Black Otter Bay by Vincent Wyckoff Read Free Book Online Page B

burst out laughing, too. The note requested his suggestions for a suitable punishment. He replied that he saw no need for any punishment at all. Further, he added that his son should get an A on the assignment for such a well-crafted, perfectly proportioned drawing. And if the teacher didn’t agree with him, he’d be happy to stop by to discuss it with her.
    Ultimately, nothing more came of the incident, other than Ben moping around the house for a couple of days. The drawing hung on the refrigerator until almost Christmas, when it suddenly disappeared. Matt knew things like that happened in a young boy’s life, and a few days of embarrassed silence was an acceptable outcome. Maybe that’s all this was now. But then, why was Abby acting so strange, too?
    He looked across the table at his daughter. Whenever he looked into her glittering dark eyes, pondered her thick black hair and spotless, fair complexion, he hardly dared to believe that this beautiful child was a part of him. People always remarked at how much she looked like him, and he agreed as far as the fact that they both had black hair, large dark eyes, and fair complexions. But whereas these things were a simple description of his looks, on Abby they came together to form beautiful lines and exquisite features. She was growing up fast, and soon she’d have her own trials and predicaments to deal with. Matt knew he wouldn’t have the words to help her through it; a girl needed her mother for those things. That’s why he’d tried so hard to keep communications open with hisex-wife, Jackie. Looking ahead, he’d admit that these mysterious adolescent years were going to be too much for him to handle alone. But Jackie had drifted farther and farther away, until the children hardly saw their mother at all anymore, and rarely even asked about her. So, while Matt diligently performed his duties as household provider, the role of parental confidante came to him about as easily as a foreign language on an alien planet. For that reason, he’d decided that if Jackie couldn’t be there for her daughter, he’d ask Marcy to talk to Abby. She was great with the kids, and she’d do anything to help. She’d even been their babysitter at one time. But whenever he tried to see her, like today at the café, people surrounded her, and there was no way he could talk to her about Abby in front of others.
    On the other hand, Abby had been his fishing buddy ever since day one. She’d ridden on his chest in a homemade sling while he walked the North Shore streams casting for steelhead trout. She rode along quietly for hours, her bright-eyed stare following ripples in the current, as if watching fish below the surface. When he’d hold up a thrashing trout for her, she’d giggle and poke at it. Even more than her brother, Abby begged her way in on every fishing excursion that came along. And now he hoped that passion could be his ticket out of this dilemma.
    Reaching for the spoon in the taco goulash, he said, “I’ve been thinking about that lost fishing trip last weekend.” He flicked a glance at both kids, but their eyes remained focused on their plates. Carefully, he scooped a second helping, then reached for the dinner rolls. “It seems that warmer weather is finally here. The lakes are opening up. If you don’t have plans for the weekend yet, how about we wet a line? Maybe set up camp somewhere. You guys pick the lake. What do you say?”
    Ben prodded his mound of goulash, but Abby sat back, eyeing her father. Matt could see the wheels turning. She’d never walked away from a fishing trip in her life, but she’d never been this age before, either—an age where fishing with your father would take a backseat to just about anything on her social calendar.
    â€œWhat do you think, Abby?” he asked. “Can you get away for the weekend to try out that new fishing rod of