Read Online Secondhand Sinners by Genevieve Lynne - Free Book Online

“No. No. The other way, baby. The other way.”
    The rod lost its arc, and the line went loose.
    Abby bent over and said something that Emily couldn’t hear over Jack’s screams of, “What’s happening? What’s happening?”
    Miller took the rod from him and turned the handle until he pulled up an empty hook. Jack started to cry and flap his hands, slapping Miller’s arms. Emily rushed to get Jack before he hit Miller any more. A situation like this was always ended up with Jack’s father throwing his hands up and yelling, “I can’t do anything with this kid!”
    Miller put the rod aside, caught jack’s wrists with his hands, crossed them over his body and wrapped him in a deep hug. “It’s all right, Jack. We’ve got more worms. We’ll try again.”
    Emily was stunned. “Where did you learn that?” she asked him, closing the gap between them.
    Miller looked up at her. “What?”
    “How to hold him like that.”
    “Internet.”
    “The Internet?”
    “I did some research yesterday after Abby said Jack might be different.”
    “He has Asperger’s and sensory problems. That’s why he needs the deep pressure.”
    “Am I doing this wrong?”
    “No. He’s calmed down so you’re doing it right. It’s…well hell, I paid an occupational therapist seventy-five dollars an hour to teach me how to do that.”
    “Shoot.” Miller smiled. “I’d only charge you fifty.”
    “Guess what, Mom!” Jack called out from Miller’s bear hug. “Miller doesn’t defrost his bait in the microwave either.”
    “Well that’s a relief.”
    “I’m gonna catch a fish, and then I’m gonna eat it.”
    She sat down next to Miller. “That’s awesome, buddy. I can’t wait to see it.”
    Miller released Jack and baited the hook with another worm. He cast the line into the water and handed the rod to Jack.
    “I’m so sorry,” Emily said. “I only planned on closing my eyes for five minutes.”
    Miller looked out at where the hook hit the water. “It’s fine.”
    “I can’t believe I slept for three hours. I never do that.”
    “I said it was fine.”
    “He’s been having so many fits lately. I hope he was okay.”
    “Dear God, Emily. Shut up.”
    “What?”
    “Ummmm. You said ‘shut up,’” Jack said.
    “Has it been so long since you’ve been fishing that you forgot that fish won’t bite if you’re talking? You were tired. You fell asleep. No big deal. If we needed you, we would have woken you up.”
    “It’s just that I know how difficult he can be.”
    Miller turned the handle of the reel a few tics. “Jesus, Emily. Take a breath. Everything’s fine, and if Jack did have a problem, everything would still be fine. When was the last time you relaxed?”
    “The last time I relaxed I fell asleep in someone’s bed for three hours.”
    “Like I said,” Miller said with a smirk, “relax.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    Miller
     
    Miller averted his eyes away from Emily as she bent down to say something to Jack, who was still sitting in front of him and waiting to get his hook baited so he could catch a second fish. She looked uncomfortable, which was making him feel awkward, and that was pissing him off. They were never awkward with each other, not even before their first time in that field behind that barn. If anyone should feel uncomfortable, it should be him. He was the one with the bomb to drop. He sneaked another look at her, longer this time.
    “What?” she asked without looking at him.
    “Nothing.” He snapped his attention back to the worm on the hook. Busted for staring. Damn. Okay, now he was a little uncomfortable.
    “You can say it,” she said softly.
    “Say what?”
    “Whatever it is you want to say.”
    “I don’t want to say anything.”
    “How about I let you down? Or I screwed everything up? Trust me, whatever it is you’re thinking right now, I’ve already thought it, felt it, and lived it.”
    What she said was true…all of it.