Beauty: an Everland Ever After Tale by Caroline Lee

Author:Caroline Lee [Lee, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-05-31T04:00:00+00:00

“You’re casting wrong!”

“I know, but how?”

Eddie sighed in exasperation. “I can’t tell. Maybe you’re not flicking it right?”

Vincenzo swallowed the urge to laugh. “Son, I can tell I’m not flicking it right. That’s why, so far, I’ve hooked you, the bank twice, and my own pants.”

“Don’t forget the tree!” Eddie was smiling, he could tell.

“The tree doesn’t count. That one was your fault for positioning me so close to it.”

“Sorry, sir.” He could tell the boy wasn’t sorry in the least.

Vincenzo tried again, and was rewarded with a satisfying plop entirely too close to the bank. He sighed. “Well, Eddie, I think it might be time for me to call it quits. I haven’t held a pole in…well, I was probably not too much older than you.”

“You’ll get it. It’s just like you told me—it’s all about practice. Here.” Vincenzo released the pole when the boy took it, but was surprised when he felt Eddie’s palm on his. “Feel that blister there? It’s not much, but it’s from fishing all last week. Soon it’ll be a callus!”

Hiding his grin at the pride in the boy’s voice, Vincenzo solemnly felt the small hands. “I can tell that you practice fishing often. Do you come here instead of helping your mother?” Mrs. Mayor was sitting on a blanket up on the hill with a book and the basket of food. He’d spent some time up there with her, starting a new book. When her voice had given out, he’d accepted Eddie’s invitation to join him by the bank. Occasionally she’d call down tips, and knowing that she was watching made Vincenzo…lighter, somehow.

The boy pulled his hands away, and his voice sounded distant when he answered. “She doesn’t need me much. Not many people come into the store for books. That’s why we’re renting our home to the Cutters. There’s not enough money.”

Vincenzo remembered a carefree childhood spent running between houses and around parks in Boston. Eddie might enjoy running off with his friends to fish, but it sounded like it wasn’t exactly carefree. “That’s hard for a boy your age. I’m sorry.” Eddie didn’t reply, and he resisted the urge to tilt his face uphill, to try to feel her gaze again. “Your mother could’ve asked for money in return for our appointments. I value our time together. But instead she asked me to teach you.” The boy still didn’t reply. “I value our time together, too, you know.”

There was a noise from the empty space beside him that could’ve been a mumble. Then the plop of a sinker hitting the water. Vincenzo took the hint and, shoving his hands in his pockets, tilted his face up towards the unfamiliar sun. “I’m glad to be here. I’m glad that I met you and your mother. I’m glad you came with me today.”

“You could marry her, you know.”

Stillness. Vincenzo felt his blood pumping in his ears, and had to remind himself to inhale. You could marry her. He couldn’t. He couldn’t marry Eddie’s mother, and not just because he was legally still married to Jane.

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