Lib Novel Page 58
“Hey, Rocky,” Jared said, his heart warming when the little guy smiled harder at his nickname. “It’s really good to see you. I’d love to show you the fishing hole, but we have to make sure it’s okay with your mom.”
“She said it’s okay,” Sylvester told him.
“She did?” Jared asked. He was super excited to show the boy the place that was so special to him, but it didn’t sound like Cora to allow it.
“She said I can go with you,” Sylvester told him, nodding up and down and smiling excitedly.
“Wow, okay,” Jared said. It still seemed out of character for Cora, but he wasn’t going to question her, especially not today—and especially when she was letting them do something so close to his heart.
This is a good sign, he told himself.
“Well, let’s head in, then,” he told Sylvester. “Now, I’m opening this gate and you can come with me since you’re with a grown-up and you have your mom’s permission. But you will never, ever try to open this gate yourself. Right?”
“Right,” the boy agreed with solemn eyes.
Jared smiled at him and led the way into the trees.
“There’s a bit of a trail here,” he pointed out. “It’s easy to see now since it’s wintertime. In the spring, everything blooms and then by summer, the trees and shrubs are so thick and lush we’ll have to clear parts of the path all over again if there aren’t enough people walking on it all the time.”
“Maybe we’ll walk on it all the time,” Sylvester said hopefully.
Jared smiled down at the boy, noticing that he had his hand shoved in his pocket, fiddling with the football keychain he loved. He normally fooled with it when he was feeling uncertain, but he looked happy now to Jared. Maybe it was just that this was such a new experience. That would be enough to make him feel a little nervous.
“Now that’s a tulip poplar,” Jared heard himself say, pointing at the big tree as they passed it.
“How do you know?” Sylvester asked, eyes wide as he gazed up at it.
“My grandpa told me,” Jared said fondly. “He taught me about all the stuff I’m showing you today. He loved nature and he wanted to make sure I loved it too.”
“And you want to make sure I love it,” Sylvester said. It was almost like a question.
“I want you to love it, sure,” Jared said. “But I want you to keep loving all the stuff you already love and showing it to me too.”
“We can have a book club, if you want,” Sylvester said hopefully.
“I’d like that,” Jared told him. “I didn’t finish The Incredible Journey yet.”
“You were too busy,” Sylvester said.
“No,” Jared told him. “I guess I wanted to wait until I saw you again so we could talk about it.”
“I didn’t finish Treasure Island either,” Sylvester confided. “I missed you, too.”
Jared swallowed over the lump in his throat, impressed at how the boy could just say I missed you, like it was the easiest thing in the world to admit.
“Look, there’s the fishing hole up ahead,” he said, pointing to a clearing in the trees, where the little creek they had begun following opened up.
“Hey, that’s a really big tree,” Sylvester squeaked, running ahead a little.
“Stay close to me, Sly,” Jared chuckled, jogging after him. “Yeah, I used to love that tree. Grandpa made up stories about the elf who lived in there. His name was Warbles.”
“Not a real elf,” Sylvester giggled.
“Nope,” Jared said. “At least I don’t think so. I can’t prove there isn’t an elf in that tree who steals people’s lunch if they leave any trash around the fishing hole.”
“Wow,” Sylvester said, turning from the tree to face the water.
It was just a widening in the creek, but willows bent over the water on the opposite bank and there was a pleasant gurgle of water moving over the rocks. When Jared read The Once and Future King as a boy, he had thought the scenery of King Arthur’s childhood was a lot like the fishing hole.