“Every boy in this town needs to learn to fish,” she’d declared. “It’s a rite of passage. I taught Henry myself. Of course, Kevin came along and improved on my lessons. He didn’t think a woman, especially one who moved here from a big city, could possibly know anything about doing it right.”
“How’d you feel about that?” Sam asked, curious.
“Oh, he was right, no question about it,” Shanna admitted. “But the important thing was Henry gave it a try and came to love it.”
Henry took over with the younger boys and Sam settled onto a bench to enjoy the morning. Not only did Henry know what he was doing, it seemed he had endless patience with the kids. Davey, of course, needed no coaching. He caught his first fish before the others even had the bait on their lines.
“Now we throw him back,” Davey said.
“But why?” Bobby asked, clearly fascinated with the fish in Davey’s hand.
“Because he’s too little to eat,” Davey told him solemnly. “He should have a chance to grow up.”
While catch and release was obviously a lesson ingrained by Kevin, it didn’t seem to resonate well with Bobby. Tears filled his eyes and he came running for Sam.
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked, at a loss to understand the obviously heartfelt emotion.
“What if he can’t find his mommy and daddy again?” he whispered to Sam.
“I’ll bet they’re close by waiting for him,” Sam said.
“That’s what moms and dads do,” Davey said in his own attempt to be reassuring.
That only made Bobby cry harder. “Not mine,” he said between sobs.
All Sam could do was hold him close while the tears flowed.
“I’m sorry,” Davey said, looking shaken. “I forgot about his mom and dad.”
“It’s okay,” Sam assured him. “Sometimes it just hits him. Maybe we should all go for some ice cream and forget about fishing this morning.”
“Sounds good to me,” Henry said at once, taking his cue from Sam. “These guys are always up for ice cream, right, Davey?”
“Right,” Davey said at once.
“Bobby? Johnny? Does that sound okay to you?” Sam prodded.
Johnny kept his solemn gaze trained on Bobby, as if he understood that Bobby was the key to whether ice cream was an option.
“I guess,” Bobby said with a loud sniff. “Can I have chocolate?”
“You can have any flavor you want,” Sam said, relieved.
“Maybe Carrie could come?” Bobby suggested.
Sam thought of her declaration that they do nothing that would feed into Bobby’s growing attachment to her. “I think she’s out of town today, pal. Remember?”
Bobby looked puzzled, but then his expression brightened. “Oh, yeah, the day-care place.”
Even as the innocent words left Bobby’s mouth, Sam winced.
“Day-care place?” Henry echoed, looking confused. “What’s that?”
Even Bobby realized his mistake. He stared sheepishly at Sam. “Uh-oh,” he whispered. “Is she gonna be mad at me?”
“No way,” Sam soothed, though he knew no such thing. For now, though, he had to do damage control. He offered a bright smile for Henry. “Just a project she’s been working on. She doesn’t want anyone to know about it yet.”
Henry studied him with that solemn, knowing expression that suggested he was wise beyond his years. “Got it,” he said readily. “No one will hear about it from me.” He scowled fiercely at Davey. “Got that?”
“My lips are zipped,” Davey confirmed.
Henry gave a nod of satisfaction. “We’re good, then.”
“Okay. Let’s get that ice cream,” Sam said eagerly.
As soon as the kids were settled on a bench facing the bay with their cones, he stepped aside, pulled out his cell and called Carrie. Since she was working, he’d anticipated voice mail, but she picked up at once.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you at work,” he said.
“Actually I’m at home. I have Jackson today. I won’t be going to the day care again until tomorrow. What’s up?”
“Just something I thought you needed to know.”
“Is it about Bobby? Is he okay?”
“He had a little meltdown earlier,” he said, explaining what had happened. “He wanted me to call you. I reminded him you were working today—or at least I thought you were—and he kind of blurted out something about the day-care center.”
“And Henry and Davey caught it?”
“Oh, yeah, though they have promised to keep what they heard to themselves. I just thought you should know that your secret’s not so secret anymore.”