Friday I'm in Love by Mari Carr Read Free Book Online Page A

her toward it. She took a deep breath and reached out to touch it.
    “You’ll have to do better than that. It’s your fish. You have to kiss it.”
    She narrowed her eyes at the older man. “I’m not kissing that fish.”
    “Rules of the boat,” Pat interjected. “You wouldn’t want to offend your captain. It’s a tradition—we always kiss our fish. You better be quick though, that poor guy can’t stay out of the water much longer.”
    “You’re throwing him back?” she asked, struggling to understand the purpose of fishing if you didn’t keep what you caught.
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    “This is a catch-and-release trip,” Moose replied. “Now pucker up and give this poor little guy some love. Bound to be traumatized after having that hook in his mouth.”
    She bent forward, amazed by the realization she was actually going to kiss a fish.
    She placed a peck on the scaly, cold thing as Pat and Moose howled with laughter.
    Moose released the fish back into the lake and Natalie had an anxious moment as she wondered if she’d killed the poor thing. Her fear was short-lived as the fish quickly swam away.
    She wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand, narrowing her eyes at the two older men who were still chuckling. Realization dawned hard. “You never kiss the fish, do you?”
    Moose tried to look remorseful but his attempt was spoiled by the shit-eating grin plastered on his face. “I didn’t think you’d really do it.”
    She gave Ewan a dirty look when she caught him chuckling as well. “Don’t look at me . It’s every man for himself on the boat.”
    “So I keep hearing,” she said. “Well, that’s okay boys. Laugh it up. Because if I’m not mistaken, I’m the only one on this boat who’s caught a fish to kiss.”
    Pat sobered up quickly. “Hey, now. That hurts.”
    She grinned as she reclaimed her rod, deftly baiting her hook and casting it with confidence. “Yep, looks like I’m kicking ass in the fishing game.”
    The other men laughed and she was surprised when Moose came over and playfully tugged on her ponytail. “Day’s still young, sweet stuff.”
    She smiled at him and his words. The day was still young…and she hoped it lasted forever.
    * * * * *
    It was nearly nine when Natalie descended the stairs, smiling at him as she approached the couch. Ewan was grateful for his loose sweatpants when she appeared 44
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    in her plaid pajama bottoms and a T-shirt. They’d decided to watch a DVD together after they’d returned from fishing.
    “Where’s your pop?” she asked.
    “Watching the sports channel in his bedroom. Twenty bucks says we hear him snoring in half an hour.”
    She laughed. “What about your sisters?”
    “Teagan’s spending the night with Keira and Riley’s in her room sleeping off last night.”
    She sat down beside him and he quickly bent to grab her legs, pulling them over his lap as she lay against the armrest of the couch.
    “Comfortable?” he asked.
    “Mmm hmm.”
    He was taken aback again by her quietness tonight. She’d taken to the fishing experiment better than he’d hoped and as the day passed, he’d watched her fall deeper and deeper into a state of total relaxation. It looked good on her.
    He didn’t realize before how sharp-eyed, focused and alert Natalie usually was. She was a bundle of nervous energy, never landing, never sitting for long.
    They were nearly an hour into the movie when he felt her gaze on his face. He turned to look at her, confused by her expression.
    “I shouldn’t have said all that stuff about my parents. On the boat. It wasn’t really the truth.”
    “Your dad isn’t a workaholic?” He’d always wondered about her family, her childhood. It was the one subject she steadfastly refused to talk about.
    “He is. He just wasn’t always. He was a good dad, just not a fisherman.”
    Ewan grinned. “Not all men are, but don’t tell Pop and Moose that. I have to admit I was curious about the June Cleaver