The waves lap against the sand. Delilah is sitting next to me in a short lawn chair. Our feet wet from the salt water, and cold drinks in our hands. The perfect getaway for spring break.
“Do you think the bar is busy?” Delilah shields her eyes as she looks into the distance.
Always worried about work. “Nope. You know as well as I do we have a better chance of running into folks from Asheville here than we would have at home.”
She takes a sip of her mai tai. They still aren’t my favorite, but I drink them when I’m with her. Plus, it adds to the ambiance of being on the beach. Just like she said when I tried it for the first time.
“You’re right.” Her hand hovers over mine before interlocking our fingers together. “It’s just hard to step away from work mode when I’ve been working almost every day for months.”
“Well, you definitely deserve a little time off.”
“So do you,” she squeezes my hand. “How are sign ups coming along for the football camp you’re starting?”
“Pretty good. I underestimated how many would be interested.” Lifting our hands up, I kiss the back of hers. “But, let’s not talk about work. We’re here to soak up the sun and relax.”
“I’m trying.”
She is. I know that, but so much of our lives revolve around our jobs. I’ve seen what that can do to relationships, and I want us to do things outside of that.
“Are you ready for the fishing trip I booked?” Changing the subject is always a good thing.
She scrunches her nose and mouth before shaking her head. “I don’t know why you booked it. You know I don’t even like fish.”
“It’ll be an adventure.” I take a sip of my drink and try to keep my face neutral. Rum is not my thing. “Besides, what we’ll be fishing for is supposed to have a meatier substance.”
“Can you guarantee that?”
“Do you want me to lie to you?”
“I’d rather you not.” She sets her drink down and grabs her phone. “We need to head over there soon.”
“There’s plenty of time. It’s not like that island is that big.” It takes maybe thirty minutes to go from one side to the other. The only thing that could hinder us is the traffic along the seawall, but that shouldn’t be too bad until it gets dark.
“Let’s walk back to the beach house soon. I want to freshen up and make sure I have my motion sickness medicine. I don’t know how I’ll react on a boat in deep water.”
“Sounds good. I’m ready when you are.” Little does she know I’ll do anything she asks. I’ll also make sure to push her boundaries to make sure she never fears being overshadowed by anyone, or anything.
***
“Is it always this choppy?” Delilah asks our fishing guide. She’s stayed at the back of the boat since we got out of the bay. The front of it made her feel nauseous even with her medicine. Note to self…no more fishing excursions.
“It’ll calm down once we are further out.” He steers the boat toward the open sea. “Then I’ll help y’all get your hooks bated and we can start fishing.”
My steps are slow on the unsteady boat as I make my way toward Delilah. “Sorry you aren’t feeling all that great. But look,” I point toward the horizon, “how amazing is that view? Nothing blocking our sight, just open ocean and the horizon.”
“It is pretty.” She leans into me. “It’s also the only thing keeping me from puking all over the place. You better catch something good to make it worth it.”
“Maybe you’ll out fish me.” That’s what I’m hoping for. I don’t want her feeling like this entire afternoon is a nightmare.
The boat slows and the guide drops the anchor. Finally. Maybe she’ll get some relief since we aren’t moving. Well, not as much.
The guide pulls out two fishing reels, and they are thicker than anything I’ve ever used before. “I’m going to put you on each side of the boat.”
“Back here, right?” Del is nervous about me being too far from her. I’ll stay by her side, even if that means I don’t have a chance to catch anything.
“Yes.” He points to where she’s standing. “I’ll bait this, cast it, then put it in the rod holder right in front of you. And it’ll be the same for him.”
“Okay.”
Both of us watch him do his work. While I’d like to say I can cast my own rod, I’ll let him do it. This is a whole different environment than at the lake.
Soon, both of our lines are in the water. He slowly guides the boat forward to pull the line. The waiting is torture until finally something pulls on Delilah’s line. She grabs the rod and looks to the guide. “What do I do?”
“Slowly reel the line in.” He stands behind her. “If you need any help, I’ll be right here.”
“Okay.” She takes a deep breath, and focuses on her line. Whatever is on the hook is putting up a fight.
She struggles to reel the line in and the guide grabs the pole out of the holder. Placing it in her hands, he shows her how to hold it. He grabs further up the rod and holds it for more security. “Don’t let it have too much slack. It’ll run and break the line.”
A quick look in my direction, and I know she doesn’t want to ask this guy to help her. I abandon my pole and stand behind her. My hand covering hers on the rod. The guide lets go as soon as he sees I have it.
She wasn’t lying. This thing is not coming up easy. Ten minutes go by before it gets close enough to surface for us to see. “Is that…is that a stingray?”
“No wonder it was being a pain. They are hard to bring up.” The guide comes to the edge of the boat, and glances over. Grabbing a pair of gloves out of his pocket, he slips them on before wrapping them around the line. “I’m going to pull it up. Don’t let the line go.”
“Yes, sir.” I make sure Delilah has a grip on the reel, and continue winding it toward us.
He pulls the fish onto the boat and motions us to take a step back. “Watch out of the tail. Let me cut that barb off. If we’re done, we can head back to shore and I’ll prepare it for y’all to cook.”
Delilah’s eyes widen in horror. “We’re going to eat it?”
“That’s kind of the point of this.” She begins shaking her head, but I grab her chin. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure he can tell us how to prepare it. From what I hear, it’s nothing like fish.”
“If you say so.”
“He’s right.” The guide nods to the stingray. “Do you still want to fish?”
After a quick glance at my girl, I know she’s done for the day. “No, we can head back.”
The trip back to the dock doesn’t seem to take as long as it did to get out here. Once we’re tied up, Delilah steps out before I do. “Hey, man. Before you filet it, can we get a picture of her holding her catch?”
“Sure thing.” He grabs the stingray and holds it out to her.
She backs away, and I shake my head. It’s funny she won’t even hold it. I open my phone up to the camera and hold it out to him.
We swap, and I now have the stingray in my hands. It’s heavier than it looks, and I don’t see how she got it as close to the surface as she did on her own.
Delilah stands next to me, pointing her finger toward her catch. After a few clicks of the camera, we trade and he begins his work. “Thank you.”
“I can’t believe I caught that.” She’s excited even if she’s grossed out by it.
“You did great out there.” I put my arm around her shoulder. “Now, I can make you dinner and you’ll see how good it is.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
That’s not the only thing I plan on doing tonight. Lisa’s back, but not rooming with her this time. Tonight, I’ll broach the topic of us moving in together.
For a little bit of reference on the inspiration for this scene. This is a stingray I caught during one of our trips to Galveston. It took everything I had to pull this sucker up, but I did it all on my own. We also grilled it, and it’s probably one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.
P.S. I don’t like fish either.