Peter offered a smile but said nothing. The subject of sports magazines lived in that same huge box marked ‘Awkward’ as topics like football, beer and the attractions of girls. It’d been some time since he’d stumbled into one of these conversations, where he was at a loss to know what to say to men who would only like him if he talked about the same things they did.

“Salmon,” said Peter for no good reason. Then, “Bream.”

Tokala raised an eyebrow. “Are you just naming fish, Peter?”

Peter searched for other words. Better words. But found nothing. And Tokala seemed to take the same dull amusement in this that Bud or any number of other men on the lake had taken over the years when toying with him for sport became a decent enough substitute for the real thing. But Tokala didn’t let Peter stew for long.

“My Neho eehe taught me how to fish, Peter.”

“Sorry?”

Tokala’s eyes warmed into a smile. “My father.”

“Oh, but I thought you just said that—”

“Have you always been this easy to wind up?”

Peter curled the corner of his mouth into a weary half-smile. “Cooper’s dad used to say I was easier to wind up than a dog chasing its own tail.”

“I think dogs know it’s their own tail, Peter. I think they just like to play with them.”

Peter looked off towards the twinkling lights of Six Little Fishes and let that happy thought grow inside him. “Yes. Maybe.”

Tokala hooked his catch on the top of one of his ski poles. “It’s good to see you again, Peter.”

“Yes,” said Peter. “You too.”

“I saw Cooper cross the ice a short while ago.”

“He’s just gone home for a little. We’re both fine, but the last trip kept us away so long that he said he wanted a bath before he forgot what one feels like. And I’m the last person to discourage him from doing that. Before we got together, the bath tub had been left hanging on the wall outside his cabin so long, the wood underneath it was a completely different shade to the rest.”

Tokala held Peter’s gaze and said nothing.

“But,” Peter went on, “I’ll see him tomorrow. I’m having dinner with Dad tonight. And there’ll be plenty of food if you want to join us. Me and my dad, that is. If you wanted, I mean. If you had no other plans.”

“Why do you act as if nothing has changed?”

Peter shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Tokala blinked once, deeply, as if to absorb Peter’s lie. But he didn’t break eye contact.