Page 58 of Priceless
She rolled her eyes. “Not much of a competition, then, is it?”
I shrugged. “It’s hard to want anything if you already have everything you want.” I glanced pointedly at Jacob.
Jess groaned. “Ye’re hopeless, and no help a’tall.”
I tried again. “How about money? I’ll put in a hundred dollars.”
The others agreed to do the same, as long as hot tubbing was included. The pot would be split either between the men or the women. I’d already saved more than a hundred bucks since I hadn’t paid for a meal since I arrived in Inverness. I didn’t know if there would be a fee for pushing back my departure flight, but I decided that, if we won, that’s what it would go toward. If we lost, it was a sign that I needed to go home when I’d promised.
Though, to be fair, I’d only promised myself and Whitney…
Now that the race was on, and I actually wanted to win, I turned around and faced the open sea and concentrated on getting my hook in the water. One look at that planet-sized pool of monsters, however, and I suddenly didn’t care who won. I just wanted it to be over as fast as possible. How long could it takefor four people to catch a fish anyway? A half hour? Maybe we’d be back on dry land before it was time to see what Trenton had packed for lunch!
I started by keeping my attention on the birds, the sky, the banks of clouds in the distance. But I always ended up looking for the spot where my line met the water, waiting for tension in the line, dreading how hard these Scottish fish would fight. The only thing I’d ever caught in my life was rainbow trout and a perch or two. I’d seen others struggle to land a salmon, but I’d never had anything that large on the end of my line.
I assumed I was about to.
Jess handed me her pole and fetched us all a cold can of Coke. She popped the top of hers and raised it. “To never marrying eejits!” Then she and Banner shared a secret look.
He echoed her. “To never marrying eejits!”
“Amen,” I said.
Jacob waited until he caught my eye. “To big fish and hot tubs!”
We all laughed, and I repeated it, though with a small change. “To big fish onthisside of the boat, and to hot tubs!”
I got used to the rhythm of the rocking. The gulls complained, the firth rolled along oblivious to our presence. I kept my smile, but it didn’t feel pasted on anymore. It felt earned. I kept my attention away from the water at our feet, however, so I didn’t accidentally see something I didn’t want to.
Caffeine was the last thing I needed, but I drank anyway. Soon after our toasts, Banner called out. He had something on the line. I hadn’t put two and two together—the deeper we fished, the longer it took to reel all that line back in. So it was a long wait to see how big a gift the ocean had given him.
“A haddock,” Jess said, when the still-fighting fish was finally in the boat. It was really dark gray on the back and bright silver on the belly. Pointed fins. Not ugly at all. When it weighed in attwelve pounds, Jess shook her head. “Not to worry. We can beat that one easy with a pollock or a cod.”
With my drink in one hand and the other on my pole, something nearly yanked it clean away. I dropped my half-can of sticky pop and apologized for the spill as I struggled to hold on.
Jess whooped and hollered.
Jacob was beside me before I had a chance to panic. “Well done, Laira! Ye’ve got more than a haddock for sure!”
Though the end of my pole bent nearly in half, he never tried to take it from me, never offered to reel it in. Paul wouldn’t have asked. He would have just taken it from my hands and told me he’d handle it, say that I wasn’t strong enough, imply that the fish would get away if he left it to me. And I would have let him.
Jacob had already praised me, and I hadn’t done anything more than drop my line in the water.
It took forever to reel in the line. And the more I wound it, the harder the fish fought back. Something broke the surface, but I missed it.
“Cod!” Jess shouted.
Cod? Cod was good. Cod might be a winner. Cod might mean I could stay in Jacob’s world a little longer.
“I don’t know,” I said. “My arms are?—”
“Ye can do it, lass.” He moved behind me and slipped his arms around my waist. “The beastie will rest, and so can ye. That’s it. Just hold the pole for a wee bit. I’m sure it’s well and truly hooked.Just as I am.”
Jess’s head snapped around to give him a look. I rewound his words in my head and listened to them again.
What had Jocko said?
Definitely keep the big ones, lass. Ye’ll be glad ye did.
