Asking For A Friend

by Parker, Ali

  I parked in her driveway, gravel crunching beneath my tires. Before I got out of my car, I took a deep breath and gripped my steering wheel so hard my knuckles went white. I was more nervous than I expected to be.

  Meeting Marissa’s daughter was a big step for us to take, even if we weren’t telling her exactly what was going on between us. It was a step I wanted to take with her, and I didn’t regret asking, but it was dawning on me that this was the biggest step I’d taken in any relationship. Ever.

  Sweat broke out on my brow and I wiped it off, willing myself to get it the fuck together. This meeting was too important to screw up over nerves or anxiety. Besides, if I was feeling it so intensely, what must Marissa be going through this morning?

  Though she hadn’t said it directly in so many words, I suspected I might be the first man she had taken this step with. It made me feel damn proud that she trusted me enough to let me meet her daughter, but that also meant the pressure was that much more intense.

  If I disappointed her, or if the meeting was a disaster, not only would Marissa and I probably hit another wall, but it was unlikely I’d get another chance anytime soon. Releasing the deep breath I inhaled, I worked to loosen my grip on the wheel and finally wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans.

  Enough. I wasn’t going to fuck this up. I had a solid plan, a gift for Annie and the genuine desire to get to know the girl. That would have to be enough. She was six years old, how hard could it be?

  Don’t tempt fate, a voice at the back of my mind warned. I brushed it off. I was ready for this. Big step or not, this was what I wanted.

  Finally pulling myself together and getting on with it, I walked up to the door and pressed on a doorbell shaped like a bird. Annie’s gift was in my hands, a bright pink kid sized fishing rod I picked up on my way over.

  Marissa opened the door seconds after I rang the bell, letting me know she must have been waiting—as I expected, probably more nervous than I was. Her smile was anxious, but excited when she answered the door. “Hey. You’re right on time.”

  “I always am,” I smiled, about to press a kiss to her cheek when I spotted the little girl standing behind her. As was my first impression, I was struck again by how much she looked like Marissa.

  She had the same blonde locks, curls that fell almost all the way to her waist. Her blue eyes were as bright and happy as Marissa’s almost always were, and her lips seemed to smile just as easily.

  Staring at me from behind her mom, I saw intrigue, excitement and curiosity in her expression. Lowering myself to look into her eyes, I extended my hand to shake hers. “You must be Annie. I’m Layton. It’s very nice to meet you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too,” she answered properly, placing her tiny hand in mine. I gave it a gentle shake before holding out the fishing rod to her.

  “This is for you.”

  Eyes becoming round and huge, she looked up at Marissa as if asking for permission. Marissa gave her small nod and shot me a smile. I was trying to figure out what was going on when Annie launched herself at me.

  Her thin arms wrapped around my neck since I was still bent over to be on her level. Her little body was surprisingly strong as she nearly strangled me with the strength of her hug. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I never had a fishing pole of my own before. Can I keep it after today? Is it mine?”

  “It’s yours,” I replied, wondering why she thought I would keep a small, pink fishing rod and what I would possibly do with it. “You’re going to need it today.”

  “We’re going fishing?” she asked loudly, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet after she abruptly released me. “Really? Are we really?”

  “Yeah. We’re really going fishing.” How did this girl have so much energy? I had no idea how I would keep up with her, never mind how Marissa and Denise managed to keep up with her every day.

  It was endearing though, to see how excited she was about fishing. If I’d known how happy something so simple would make her, I wouldn’t have been nearly as stressed about the day.

  It took me hours of thinking to decide what to do with them. Eventually, I decided on fishing, mostly because I remembered how much I enjoyed it back in the days when my dad used to take me.

  They were few and far between, but those days were some of my favorite memories with my dad. Realizing I’d guessed right at what she might enjoy, I gave myself a mental pat on the back and relaxed a little. Annie wasn’t nearly as intimidating as I thought she would be and I found myself getting excited for the day. Her enthusiasm was definitely infectious.

  Marissa stepped aside and motioned me into her house while Annie yelled something about getting different shoes and zoomed away, disappearing to her room. Marissa gave me a sheepish smile. “She’s really energetic, I know.”

  “I like it,” I admitted, surprising myself when I realized it was true. “It’s charming. Kinda makes me miss being a kid, back when everything was that exciting.”

  Marissa looked taken aback for a second before she started nodding. “That’s exactly how I think and feel about it. It’s incredible to experience things through a child’s eyes again. It makes me realize how desensitized we’ve become to how amazing life really is.”

  “That’s an interesting perspective.” I could see it being true, though. If Annie was already reminding me about how exciting going fishing really was, I imagined the more time I spent with her, the more I would start noticing other things I’d forgotten over the years. “I’m looking forward to seeing things that way again.”

  “You’re going to be exhausted by the time the day is over, so remember you said you’re looking forward to it,” she said, just as Annie came running back into the entrance hall.

  She was now wearing purple plastic boots with blue and yellow flowers on them, and a backpack with the fishing rod strapped to it on her back. “I’m ready.”

  Marissa took in the new outfit, including a bright red unicorn hoodie, and grabbed her purse from the half moon table next to the door. “I guess we can go then.”

  Annie skipped out of the house and once we were all buckled in, I explained to them what the plans for the day were. “My father used to take me out to Long Pond every once in a while. We didn’t go as often as we wanted to, but I always loved it. I hope you guys will enjoy it too.”

  “I’m sure we will.” Marissa said. “Won’t we, love?”

  Annie nodded dutifully before scooting as far forward as her seat belt would allow. “What fish are we going to catch?”

  “The main attraction is trout.” I told her, thinking back to all the times my dad and I managed to catch some. They were some of my happiest memories. “There are some other species as well and the pond is stocked regularly, but chances of catching trout are higher.”

  “What other species?” Marissa asked, showing interest in fishing for the first time since I got to her house. It was almost like she needed that first half an hour or so to wrap her head around being around me and Annie at the same time.

  “There are some salmon, perch, bass, bluegill, killifish, smelt and eel,” I told them.

  Annie shuddered and squealed, “Eel? I don’t want to catch an eel.”

  “You probably won’t,” I assured her. Eel was always something I’d wanted to catch at her age, but I’d only ever managed two or three. “They’re not as easy to catch as you might think.”

  “That’s good,” Annie breathed, clearly relieved. “How do you catch the other fish?”

  It took the rest of the ride to explain to her about baiting hooks and how to cast. “When we get there, I’ll show you. Once you get the hang of it, it starts becoming really fun.”

  Annie asked hundreds of questions while Marissa listened to the two of us talking with an almost serene expression on her face. There were a few other cars in the lot when we parked at the pond, but we found a spot in the shade a little removed from the other fishermen.

  “This is beautiful,” Marissa said as I spread out
the blanket I brought along for us to sit on. “I can’t believe I’ve never even heard of it.”

  “It’s understandable. You don’t strike me as a fisherwoman,” I smirked. Marissa shook her head and set down the picnic basket she had carried from the car down beside the blanket.

  “You don’t have to fish to come here. I’d like to just go for a walk along the shore,” she said, staring wistfully at the quiet surface of the water and the miles of greenery all around it.

  I nodded toward a path that ran along the part of the shore nearest to us. “Go for it. Annie and I will be fine. We’re going to start baiting the hooks soon.”

  Marissa sucked her lip into her mouth, thinking before she shook her head. “Nah, I want to stick around for now. I’ve never baited a hook before and I want to see Annie catch her first fish.”

  “Fair enough.” It was understandable that she didn’t want to leave Annie alone with me just yet. And with this amount of water around, I didn’t even know if Annie could swim. It felt like a good idea to find that out, just in case.

  Annie was up against the water’s edge, inspecting it like she was waiting for the fish we were hoping to catch to come up and say hello. I watched her as I asked, “Can she swim?”

  “Yes,” Marissa said. “She’s a bit of a fish herself. She can swim for hours. I never leave her alone in the water, though. No matter how well she swims, accidents happen.”

  “Of course,” I agreed. “I won’t let her out of my sight. You don’t have to worry.”

  “Thanks,” she said, rummaging around in her purse until she pulled out an e-reader. “While you two massacre worms, or whatever baiting a hook entails, I’m going to get some reading done.”

  “Have fun,” I smiled, then grabbed my tackle box and went to Annie. We spent about an hour going through all the different things I brought with me.

  It surprised me when I realized I was having fun teaching her things my father taught me. It felt good to impart knowledge to someone so eager and excited to learn about the topic at hand.

  As Annie was baiting her first hook, I snuck a look at Marissa. True to her word, she was reading on the blanket in the shade. I wondered if she was purposefully giving me space to get to know Annie. Either way, I appreciated the chance to really spend some time with the bright little girl; and the trust it must have taken for Marissa to let me do it.

  When I looked at her, I saw she was no longer engrossed in her book. She was watching me and Annie, and the smile on her face told me everything I needed to know. I wasn’t fucking this up. Which was great news, because as important as it seemed to get it right this morning, now that it was actually happening, I didn’t know what I would have done if Marissa had said no.

  Chapter 37

  Marissa

  It turned out that all my worrying had been for nothing. Annie loved Layton already, it was clear as day to me. It didn’t hurt that he brought her a gift that I knew she would absolutely treasure for years to come, but she also seemed to just be having fun with him.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen her laughing and smiling so much. She was captivated by what Layton was explaining to her, completely taken in by all things fishing.

  Somehow, I had a feeling that even if Layton never wanted to see either of us ever again, there was going to be some fishing in my future. She was definitely going to want to use that rod again, and if the smiles she kept giving to and getting from Layton were any indication, she was going to have plenty of opportunities.

  It was strange seeing them together. About two hours before Layton was set to arrive at our house, I was this close to calling the whole day off. I even considered calling Denise and asking her to come have lunch with Annie so I could explain to Layton that I just wasn’t ready.

  In the end, I seesawed back and forth, but couldn’t bring myself to cancel. Layton was so happy when I agreed to let him meet Annie and spend the day with us, I found myself unable and unwilling to cancel something he was so excited about.

  And frankly, at this point, I thought canceling would break Annie’s heart too. The two of us had no idea what he was planning until he arrived with the fishing rod, but she’d been bouncing around the house all morning. The outfit she eventually changed into was one of four she’d worn throughout the course of the morning. We started with a green sundress, but it was still too cold out for that. She fretted over everything—what to wear, what to say when he came to the door, whether she should put her hair up in a ponytail, and if she should draw him a picture.

  It was sweet, but also gut-wrenching to watch. Seeing her so nervous amped up my own nerves about tenfold. As soon as she laid eyes on Layton though, my nerves started easing until I couldn’t even remember why I’d been so worried in the first place.

  The two of them were having a blast. Contrary to what I might have thought about Layton before having seen him with Annie, he was a natural with kids. With this kid, at least.

  The uptight ass I knew he could be was nowhere in sight. He was patient, explaining things simply and thoroughly, and was so easygoing it was hard to believe he was the same man who could be such a tyrant at the office.

  He was in his element out here and it showed. Annie looked up at him admiringly after she’d baited her first hook, then less than an hour later, she caught her first fish. She let out a loud whoop that earned her some glares from the fishermen further down the shore.

  I jumped up to go congratulate her and to properly inspect the fish, as I knew she would want me to. As I ran down to them, Layton loaded her onto his back and they did a funny looking victory lap around the spot where they were fishing.

  Laughing while I waited for them to stop spinning around with their arms stuck out to their sides, I called out, “Congratulations, baby! What kind of fish did you catch?”

  “Layton says it’s a brown trout,” she called out proudly, clambering off his back to come give me a hug. I kissed the top of her head before she pulled away to present her fish. “His name is Trevor.”

  “Are you supposed to name the fish you’ve caught?” I asked both of them, not sure who’s idea naming Trevor had been.

  Layton shrugged. “There’s no rule that says you can’t. Annie wants his name to be Trevor, so that’s what it is.”

  “What do we do with Trevor now?” The thought of taking the fish home with us, or having to skin it or butcher it or whatever you did with a fish, didn’t appeal to me.

  Annie frowned, looking up at Layton. “We should put him back. He belongs with his family.”

  “We could keep him.” Layton said, but then noticed Annie’s shocked expression and backpedaled quickly. “But you’re right. We should send him home to his family.”

  Layton backpedaling to appease Annie was hilarious to me. I burst out laughing and went back to my blanket, as both of them looked at me like I was going crazy.

  There weren’t really any men in Annie’s life and while I’d heard about daughter’s often having their dad’s wrapped around their little fingers, I never thought I would see a man like Layton wrapped around Annie’s. At least not quite so quickly.

  Correction. I didn’t really think a man like Layton could get wrapped around a little finger. Never mind the little finger of a six year old girl who wasn’t even his.

  My heart beat faster as I kept watching the two of them fish for the rest of the afternoon. They took a break for a late lunch, but kept at it otherwise.

  When a cool breeze formed ripples on the water and rustled the trees around us, Layton and I decided it was time to leave. We both had the thought at the same time, I could see it occur to him when I met his eyes as I made the same decision myself.

  “I think that’s it for today, Annie,” he said, reeling in their lines. Surprisingly, he reached out to ruffle her hair affectionately.

  She sighed deeply, but then nodded her assent. “It is getting a little bit cold. Can we come back?”

  “You’ll have to ask your mom about
that,” he told her. It meant a lot to me that he hadn’t just promised without running it by me first. If he’d said yes, I would’ve had to let it happen whether I liked it or not.

  The respect he’d been showing me all day, as well as his insight into small things—like not making a promise to her when I would be the one who had to keep it—astounded me. It was impressive that he was so intuitive about what was and wasn’t okay with me.

  Annie turned to me and I answered her question before she repeated it. “Sure, we’ll come back sometime. It’s too pretty here to know about it and not come back.”

  Satisfied with my answer, Annie helped Layton pack up. Or rather, she followed his instructions about holding things while he packed everything back into its designated place in his toolbox thing.

  On our way home, Annie babbled on and on about fishing and told me everything she learned. We passed an ice cream parlor she loved and when she saw it, she tapped me on the shoulder. “Please can we get ice cream, Mommy? Please. Please. Please.”

  “It’s cold out, honey. Are you sure you want ice cream?”

  Layton scoffed, winking at me. “What kind of question is that? It’s never too cold for ice cream. Let’s do it.”

  I laughingly agreed. “Fine, but I want two scoops then.”

  “You’ve got yourself a deal.” Layton said, and circled the block looking for a parking space.

  Annie held my hand as we walked to the ice cream parlor. I saw her eye Layton’s hand, as well, considering whether she wanted to try to take his too. She decided against it eventually, but I wondered what he might have done if she’d tried to hold his hand.

  “What flavor do you want?” Layton asked us. We were the only customers in the shop and Annie took advantage of not having a line behind us by taking her time to decide what she wanted to get.

  “I’ll have a Nutella-peanut butter-banana chip,” she said. Layton and I exchanged a look over the top of her head and I had to stifle a giggle at his shock over her choice.