead. I can’t help but notice how his shoulders hike up, like he’s tense all of the sudden. “Fall quarter starts in September,” he replies softly. “You excited to hit the road again?”

“Yeah, I am.” My lips curl into a grin. “The last bit of the season after this mini break is always fun. It’s like after Stampede Days, we rest and recharge at home, and then hit the last wind of the season with our all.

His gaze finds Suzy before meeting mine. “I bet it’s been hard not having her on the road with you this season.”

“Yeah, it has,” I admit.

“She’s gone with you every year since she’s been born, right?”

“Pretty much.”

I can tell he wants to ask more about me and Jade separating, but he doesn’t, and I appreciate it. I shouldn’t have even said anything to him about it, but it felt good to get it off my chest. Jade’s brother or not, there’s something about Grady that makes me feel like I can trust him. Can confide in him. But in the same breath, I also don’t want to do that because that’s his sister. It’s a fine line, and it feels like some kind of sick cosmic joke that the one person I felt comfortable enough to confide in about this huge secret Jade and I have been carrying for the last year is somebody I probably shouldn’t be confiding in. What’s done is done, though, and it was a weight lifted. He probably doesn’t even realize how much him listening that night helped me.

Something passes between me and Grady, a moment when our eyes lock and it feels like the outside world fades. My throat tightens, and a wave of goosebumps bloom all over my body. It’s over in less than a minute, a flock of birds flying overhead snapping us out of it, but it’s visceral. I find myself replaying the strange moment long after it’s over. Even after Suzy wakes up.

What was that?

With the help of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that Grady packed for us this morning, we’re able to stay for several hours before Suzy loses all interest. Just as I figured, we don’t catch a single thing, but I don’t think any of us mind. While technically unsuccessful, this morning was a lot more fun than I anticipated, and that’s in huge part to Grady.

After we load everything up into my truck, I buckle her into her car seat, and she’s passed out before we even leave the street leading out of the lake. There’re only a few days left before I have to go on the road again. My stomach clenches knowing I’m going to have to leave Suzy, and it’ll be another month and a half before I’m home again, but I like knowing that she’ll have her uncle and her mom to hang out with while I’m gone.

Right before we pull up in front of the house, I glance over at Grady. “Thanks for coming with us today. I think you’re the only reason she enjoyed herself.”

Grady’s eyes find mine, and a zap of something I don’t quite understand rolls down my spine. “No problem. I had fun.”

We both climb out of the truck, and I unfasten Suzy’s harness, carefully maneuvering her out of her seat without waking her as Grady unloads everything from the truck bed. I’m somehow able to make it inside and up the stairs without disturbing Suzy, but as soon as I lie her in her bed, she stirs a little, one eye opening. With a smile, she rolls onto her side.

“Today was fun, Daddy,” she mumbles before sighing and drifting back off to sleep.

Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, I think to myself how today was fun.