by Dan Dillard
CHAPTER 1
Jacob hauled a package into town, his morning’s haul of fish.
“That looks heavy,” she had said.
A lovely girl, she seemed to speak from sheer curiosity. When he turned to face her, his words wouldn’t come. Instead, his jaw dropped partially open and he stared blankly at her.
“The package,” she said. “It looks heavy. What’s in it?”
Her eyes flashed with adventure and a brilliant green hue. Jacob blinked and stumbled through a sentence as best he could.
“Fish is in it. I mean there in fish.” He cleared his throat. “Fish.”
He set the load down, “I’m a fisherman.”
He blushed. It didn’t suit his rugged look and Caitlin smiled.
“That would explain the aroma,” she said.
His cheeks reddened.
“I suppose it would,” he replied. “A hazard of my work.”
Her fiery hair reminded him of his mother. It calmed him but her eyes dazzled and stirred his innards.
“I’m Jacob, but friends call me…”
“Jacob will do just fine. I don’t like nicknames. The sort of things one calls a dog. I am Caitlin Delaney. Please call me Caitlin.”
He nodded, thunderstruck, or maybe love struck for the first time in his twenty-seven years. She smiled and added, “And you live here in town?”
“Yes. Not far from here. You?”
She nodded and pointed, a smile still tickling her lips.
“Just that way. You can almost see it from here,” she said and peered into the distance as if trying to do so.
“It is the greatest of pleasures to meet you, Miss Delaney,” he said.
No more words would come. He was horrid at small talk.
“Caitlin.”
“Yes. Good to meet you, Caitlin.”
“Likewise, Mr. Kane. Jacob.”
He stood awkwardly, grinning, wondering what to do with his hands and wishing he hadn’t set down the bundle so they might serve some purpose. She raised her eyelids and opened her mouth slightly as if trying to coax words from him.
“Miss De…Caitlin,” he started. “I need to be on with my deliveries. Maybe we could speak again sometime? Sometime when I am…clean?”
Her grin was sinister.
“A deal. But only a deal if you bathe,” she said.
He looked down at his clothes, stained with blood and fish parts.
“I do apologize. Had I but known,” he said.
“Known what?” she asked with a smirk.
“Known…I might meet you,” he said.
He noticed his words had affected her in some way. She raised one lovely hand to her throat.
“Until next time, then?” she asked.
He nodded. Caitlin turned and walked away without even a glance back. Jacob watched her disappear into the bustle of town before he picked up his parcel. It was his last delivery for the day. Then he would be busy plotting a way to once again run into her.
Jacob made a decent living, enough to support his meager life. He lived in a small house near the fishing docks and spent most of his free time staring out at the sea, wondering about its depths, its contents, the stories it might tell if it could. He thought he was happy until he met Caitlin Delaney. The more he spoke to her, the more he knew he wouldn’t be able to live in a world that didn’t include her. She took him back to childhood, when everything was shiny, new and wonderful. Eighteen-year-old Caitlin was his heart and soul. She was his breath…his light.
He wanted children who looked to him for advice and protection, never questioning he would provide both. He wanted Caitlin to share it with. He would love her as his wife in the simple and adoring way his father had loved his mother.