Page 101 of Secret Love

“I know we said no live bait…” Henley pulls out a container.

We all eye him suspiciously. He looks a little too excited and I don’t think it’s because we’re all together.

“But I heard these are the best to catch rainbow trout…” He opens the container and it’sfilledwith maggots. He jiggles it our way and we all scramble to our feet, screaming our heads off, me included.

He picks one up and touches my cheek with it and I scream louder, only to realize that oh, that felt very similar to rubber. He’s laughing his ass off and I swat his arm.

“That’s not real, is it?” I pant, my stomach in my throat.

“It’s not real,” he admits, still laughing so hard.

It’s a good thing he’s so damn cute.

Gracie and Audrey tentatively reach out to touch them and then pick them up when they’re certain they’re not real.

“That is so disgusting.” Cassidy shudders and then gags.

Henley wipes tears from his eyes as he tries to stop laughing, but he's still far too pleased with himself.

“You'll pay for that,” I say, smirking.

“Oh, I will, huh?” He comes up behind me, his hands on my waist, and I shoot him a look.

He freezes.

“What?” he asks under his breath.

“Not in front of the girls,” I say, between clenched teeth.

I try my best to look like I’m smiling, but it’s hard to smile and clench teeth at the same time.

“What? Don't touch your waist?”

“Don't touch me at all,” I continue between gritted teeth.

He looks like he wants to laugh again, but he drops his hands and holds them up.

“Okay, whatever you say, but for the record, I think they would be okay with it,” he whispers, a little too loud for my liking.

I shoot him another look and sit back down where the girls have gotten back in place. He puts the lure on our hooks and hands us our fishing poles. Cassidy has hers already, but Audrey and I are waiting for Henley to do ours, and Gracie is still playing with the lures.

“You're making me nervous with all those fish hooks,” I tell her.

“Don’t worry. Daddy tells me to be so careful too,” she says.

“He's right about that, not about the maggots, but he's right about being careful.”

She giggles. “That was terrible.” She makes a face.

“It sure was.” I lean toward the girls and whisper, “We're going to have to figure out a way to get him back.”

“What do we do?” Cassidy asks, excitement in her eyes.

“I’m not sure yet, but I think it will come to us. Let's just watch for opportunities today,” I tell them, and they all nod excitedly.

“What's going on over here? What are you guys doing?” Henley asks.

“Nothing,” we all say.

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