Page 3 of Protective

The response is soft as she says, “Hi. I’m Heather. I’ve got to say, this is so weird.”

“Nice to meet you, Heather. I’m Chevy. Is this your first time?”

“Yeah. My friend convinced me this was a genius plot device for life and,” she sighs, “I’m not convinced yet.”

I smile at the realism of that statement. “Same. This is my third date, and I have to say… it’s still not easy.”

“Wow, three dates? You’re a professional.”

Does she have a sense of humor or is that passive aggressive? Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned how many dates I’ve been on.

“Come to think of it, I probably am.” I fold my leg over my knee and pull at the bottom cuff of my jeans. “I guess that means I’m in charge of the list of questions then?”

“There’s a list of questions?”

“In the notebook by the basket. They give you a list of conversation prompts.”

She laughs and I hear her stand from the couch before the soft scrape of the notebook against the basket hits my ear. “Oh damn. These questions are awful. I mean… if you had a superpower, what would it be?”

“Are you asking for real?”

“Not really, unless you want to answer.”

“No,” I grin, “I’m good.”

“Yeah, they’re like job interview questions. Do you see the one about what apps you can’t live without?”

“Well, that one’s imperative to knowing me,” I laugh. “I can’t live without the weather app. That thing saves my life most days.”

“Why’s that?”

“Fishin’. Gotta know wind speeds, pressure, and water temperature if you’re gonna catch anything good.”

“I haven’t been fishing in forever, like since I was a kid. What do you fish for?”

“There’s a lot of trout up here. You ever go fly fishin’?”

“No, but I want to. It looks fun and kinda peaceful. My dad liked sitting out on the lake in a rowboat. So, if we ever fished, that’s where we were.”

“You guys catch a lot like that?”

I hear her smile widen. “No. Never. It was mostly nap time.”

“Sounds a lot like my childhood. My grandpa would perch down by the river and fall asleep while I tossed stones andcaught fish.” I laugh. “When we got back to Grandma, it was‘us’that caught the fish, though. What did you do during nap time?”

“I liked drawing, so I’d bring a pad and pencil with me and sketch the lake. I still have pages and pages of sketches I made out there with him. One time, we got caught in this rainstorm and I was so scared. You could see the lightning all around the water, and my dad propped a tarp over me and told me to sketch the scene while he paddled us back to shore. It was such a simple thing, but I remembered that day forever. He made me feel so safe and he showed me how beautiful even the darkness can be.”

I don’t know how we’ve gotten into it all so easily, but I like it. “That’s a beautiful story. Did your mom ever come fishin’ with y’all?”

The fireplace echoes in from her side of the cabin. “No. Mom wasn’t an outdoorsy kind of person, but it worked for them. They had this beautiful love story.” Her voice turns darker as she says, “They passed away together last year in a car crash.”

“Fuck. I’m sorry. That’s awful.”

“It’s sad, but I really do find comfort in knowing they went together. They’d been married since high school, so I don’t know how they’d have managed without each other.”

This is the first date I’ve had in forever where the conversation flowed so easily.

“What about your parents?” I think I hear the twist of the water bottle pop. “Are you close?”

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