Chapter 1

Sara woke up that morning feeling tired and groggy. She could hear her little brother, Andrew, and her dad in the kitchen making breakfast. She got out of bed and headed down the hall of her dad's small beach house in California.

Sara hadn't visited her dad since her parents got a divorce, which was 4 years ago. She lived with her mom and her 10 year old brother in a small town outside of Austin, Texas. She had missed her dad. They had always shared a special bond; they were alike in so many ways. Sara had been angry with her mother for years after divorcing her dad and making Sara live with out him in her life. Sara was so excited that she was able to spend the summer with her dad. She wanted to reconnect with him, and establish their bond that used to be there so long ago.

She walked into the kitchen to find her dad and brother attempting to flip pancakes. Her dad looked at her and smiled, "Hey, did you have a good night's sleep?"

She nodded, "What's for breakfast?"

"Blueberry pancakes. How does that sound?"

She smiled, "Great."

They sat and ate their dad's delicious blueberry pancakes. It was quite for a while before their dad filled the silence, "So what do you want to do today?"

Sara shrugged, not really sure what there was to do.

Andrew on the other hand knew exactly what he wanted to do. "Can we go to the beach?"

"Sure, but your going to have to wait until later, I have to go to work for a few hours, but then we can have the rest of the day together."

Andrew looked disappointed. They both looked at Sara, Andrew with his puppy dog look which Sara could never say no to, and her dad with a hopeful and apologetic smile. Sara caved. "I can take him; you can always meet us at the beach later."

That set Andrew over the moon, he ran from the table into his room to get ready.

As Sara got up and took the plates to the sink her dad smiled and said, "Thanks Sara."

"No problem. I wanted to go to the beach anyways. It's on my list."

"You still have that list?"

"Yeah." They both smiled at the memory of making her list together, although as she grew older she added more things to the list, but never took anything away from it.

Sara quickly got ready with her brother pestering her to get ready faster. She threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with a bikini underneath. She ran a brush through her wavy brown hair, and put on a little make-up.

They walked together down the beach toward the pier their dad had previously told them about. Andrew was carrying their dad's fishing equipment in hopes to catch something before their dad joined them. If there was one thing that Andrew could do besides eat and watch TV it was fish. He loved it, there was a lake not far from their house in Texas and he would go there on Saturdays and fish almost all day.

They passed by a group of guys playing football. Sara watched them as she walked by. The quarterback threw the ball to one of his teammates, who made the touchdown. As the guy was running back, he caught her looking and tripped over the sand. Sara laughed to herself. The guy was cute. He smiled at her as he got up and dusted himself off. She smiled back then turned her attention back on her brother who was chattering away about the different baits you use.

Once they got to the pier Andrew picked a spot and was wrestling with the bait as Sara pulled out her book, Wuthering Heights, and began to read. It was her favorite book; she read it all the time.

Some odd minutes later Andrew interrupted the silence and Sara's reading, "You're boring."

She looked up from her book, "You're the one who wanted to fish."

"Yes, and fishing is fun. Reading how ever is not."

"Well what am I supposed to do while you fish? Jump up and down like I'm some kind of trained monkey?"

"That would be quite nice."

Sara and Andrew would always have verbal sparring matches, and he would always start them, "Well then you're going to have to pay me. I don't work for free."

"I'm sorry, Curious George, I don't have any money."

"Well then you don't get a show."

"Fine I didn't want one anyways."

Sara smiled in her victory then began reading again, a little while later Andrew started up again. "How many times have you read that thing? It looks older than mom before her face lift."

Sara laughed at her brother, if there was one thing they shared it was equal dislike toward their mother, and if either of them could make a quick joke about her, they would automatically win any verbal match. It's not that their mom was a bad person; she cooked and cleaned for them, and had a job. She could be a good mom at times. It was the fact that Sara was upset about not seeing her father, and that rubbed off on Andrew. It was also the fact that after the divorce their mom had taken the alimony money that she got from their dad and used it on herself, face lifts, fancy cars, and especially clothes.

Sara put down her book, "Okay, if this fishing is as much fun as you play it out to be, why don't you teach me?"

Andrew looked at her quizzically, "To fish?"
"Yeah. You seem so interested in it; I want to know why you think its so much fun."

His face lit up. "Okay!" Andrew started to rattle on about the proper techniques of fishing.

After Sara had hooked by bait and cast her line they stood there in silence for a few seconds before she said, "Andrew, I have another question."

"What is it?"

"Where did you learn to fish?"

He smiled; she knew Dad had never taught him, and Christopher, Mom's boyfriend, had certainly never touched a fishing pole in his life. "From the T.V."

"Oh yeah?"

He nodded, "Yep, from good ol' Kevin Van Dam, best bass fisherman of all time, he comes on Wednesdays and Sundays at five."

"I thought bass were only in fresh water."

He shrugged, "Same techniques can be applied." Sara smiled to herself. Sometimes Andrew surprised her at how grown-up he sounded. She wondered if he would be okay, if she could tell him.

"Good to know."

They went a long time without talking, just the sound of the waves crashing against the pier, and the zipping of the line when they cast. Sara just looked out at the sea and let her mind wonder. All of the sudden her line began to tug. She jumped and screamed, then quickly grabbed hold of the pole. Andrew hadn't told her what to do after she had actually caught the fish.

"Sara! Just reel it in."

"How do I do that exactly?"
"Turn the handle."

She did as her brother said and reeled her fish in. It was exciting and exhilarating. Who knew fishing was actually some what fun? When the fish popped out of the water, Sara let out a squeal of excitement. Andrew grabbed the net and the bucket. As the fish came over the rail, he caught it with the net. He unhooked the fish and dumped it into the bucket. He looked up at his sister. She was beaming. "Andrew! I caught a fish!"

Sara's smile was contagious; Andrew's spread from ear to ear. "Kevin Van Dam would be proud."

A few moments later their dad walked up. "What happened? I could hear your sister squealing from down the beach.

Sara pointed to the bucket, "I caught a fish!"

His face lit up, "Really?"

Andrew piped up, "Yeah, she learned everything she knows from me."

Jack chuckled, "Well, I believe that."

Sara let her dad take control of her fishing pole, and she sat down on the railing. They all talked for quite a while, about nothing really, but Sara enjoyed being able to get to know her father better. "Well, are you two hungry?" Both Sara and Andrew nodded. "Okay, well my favorite restaurant is just up the beach, we can go there for a late lunch, how a bout that?"

Sara smiled, "Yeah sure, sounds good."

They walked down the beach with fishing equipment in tow. Sara had convinced her brother to let her fish go. She couldn't stand the thought of eating him. She wasn't a vegetarian, but she couldn't eat Rodger, not after she had named him.

As they sat down at a table a waitress came over and handed us menus. "oh, hey there Jack, nice seeing you again."

Their dad smiled at the waitress. "Hi Mary." Sara studied the waitress for a second, and quickly realized why this was her dad's favorite restaurant. She was very pretty, she had blonde hair that was pulled back into a messy bun. She had deep chocolate brown eyes that were warm and friendly. She didn't wear any make-up nor did she need any. Her face was flawless.

"Who do you have with you today?"

"Oh, these are my kids, Sara, and Andrew; they are staying for the summer."

Mary smiled, "It's nice to meet you two. I'm Mary; I'm a friend of your dad's."

Sara gave a friendly smile back, "It's nice to meet you too."

"She's pretty." Sara made the comment after Mary had gotten out of ear shot.

Her dad looked up form the menu, "What?"

"Sara said she's pretty, and I have to agree, I think she is very pretty."

"Yeah, Dad, you should go for it. She was totally into you."

"I'm not going for anything. I don't know what you two are talking about; now decide what you want to eat."

Sara smiled at her dad, and then looked down at her menu.