Read Online Forever This Time by Maggie McGinnis - Free Book Online Page B

ten years, he knew that no one besides Josie made Josie talk. There was no way he was going to force the issue, no matter how hard he tried. If he tried to push, the only thing he’d accomplish would be to scare her back away.
    Not that that would be a bad thing, necessarily.
    Pops was sopping the last of his tomato sauce up with a roll, and Ethan enjoyed the mundane ordinariness of the action for a moment before he spoke. “So Pops, what should we do tonight?”
    â€œI don’t know. So many choices. Maybe watch TV? Or, hell, we could watch TV. Or wait. I know. How about some TV?”
    Ethan looked at his watch, cringing internally as he pictured the work still waiting on his desk at the park. But it was Sunday night, Pops had spent the weekend with only his television for company, and Ethan couldn’t stand the thought of bringing him back home for more of the same.
    â€œWant to go night-fishing?”
    Pops looked up, eyes brightening. “How about the chimney hole? Wanna head out to Twilight Cove and try our luck?”
    â€œPerfect.” Ethan speared his pickle, smiling at Pops. If you didn’t know about his illness, it was one of those rare nights that you could barely even tell he was losing his mind, one painful day at a time.
    â€œBetter not tell your mother, though. You know how she hates it when we fish at night. Tell her we’re gonna go have a beer at Bellinis, got it?”
    Ethan pressed his lips together to silence his sigh. Mom had lost her battle with ovarian cancer twenty years ago. “Okay, Pops. We’ll tell her we’re heading to Bellinis.”
    An hour later, Ethan baited his hook and arced the line over his head and out into the glistening water, where it plopped a few yards shy of the line Pops had just cast. The sun was setting, giving a firelight glow to the still lake. Gulls were circling a school of fish about half a mile out, but on the rocky shore it was quiet. As he felt a quick tug on his line, he remembered another night, another fishing trip, another world.
    *   *   *
    â€œOmigod, Ethan! I got a bite!” Josie’s eyes widened as she peered over the canoe’s edge. At sixteen, she was all lush curves and peek-a-boo tan lines in her bikini. Ethan had been having trouble keeping his eyes on his fishing line since they’d paddled out into Twilight Cove at dusk.
    â€œGive it a little bounce. Set the hook.”
    â€œSet the hook?” She shook her head, looking mortified that she’d single-handedly stabbed a little fish in the jaw. “No! Get it off!” She stood up in the canoe, rocking it dangerously.
    â€œReel it in.” He set down his own rod and moved slowly toward her. “Reel it in slowly and we’ll let it go.”
    She reeled furiously. “You said we’d never catch anything.”
    â€œWell, in my defense, I usually don’t!”
    â€œI can’t believe I just caught an innocent little fish.” She frowned at the water, still reeling.
    â€œUm, weren’t you the one who wanted to go out fishing at sunset?”
    She stopped reeling and looked at him like he was an idiot … which he was, being both sixteen and a male, but still. He grabbed her line as the fish surfaced and quickly disengaged the hook, tossing the tiny sunfish back into the lake.
    Josie stared at the water. “I didn’t really want to go fishing.”
    â€œThen why did you ask me to take you out here—fishing?”
    â€œI just wanted to be alone with you, moron. Without Molly, without Ole Ben, without everyone else around.”
    â€œOh.” He sat down on the wooden seat. “Well, you could have just told me that instead.”
    She shook her head, smiling. “I thought maybe you could figure it out.” She pointed at her chest. “I even wore your favorite bikini.”
    â€œIt’s not all that suitable for fishing, now that you mention it.”