4. Gideon
4
Gideon
I glanced at Laney. She sat cross-legged, her shoes off, wearing tight jeans and a pink T-shirt. She leaned over the back seat, chatting with Bear. Just that one glance had me hard.
“Tell me about your love of fishing,” I said to get my mind onto something besides how hot she was. She turned toward me with a smile, her head resting on the back of the seat.
“Okay, but then it’s your turn. What do you want to know?”
“What got you into fishing?”
“I used to go to the lake to swim and eat fruit I'd picked from neighbors' trees. They just let them go to waste, so I picked their fruit. This boy, also in the system,fished every day. He asked about my family, and I told him I had none.”
“What did he say?”
“He said I was lucky because when his mom sobered up, they made him go back to her. Most of the time, they lived on the streets. He said he would rather sleep in a bed at night than with all her drug-addicted friends. His grandparents wouldn’t even help him.”
“He stole the fishing pole for me after the nice couple sent me back. He taught me to fish and always told me never to take drugs or alcohol.”
“What happened to him?”
“It makes me cry every time I think about him. I walked down to the lake, and he was fishing. When I saw him, I knew something was horribly wrong. He couldn’t stand up straight. I walked in front of him, and someone had beaten the hell out of him. I ran and got help even though he didn’t want me to.”
“I helped him to sit down, and he told me what happened. His mom’s boyfriend took a bat to him while he was sleeping. Blood was everywhere. His clothes were soaked in blood. I think he had a lot of broken bones. All of his fingers were broken. They were so swollen.”
“I don’t know how he made it to the lake. He died before the ambulance got there. He told me he knew he was dying and wanted to be with me because I was his only friend.” She started crying, remembering her friend. I opened the console and gave her some napkins.
“I told the police what Fred said. When it went to court, they claimed my testimony was hearsay. They said I was a street kid who ran with a gang along with Fred. Everything they said was a lie. That lawyer lied about Fred and me. He wasn’t in a gang, and he never did anything wrong. He fished. That’s all he did.”
“How old was he when he died?”
“He was fourteen. I was twelve. I was waiting in the courthouse hallway to testify when I saw his Mom walk in. She stopped and thanked me for being her son’s friend. I saw her take a gun out of her purse; she walked into the courtroom and killed the boyfriend. Then she shot the lawyer, and the police shot her.”
“Damn, what did you do after that?”
“I went fishing. When I walked back to the people’s house where I was staying, they said I had to go back to the foster care center because I was bringing trouble to their home.”
“Fuck, I feel bad that I’ve never thought much about foster kids. This has opened my eyes.”
“We were going to start taking in foster kids when Gavin was killed. Maybe I can still do that if I get away from Jonah.”
My mind couldn’t stop thinking about that poor kid. So many kids had fucked up lives, not by any fault of theirs. I thought back and thanked God for letting my grandpa have me. If I had stayed with my mother, there would have been no telling where my life would have taken me.
“Thank you for helping us. I don’t have money to pay you, but I’ll get some as soon as I return to work.”
“Where do you work?”
“I’m a fisherwoman. I get paid by the big Bass Pro Shop guys—boats and anything to do with fishing. They set me up with the truck and boat because a beautiful Bass boat has to be pulled by a gorgeous truck.”
“And Haley, does she enjoy fishing?”
“Not as much as I do. But she loves the water. She’ll fish for a while, and then she wants to jump in,” she said, with a faraway look in her eyes.
“What about Gavin? Did he enjoy fishing?”
“He said he couldn’t understand how anyone could sit for hours trying to catch the big one. He could sit for hours watching sports, but he didn’t fish. I loved my husband. He was a good guy; I wish he would have told me about his father. I could have been prepared when that devil showed up at my house.”
“He won’t get near you and Haley again. I have a house on the beach. You can use my pole and fish right off the beach,” I said, glancing over at her.
“Can you catch fish that way?”
“Sure you can. I fish off the beach. My friend Gage fishes off the beach, too. I can see him from my house. We live in a community with a gated fence and a private beach. You don’t have to worry about someone seeing you.”
“What kind of fish do you catch?”
“I mostly catch rock cod. I don’t try to fish for anything bigger than me,” I laughed, recalling Gage pulling that monster fish in; all he wanted to do was set it free, and he was trying to get the hook out when River and I walked over and helped him.
“What are you laughing about?” She asked, smiling.
“Gage once caught this massive fish. He was trying to save him. All he wanted to do was get the hook out, and he was wrestling with the damn thing. River and I had to help him before the fish killed him.
“Gage, isn’t he the one who is a good cook?”
“Yeah, that’s Gage. Five of our Special Forces team members live in that area. It’s very convenient for us. We even bought a building near there as our headquarters.”
“Tell me about growing up with your grandpa.”
“I was nine months old when I went to Pop, so living with him was the only life I knew. I stayed all my life at the lake cabin. That’s where Pop lived. He built another bedroom onto the back of the cabin for me when I was six. He said a man needed his own bedroom. Before that, I slept on a cot in the front room.”
“He sounds like a good man,” Laney said, watching me.
“He was the best. He was strict. He said he learned a lot when he raised my mother—not to let a child have their way all the time. He made sure I did all my schoolwork; when I was a teenager, he knew all my friends. If I went out, he knew where I was. I made him proud when I joined the Army Special Forces. That is what I wanted more than anything. I wanted my grandfather to be proud of me.”
“It probably made him live longer having you. I notice that with old people, sometimes when you get old, your family drifts away from you. They are all too busy to visit their older family member. If they only knew that their elderly family had so many stories to tell them. One visit a week would do wonders for them.”
“I never thought about it that way. I guess you’re right. Everyone gets so busy. I tried to visit Pops as often as I could. I remember he was always so excited to see me when I did show up. I lived with him full-time for the last year of his life. I knew he didn’t have much longer, so I stayed with him when I left the service.”
I have never talked so much to a woman, but Laney was easy to talk to. She was herself and didn’t try to be someone she wasn’t. I’m not bragging, but I had many lady friends and never lacked female company. But I’ve never talked to them like I did with Laney.
When it got quiet again, I glanced at her, and she was sleeping. This was new for me, too; I’d never had a woman fall asleep when she was with me. I saw Bear lick her cheek as she lay there. Damn, I had one intelligent dog.