Something in the Air (Skylarks #3)

Chapter 25

25

Hudson felt the tug on the end of his line and the two young boys to his right on the small boat, neither of whom had caught anything yet, watched in awe as he reeled it in.

They weren’t experts in fishing – far from it – and it had been so long since Hudson and Beau had been, but before they left the house to drop Carys at her grandparents’ yesterday evening, Hudson had reserved their camping pitch and booked them on a fishing trip today. It was a boat trip for beginners so would be a starting point to getting back into it. Hudson’s only regret now was that he’d let this aspect of his relationship with Beau slide. In the business of everyday life, he’d forgotten the simplicity of doing something like this, the joy it gave.

‘Dad, it’s huge!’ Beau got closer to investigate Hudson’s catch and abandoned his own attempt for now.

Hudson planted his feet firmly as he reeled in fully and landed his fish. Beau removed the hook gently to avoid wounding the fish or himself.

‘What is it?’ Beau pulled his phone from his back pocket to take a photograph.

Hudson held the fish up in wet hands. ‘I think possibly a bream? All I know is it weighs a lot.’

‘It’s a bream.’ The guy running the fishing trip made the rounds on the boat, helping people get their hooks and bait ready, explaining what to do, and clarifying things like what fish they may have hauled out of the sea like in Hudson’s case.

‘Are you keeping it?’ one of the lads watching asked Hudson.

‘We’re putting them back,’ Beau told the kid.

Hudson had thought before they started that whatever they caught – if they caught anything at all – then they might take it away with them, perhaps do a barbecue. But, before the boat had come to a stop and they’d been allocated their fishing gear, Beau had decided they would use the catch-and-release method. And today was about being together, so Hudson would do it Beau’s way without question.

The sea breeze sent goose pimples up his arms despite holding the heavy catch for Beau to take a photograph. The sun had hidden behind a cloud but it was a beautiful day nonetheless. Hudson had forgotten what it felt like to be out at sea, the shore way in the distance, so much peace around them, apart from the occasional excited chatter on board, or a whoop of joy at a catch, but mostly the quiet determination of him, his son and the other family of four.

He leaned over to release the fish, making sure it was well away from the boat so it didn’t bash itself, and he watched it swim away to safety.

Over the next couple of hours, Beau helped the two younger boys with their rods. He had a caring side he showed with his younger sister and now with these virtual strangers. It would make him well-suited to a career with an air ambulance if that was really what he wanted to do.

The skipper joked that he should offer Beau a job as he was so good at helping others out and by the time they returned to shore, everyone on board had caught something – bream, trout, bass and a few crabs, which had been the highlight for the young boys for some reason.

‘Well, we don’t have any dinner,’ Hudson said as they made their way back to the campsite. ‘Pub?’

‘Can I take a shower first? I feel like I stink of fish.’

‘We probably both do, so I should do the same or we’ll scare all the other punters away, won’t we?’

‘Or we could not shower, could work in our favour, scare them off and have our choice of tables.’

Hudson laughed. Nothing could dampen his mood, well, maybe apart from not getting any dinner. All the activity and fresh air had made him unbelievably hungry.

They grabbed washbags from the tent and made their way to the shower block. Hudson hadn’t realised how much he’d missed this, what he’d sacrificed when things got difficult with Lucinda and he returned to work full time to pay the bills. It wasn’t an expensive trip – camping was cheap, the fishing excursion inexpensive. And the bonding, the time with his son, was priceless.

They headed for the pub dressed in jeans and jumpers – it was June but the sea breeze, the lack of sun and the fact that June really wasn’t delivering in the summer stakes this year meant they’d packed more for autumn weather than anything else. Hudson made a quick call to his parents on the way there to check on Carys and was firmly told to stop worrying and they’d see him tomorrow.

‘What’s it to be?’ Hudson had a pint and Beau a Coke and they perused the menu.

‘Cod and chips for me, with mushy peas.’

‘Think I’ll make that two.’ Hudson went over to the bar to place the order.

Back with his son, he pointed out, ‘You do know that cod is a fish, right?’

‘Course I do.’

‘You don’t see what I’m getting at?’

He shook his head.

‘You insisted we catch and release everything today. We could’ve brought something back to the campsite and cooked it on one of the barbecues.’

‘I just didn’t want to be the one to do it. It’s hypocritical, I know, but I just couldn’t.’

When their food arrived, as much as they were hungry, it didn’t deter from the fact that these were enormous portions. But they gave it a good go and got through most of it, by the end scraping chips through the ketchup and forcing them in.

‘Right, that’s it, any more and I’ll burst,’ said Hudson, willing someone to come and take the plates before he kept going with the chips that tempted him every second no matter how satiated he was.

The other patient and family liaison nurse, Paige, had generously taken on Hudson’s workload at the last minute. Hudson had made the call right after he’d put Carys to bed and while Beau was still opening up the two-man tent in the back garden, and he was glad he’d made the quick decision. This was quality time with Beau that both of them really needed. If he’d done this previously, his son might never have done something as irresponsible as taking part in a hoax call to the air ambulance. Then again, maybe Conrad had a point, that they all made mistakes in their youth, and what was important now to Hudson was that Beau seemed to be learning from it.

And as a dad, he couldn’t ask for much more than that.

As they waited for their plates to be cleared and let their dinner go down, talk turned to Beau’s mum.

‘What do you really think of Conrad?’ Hudson decided there was no point trying to dress up the question; he may as well be direct.

‘He’s not so bad.’

‘Is that only because he let you off?’ Hudson leaned out of the way when one of the bar staff came to take his plate.

‘I suppose it’s part of it. I think I’m getting used to him. Mum’s last boyfriend was awful. It was obvious he didn’t expect to have to tolerate kids – whatever age they were.’

‘I hope Carys squealed loudly when he was there.’

Beau laughed. ‘Actually, she did. I swear that’s why he went running for the hills.’

‘Does Conrad treat your mum okay?’ It wasn’t his business who Lucinda dated but he still cared and he’d heard what Conrad was like.

‘He does. They seem happy. He works a lot, so does she.’

‘Maybe they’re a good match in that way.’

‘Have you ever thought of dating anyone?’

His beer didn’t quite go down smoothly and he coughed. ‘Sometimes, but there’s too much going on.’

‘I don’t mind, if you want to.’

‘Wouldn’t it depend who it was?’

‘Well, yeah. They’d have to like kids.’ He had more to say. ‘You and Nadia seem close.’

‘Nadia?’

‘Ask her out; I think she’d say yes.’

It felt weird, having this conversation, but he appreciated it. ‘Who knows, maybe I will. Now that I have your approval.’

‘You’ll need Carys’s too.’

Hudson laughed loudly. ‘As long as she gets a cuddle, Carys is happy and I don’t think her squealing will chase Nadia away either.’ He tried to read his son’s expression. ‘You’d really be okay with it?’

‘Sure.’

‘Well, thanks.’

‘You mean for being okay that my dad actually gets a life.’

‘Hey… less making out I’m a sad case.’

‘Just do me a favour, Dad.’ He set down his second Coke after a generous swig. ‘If you date her, or anyone else, don’t give me any details.’

He clinked his glass against Beau’s. ‘Deal.’

The drizzle that had started as they made their way to the pub had turned into a downpour that made them linger inside a while longer. They had a game of darts, which Beau won, three games of pool, which Hudson won, and they made use of the pub’s pack of cards.

‘The rain has stopped,’ said Beau when he came out of the bathroom.

‘Shall we make a run for it now in case it starts again?’

They agreed they’d do that; it was only a ten-minute walk and at a fast pace, they made it to their tent, added on a dash to the shower block to clean their teeth and had got beneath the canvas just in time to see the rain start up again. They kept the tent flaps open for a bit. With no other campers in front of them, they had a view of the field stretched out before them, vast open space and freedom.

Bundled into their sleeping bags, they both sat at the mouth of the tent watching as the sky grew dark and the rain comforted them beneath the canvas.

Hudson decided that there couldn’t be many moments as perfect as this.