Coming Home (#Wattys 2017)

20; A Boat?

"Billie!"

She came flying into the kitchen with two giant cards in her hand. "Happy Father's Day daddy!"

Harrison quickly scooped his daughter up in his arms. "Thanks B."

Billie handed him one of the cards as Carrie rounded the corner. "Happy Mother's Day mommy!"

It was really Father's Day. Since Harrison and Carrie weren't around for the real Mother's Day, today served as both. Billie ran over and gave her mom a hug before giving her the second large card she brought from her room.

"What's this B?"

"Open it."

Carrie did. The card was full of pictures of the two of them hand drawn by the artist herself. She took up drawing when Carrie and Harrison had gone missing. Billie's drawing became a new hobby. All the pictures she drew and colored while her parents were away, she gave to them when they returned.

"Thanks Billie."

"You're welcome mommy and daddy."

As Billie went to help herself to a yogurt in the fridge, Carrie asked her husband if he'd told Billie about the surprise yet. "Did you?"

"No."

All week, Harrison had been shopping, even looking on Craigslist until he found the one he wanted. After both of them went missing in Pakistan, they were given massive bonuses from the government for their service. Harrison then used some of that bonus to find what Billie had been bugging he and Carrie about forever.

A boat.

The new purchase was currently in a marina waiting for Billie. It was as much a present for Billie as it was for the two of them. Since Billie always wanted a boat, and every time they went fishing, she asked for a boat, it was the perfect present to make up for all the hell and all the scary times they put her through being military parents.

"B, when you're done eating go change into something you can swim in."

"Why mommy?"

"You'll see."

Billie ran down the hallway into her room, coming back a few minutes later wearing a tank top and shorts along with flip flops. "I'm ready mommy."

✎✎✎

A half hour later they arrived at the marina with Billie once again asking where they were going. "Are we going fishing daddy?"

He nodded. "Yay!"

They walked to the other side of the marina and Harrison unlocked the door that only boat owners had keys to. "Where are we going daddy? We normally fish over there," she announced, pointing across the marina to the launch docks.

"Just hang on B. We're almost there."

They walked past two piers before Harrison turned right on the third one. He led Carrie and Billie three quarters of the way down before stopping in front of a fishing boat with the name 'Keep'n It Reel.'

"Well B, do you like it?"

"Did you buy this daddy?"

He nodded and Billie's hands shot to cover her mouth. "You got a boat?"

"Yep."

Fishing was something Harrison always did with his dad when he was young. And he loved to do it with his daughter. "I can't believe you got a boat daddy!"

"B, you better believe it because it happened."

"Are we going fishing on the boat?"

Harrison nodded and he, Carrie, and Billie all boarded the boat.

✎✎✎

A little later, the three of them were out on the boat trolling for tuna. Most of the tuna they were catching weren't big enough to be kept, and most of them were small enough that Billie could reel in with a bit of her mommy or daddy's help. The small tuna would be a good sign for fishing in the years to come.

As Billie paced around on the deck waiting for another fish to bite, Harrison looked back at the fish finder inside the cabin after hearing it beep. He was just about to tell Billie when a fish bit the line and pulled the drag on one of the rods. Billie beat her daddy to it. Harrison pulled the rod out of the rod holder and was in the process of handing it to her when he realized it was a big fish. With one hand on the pole, he set Billie on the back rail of the boat and held the pole as she began to reel.

It took about 15 minutes for them to reel in the biggest tuna of the day. The fish still wasn't big enough to be kept so Harrison settled for netting the fish for Billie to see. "Daddy that's big," Billie exclaimed upon seeing the fish.

He pulled the hook out before holding the fish next to Billie as Carrie took a picture. "Is it heavy?" Billie asked, upon seeing her father struggling to hold the tuna.

"Its heavy B."

"How much does it weigh?"

"Probably about 130 pounds."

Harrison threw the tuna over the side with a splash. Then he gave his daughter a high five. "Teamwork. Nice job B."

✎✎✎

After a long day of catching small butterball tuna, they went swimming. "What's a butterball daddy?" Billie asked after hearing her dad describe today's catch to her grandfather over the phone.

"It's what the tuna fisherman call the tuna we caught today. They were really fat and not very long."

Harrison hung up the phone and helped Billie put on her life jacket. "Mommy, are you coming swimming?"

"I don't know sweetie."

"You should."

Carrie smiled. "Alright. If you say so."

Harrison pulled his shirt over his head and jumped into the ocean with Billie right behind him. Once Billie hit the water with a small splash, she swam over to her daddy. "Mommy, are you coming?"

Carrie pulled her shirt over her head and jumped in wearing a sports bra and shorts. She then pushed off the side of the boat and joined her husband and daughter.

With his wife now with Billie, Harrison decided to really have some fun. He walked around the front of the boat and all the way to the top. "Ready?"

He dove down 10 feet and into the water. Carrie and Billie didn't notice how far he swam under the water until he surfaced right in front of them and grabbed them. "I got my girls now," he said with a smile and swam them back to the boat.

I decided I'm going to do a sequel to this book. But it's not going to be for a little while. I have two main books still in the works and I feel like it will be tough for me to write 3 at a time again. So for now I'm going to update Forever Mine and my new Carrison book The Guy Named Harrison. Then once I finish either of those I'll start on the sequel.