Page 60 of Risky Game

Once we got home, I told her we could go on the lake if we let the dock and boards sit until after dinner or tomorrow so we could blow them up. They’d take too long and I’d rather our first outing be on the boat, not a board where I had to balance her and me both, while standing… something I’d never done before and wasn’t all that excited about trying.

She’d been so happy about her new swimsuits, she hadn’t cared, and while I unhauled everything into the garage, she ran inside and changed.

She came out in a white one-piece suit with small blue anchors on it, and a fist pumped in the air. “Ahoy, matie!”

Ruby’s nephew Luke was in a pirate phase, so it wasn’t the first time she used it. Just the first time she did it looking so cute with her hair in pigtails and the anchors stamped all over her.

“I need some help, matie,” I’d told her.

Now we were almost at the water’s edge, and I was dripping in sweat.

“This paddle is too heavy. You hold it.”

She pushed it into me like I had an extra limb somewhere. I juggled the paddle and vests and the handle of the kayak and grabbed it.

“Good idea. How about you go scope out the best place for us to get on the boat.”

“It’s a kayak.”

Right, right. My bad.

She scampered off. I cursed my decision to buy such a big yard. Dragging all this gear down the acre-plus of my property was a pain in my ass. If we kept this up, I was going to need a shed or something down here to store everything in. Lot of fucking work I was planning when I wasn’t going to be living here the whole year. All the doubts washed away with Amelia’s smile. She was crouched down at the edge, peering down in the lake, and when I reached her, she grinned up at me.

“Look. Baby fishes! We can fish here!”

I’d told her in the store I didn’t even know if the lake had fish, but baby fishes were definitely a good sign.

“That’s great, honey. Put your life jacket on, okay?”

“You bet! I’m so excited. This is going to be so fun.”

She shouted every word, and her echo bounced back from across the lake. “Remember what I said?” I bent down and helped her with her clasps, tightening the straps around her belly. “If we’re too loud, we’ll scare the fish away.”

“Got it,” she whisper-yelled again. “I’m so excited!”

“Me too.” I kissed the top of her head, put on my own jacket because I might not have been a good dad, but I was going to be a good example of water safety if it killed me.

“All right. I’m going to climb on. You keep those paddles close to the edge and once I’m settled, I’ll get you in, okay?”

“You got it.”

It took me three tries to get into the kayak. Steve had made it sound so simple. But the skinny stupid yellow banana-shaped boat wobbled back and forth so much I kept stopping.

Finally in, thankful I hadn’t tipped the dumb thing, I had the paddles in my lap and was scooping Amelia into the front seat.

“Buckle up and pull it tight, okay?”

“Got it. Can I have my paddle?”

“Yep.” I lifted it over her head and reminded her how to hold it. “If you get tired, you just put it in your lap, okay? But if you’re not paddling, you have to keep the ends out of the water.”

“All right, Daddy. Let’s go. Anchors away!”

Anchors away indeed.

We moved slowly. It took a couple minutes to find our rhythm and Amelia’s paddling efforts were more of a hindrance than helpful. Soon, thankfully, she gave up and rested the paddle in her lap and skimmed her fingers along the top of the water.

“Will the fishes bite my fingers?”

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