Rosa closed her eyes.
“Oh, Margaret.”
Deputy Harris attempted professionalism.
“I have to check.”
Emma rolled down the new ramp.
“Hi, Mr. Harris!”
He smiled.
“Morning, Emma.”
“They fixed my ramp!”
“I see that.”
“We’re going fishing.”
“With twelve motorcycles.”
Deputy Harris looked toward Cole.
“Sounds subtle.”
“We specialize in subtle.”
Three motorcycles simultaneously started behind him.
Harris looked at Cole.
Cole shrugged.
“Timing.”
The deputy checked that Rosa was comfortable with everything.
She confirmed.
Before leaving, he glanced at Emma’s wheelchair.
“Purple ribbons?”
“My color.”
“Nice.”
“Grandma made one too long.”
Rosa shouted from the porch:
“I still hear you.”
The convoy left at eight.
Emma and Rosa rode in the repaired accessible van.
Denise drove.
The motorcycles followed.
Cole rode directly behind the van.
They took back roads toward Lake Thunderbird.
Emma pressed her face near the window.
People stared from passing vehicles.
Some waved.
Emma waved at everybody.
She felt important.
At the lake, the riders had arranged an accessible fishing platform.
Mateo had apparently researched it from overseas.
A ranger was waiting with child-sized equipment.
Emma looked around.
“Daddy did all this?”
Cole removed his sunglasses.
“He started it.”
“Who finished?”
“All of us.”
She nodded.
“Promise friends.”
Cole smiled.
“Exactly.”
Emma had never fished before.
Her father had been planning to teach her since she was four.
Then his deployment dates changed.
Then changed again.
Every time he promised “when I get home.”
Emma understood enough to know work had taken him far away.
Not enough to understand why adults could build airplanes capable of crossing oceans but could not simply let her father use one whenever she missed him.
Cole helped position the fishing pole across her lap.
“Your dad gave me instructions.”
Emma looked suspicious.
“Does Daddy know fishing?”
Cole paused.
Rosa laughed from behind them.
“He thinks he does.”
Cole whispered:
“That was my impression.”
Emma smiled.
The first cast landed six feet away.
The second nearly hooked Ben.
The third went farther.
By the fifth, Emma had the motion.
They waited.
Nothing happened.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Emma grew impatient.
“Fishing is boring.”
Cole nodded.
“Extremely.”
“Daddy said it’s peaceful.”
“That's adult code for boring.”
Rosa called:
“Do not corrupt my granddaughter.”
Emma reeled the line in.
“No fish.”
“Try again.”
“What if they don't want food?”
“Then we're wasting worms.”
Emma made a face.
“I don't like worms.”
“The fish do.”
“That doesn't make worms less gross.”
Twenty minutes later, her line jerked.
Emma gasped.