Page 6 of Love Puck

The conditions here weren’t exactly ideal—and my fishing partners were acting more like hostages than friends.

Still, I was able to reach the point where my mind was truly focused on nothing else except the water, the boat, and my rod.

It was a great ten minutes.

Trey’s voice took me completely out of my Zen moment, being one with nature.

“Would you stop sighing? You’re supposed to be relaxing.”

Beau sighed louder. “I can’t help it. This is boring as hell. How much longer do we have to be out here?”

Now it was Trey’s turn to sigh. “We just got out here. Usually, I fish for hours—but it’s cold as balls out here. How about you, Cash?”

I chuckled at my teammates and shook my head. “It’s not cold as balls. It’s hot as balls. You need to stop saying that. And yeah, I usually fish for a couple of hours for sure. How about we go in as soon as one of us catches a fish?” I figured that would be a compromise for all of us. Trey and I would get some time out here, and Beau would have a goal to set his mind on.

“I can live with that,” Beau said with a small smile on his face. “How long does it usually take to catch a fish? Fifteen minutes? Twenty?”

Trey and I laughed as we looked at each other. “That’s the whole point of fishing. You don’t know when—or if you’ll catch anything,” Trey informed him.

Beau’s hopeful expression fell from his face. “Jesus. You mean we could be out here all day and not catch a thing?”

I shrugged and gave him the bad—and the good—news. “Yeah, or you could catch something in the next minute.”

“Sounds risky. All the show let us bring were three cans of beans,” Beau stated what we already knew. The show not only insisted on having their cameras present—they also gave us limits on food.

Not that I completely listened to their rules.

Fishing was risky.

I knew that.

So, I’d packed several bags of jerky along for the trip. That way, we’d have beans and jerky if nothing out here was biting our hooks.

“Then I guess we need to get to work and catch our lunch. And supper,” I told our newbie fisher.

He nodded and went back to being silent.

For a short time.

Suddenly, a loud blaring noise filled the air. My eyes dashed around until I saw Beau smiling goofily at his phone.

“What the fuck, Moreau?” Trey poked Beau’s arm. Are you trying to give us all heart attacks or what?”

Beau barely budged. All he kept doing was staring at his phone. “Gigi taught the boys a new song. In French.”

The pride he held in his heart was written all over his face at the moment. Beau didn’t find out his twins existed until they were four years old—and he was engaged to Gigi, who was not his baby mama.

That revelation had been broadcast all over the fuckin’ world at the time. I remembered hearing about it because it was on every goddamn television channel and radio station.

I didn’t know Gigi then, but I knew Beau. And I was one hundred percent certain that if he’d known about his kids—he would have been involved from day one.

What I wasn’t sure about—was how his new, much younger fiancée would take the news.

Luckily, it all worked out.

Eventually.

But I didn’t envy what it must’ve taken to get to where that new little family was now.

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