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“We’re meeting Lori and Thomas there aren’t we?” I asked.
“They should already be there,” he replied. I looked down at our entwined hands and his thick calloused thumb rubbing over mine. I felt so petite, protected and at peace in his presence. And for extra measure, I had Shadow, who’d sulked half the morning because he’d been kicked out of bed. I’d realized now I might’ve created a habit that could bite me in the ass.
But then that would mean believing that this thing between Eric and I could be long lasting. That put a damper on my thoughts. The little bubble I’d been living in popped fast. I’d basically been freeloading and fucked the guy I was staying with. Wasn’t I like a prostitute? Had I romanticized the situation because I had no grasp on reality anymore?
“We’re here,” Eric said as he parked the truck. Lori and Thomas stood in the frigid air, arms crossed over jackets. They leant against a truck, waiting.
“Hey, are you okay?” Eric asked, his eyebrows crinkled.
“Yea,” I said and shook away my earlier thoughts. I’d always lived for the moment. So why was I trying to change that now. “Yea I was just thinking about how grateful I was that this was just target shooting and not animals or anything like that.”
Eric grimaced. “That’s not our thing. My father and uncle love it, but we tend to stick to it as more of a novelty. And besides, Lori’s the only descent shot out of the lot of us.”
I laughed. Somehow that wasn’t surprising, and yet I imagined Eric was also being modest. “Shadow doesn’t get spooked by the gunshots?” I asked as I opened the door.
“Nope,” Lori answered on Eric’s behalf as she walked toward us. “The only thing that dog’s afraid of is his lack of snacks throughout the day.”
I scowled at Eric. “You said you never gave him snacks?” He’d complained so much about Shadow getting fat from all the food I was slipping him.
Eric casually shrugged. “I said he doesn’t usually get snacks. Not that many anyway.”
“Uh-huh,” Lori laughed as she pointed into Thomas’s direction. “This one’s trying to get reception for his make-believe girlfriend.” I opened the back door for Shadow, who immediately sniffed out the area.
“She’s not make-believe and she’s not my girlfriend,” Thomas replied without looking up. “I’m going back in two days, and I have an itch that needs to be scratched. You should all try it sometime soon, might remind you that you’re not getting any younger and in Mom’s eyes somebody better start birthing babies.”
“Come here, you little shit,” Lori hissed and chased him. He bolted, laughing.
Eric came to my side with a bag full of snacks and threw his arm around my shoulder casually.
I looked up at him. “Are you okay with them seeing us like this?”
“Like what?” he asked, dipping down and kissing me as feverishly as he had the night before and this morning. I moaned into his mouth, feeling limp by the anticipation of what would follow.
“Ew, yuck I knew it, but I didn’t need to see it,” Lori crooned.
I pulled away, red streaking my face. I’d gotten completely carried away.
“I’d rate it a six out of ten,” Thomas remarked dryly to Eric.
“Do you want to be six foot under on this trip?” Eric asked, stone-faced.
“Mom wouldn’t let you,” he said, poking his tongue out. It was hard to believe this goofy guy, similar to my age, was almost in placement for becoming a surgeon and top of his classes. I wondered if there was a completely different version to him. Perhaps all of them were different when back at home.
“Alright, we’ve set up the targets so let’s get shooting,” Lori said pulling out guns from the back of the truck. “Ever held one of these before?”
I shook my head nervously. “No.”
“It’s alright, sweetheart, I’ll show you what to do,” Eric said, readjusting the strap over his shoulder. Despite the other two wearing jackets and me in my pink fluffy one, Eric only wore a patterned flannel shirt, a complete cliché to his lumberjack profile. How he didn’t feel the cold would always escape me.
Two targets were already positioned against trees. And the rest of us took plenty of steps back, my heart pounding as I watched Thomas take his shot carefully. I jumped, shocked by how loud the gunshot was. Thomas cursed when he realized he’d only hit the outer rim of the target, lowering the handheld pistol.
Lori chuckled. “Weren’t surgeons supposed to be good with their hands and aim?”
“Shut up, I save lives not practice with targets to take them.”
“Must be hard for you with the ladies if you can’t find the spot, huh?” she replied.
He looked back at her, mortified. Eric chuckled, lazily throwing his arm around my shoulder.
