"Oh, Jack, this is heaven!" Lisa said, when she got out of the car. The mountains stretched before her and the burbling sound of the river filled her ears, as she surveyed the pine trees and log cabin in front of her.
Jack smiled, enjoying her enjoyment of his own favorite place.
"And you just couldn't have picked someone who loved fly fishing more," Lisa said, sounding overly enthusiastic, and wondering how she was ever going to convince him that she knew even the first thing about fly fishing, and seriously considering just coming clean now.
"I can see that," Jack said, chuckling, as he lifted her rod, which still had the price tag attached.
"Busted," Lisa said, laughing.
He started laughing even harder.
"I didn't know what to do when you asked. I didn't want to tell you I'm a rank beginner," she said, pulling a face.
"You're adorable," Jack said, and turned to pull her into a kiss.
She smiled against his lips. "I was trying to impress you," she said, hitting him in the shoulder playfully as she broke their kiss.
Jack took a hold of her face seriously, "you never cease to impress me."
She smiled, gratefully, and leaned in and kissed him.
"You see?" Jack said, as he pulled back, "impressive!" And Lisa swatted him playfully on the shoulder again, as their laughter could be heard echoing against the mountains.
A bit later, after Jack and Lisa had gotten settled in at the cabin, they took to the river.
Lisa was struggling with her rod, "oh no!" she said.
"Oh look at you!" Jack said, chuckling as he walked toward her in the river.
"I caught a tree," Lisa said laughing. "I'll go get it."
"Here, take my rod," Jack said, handing her his fishing pole. "We'll just put this here," he said, setting her rod down on a rock.
"There has to be an easier way to do this. Like ordering fish at a nice restaurant," Lisa said, laughing.
Jack chuckled as he tried to show her how to hold her rod.
"Like this!" she said, proudly.
"No," Jack said, and struggled to describe the proper way to hold a rod. Remembering their roping date, he had an idea. "You don't mind," he asked, stepping behind her and taking her in his arms.
"No, I don't mind," she said, biting her lower lip, as a smile broke out on her face. Now this was more like her idea of fishing.
Jack held her in his arms, pressed tightly to his chest, as he taught her how to fish. She leaned back against him, relishing the way he felt against her.
"I didn't know fishing was a team sport," she commented, remembering their roping date all too well.
"Me neither," Jack agreed. Thinking that holding Lisa in his arms greatly improved even his favorite sports.
When Lisa commented that her rod had gotten stuck on something again, Jack informed her that they had caught a fish. And Lisa's delighted peels of laughter could be heard ringing out against the mountains.
Later on as the sky turned dark and a fire roared near the cabin, Jack and Lisa sat on the porch enjoying a nice glass of wine.
"Who would ever have guessed that you were so handy with a frying pan?" Lisa asked.
"Shhh!" Jack said, holding a finger up to his lips.
"The mystery of Jack Bartlett continues to unfold before my very eyes…" Lisa said, echoing her sentiments from the night they had spent together on her couch.
"No mystery really," Jack said, "I told you before I'm a simple man."
Lisa smiled, "With simple desires."
He smiled back at her, shrugging, "I am a pretty straightforward guy. I like working with my hands. I only shave when the mood strikes me, and that's not too often," he paused, looking a bit sheepish about that. "I've never been on an all-inclusive vacation and you couldn't pay me to get on a cruise ship."
Lisa could tell that he was warming to the topic, so she broke in, "Can I say the rest?"
He indicated that she would be welcome to try.
"You like horses, sometimes more than the people that ride them."
Jack chuckled. She had that right.
"You don't see the point in buying a new truck even though they changed the model ten years ago."
Jack chuckled again. She had him dead to rights.
"And even though it seems this is where this is going, you didn't bring me up her to propose."
Jack paused. So she went there. He shrugged and forged on. He had brought her up here to talk. "Well, that's the thing…" he started, "you see I haven't done a lot of...socializing…" he said, struggling to find the right word, "since my wife died."
Lisa looked at him sadly. He hadn't told her much about his late wife. But Lisa could tell he'd loved her very much.
"And, uh, if I do, well, it's, we were married a lot of years. Good years…" Jack said, struggling with saying what he felt he had to say.
Lisa could tell that Jack was struggling. She realized that he was trying to warn her off of him. And she took pity on him. He didn't need to worry about that. She was in no rush to get married again. So, she set about setting him at ease. "How did you meet?" she asked.
Jack look at her, incredulous, but seeing that she was actually interested, he took a sip of his wine and told Lisa all about his love affair with Lyndy. Ending with the tale of how he had scattered her ashes in the river.
Lisa caught his eye, "That sounds like quite the love affair. I'm very flattered that you brought me here."
And Jack could tell that she'd meant it, and that she had understood how he felt about Lyndy, and was not threatened by it. "I didn't mean to go on. But I just don't want any misunderstandings or surprises, if - whatever this is -" here he gestured between them, "continues past our little fishing trip here."
Lisa's eyes softened. There he was again. Trying to warn her off and trying to spare her feelings. She cut in, saving him from his noble self, "Well," she started, "whatever this is, I hope it does continue. Otherwise, I've got a few hundred dollars worth of fishing equipment I'll never use again."
Jack chuckled. He could tell she understood him and that she was sincerely okay with whatever this was that was going on between them. He lifted his wine glass, "To whatever this is."
"Whatever this is," Lisa echoed, clicking glasses with him. Their eyes holding promises of unspoken attraction.