Page 11 of A Possibility of an Unexpected Second Chance

“Will the fish get scared away if it rains?” Hayden asked, looking at the dark sky.

“No, the fish bite whether it’s raining or not. Actually, they’re a little more active right after a rainstorm, so if we do get one you might have better luck.” John went on to talk about the Cayman Islands and how Christopher Columbus discovered the islands when his ship blew off-course.

Hayden gripped the back of the bench seat, and Lana brazenly leaned into him. She worried he would be caught off guard, but he didn’t move away, and she settled in beside him, enjoying the feeling of being close to him.

A small niggling in the back of her head told her to stop getting close to Hayden, but she ignored it. She didn’t want to think about how he’d broken her heart. Right now, he seemed receptive to spending time with her, and she didn’t want to ruin the moment with thoughts of reality. She was fine spending one day in her fantasy world, where she and Hayden were together again, and they had no problems.

After thirty minutes John slowed the boat. “We’ll stop here for a while and see if you can catch anything. This is a great spot for Tarpon, Bonefish, and Triggerfish, along with some other varieties.”

John gave them a few quick lessons and showed them how to prepare the fishing hook with bait and how to cast it out into the water. It took a few tries, but Lana successfully cast hers out. She grinned when it arched, and the line plopped into the water. “Ooh, I’m a natural.”

Hayden did the same, and they sat looking out at the water. They were a few hundred yards away from the island, the gentle waves rocking the boat. Seagulls circled in the distance. “It’s peaceful here,” he said.

“Yes.”

She and Hayden chatted about nothing in particular while they waited for the fish to bite. The sky lightened a bit as the dark clouds moved farther out to sea. The weather was nice, even though it was overcast. The day had warmed into the seventies.

After a while Hayden’s line tugged downward. “I think I caught something.”

Lana hooted. “Really? Reel it in.”

John leaned forward. “Go slowly, you don’t want to go too fast, or you might lose him.”

Hayden turned the handle slowly, pulling on the line and then reeling it in. When it broke through the surface, he smiled. “I did it. I actually caught a fish.”

“You sure did. Looks like a baby bonefish.”

“A baby?” Hayden frowned. “Are you sure? It was tugging quite a bit.”

John grabbed the fishing line and held up the fish. It was about eight inches. Lana could see the disappointment on Hayden’s features. “I think it’s awesome,” Lana said.

“It’s a fine first catch,” John said, holding out the line for Hayden. “You should take it so we can document it.”

Hayden held the line up and grinned while Lana and John took a zillion photos. John weighed, measured, and released it back into the ocean.

After trying to catch something for another hour and failing, John took the boat to another location. It rained again, but it was only a sprinkling and stopped after a few minutes. Lana cast her line in, feeling more comfortable with the process. She felt a tug on her line just minutes later.

“Hey, I think it’s my turn.”

“You caught something?” Hayden asked.

Her line jerked again and she mimicked Hayden, slowly reeling it in. It took a lot more strength than she’d anticipated. What did she catch? A whale? But after a few minutes of pulling and reeling, she finally got the fish above water.

“Whoa, that’s a nice Black-tailed Trevally,” John said.

“I’m trying not to be jealous that your fish is bigger than my chest, while I caught one that looks like I should feed it tea and crumpets.”

She made a face. “What does that even mean?”

Hayden laughed. “I don’t know.”

“You’re both doing great. Let’s get some pictures of this beauty,” John said.

Lana held up the fish while Hayden gushed about how cool the fish was and took photographic proof that she’d caught it. Even though she knew she looked terrible in his sweatpants, she kind of didn’t care. This was turning out to be the best day she’d had in a long time.

But she was kind of scared what would happen tomorrow, once life went back to normal.

CHAPTER8

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