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“Thanks.”

Jamie said his goodbyes, and we walked out together.

“You know this could backfire, right? If she finds out, she’ll likely think you betrayed her.”

“I know.” They were right, even if I didn’t want to hear it. “I know.” I had a lot to process before I saw Meg again.

Chapter 15

Meg

Iwent to the range thirty minutes before I was supposed to meet Jack and treated myself to an early birthday gift. Grant helped me find good eye and ear protection so I wouldn’t have to keep borrowing Jack’s. I liked our range dates and figured if I was going to get my own gun, I should have my own gear too.

Jack came rushing in at our scheduled time and apologized for being late.

“You’re not late, you’re exactly on time.” I shook my head, trying not to laugh at how flushed he was.

“Looks like you went shopping while you were waiting.” Jack nodded towards my bag with a big grin on his face. I loved how the left side lifted more than the right. “What’d you get?”

“I’m the proud new owner of my very own eye and ear protection.” I waved the matching purple set in front of his face to show them off.

“Nice color.” He chuckled, then reached for the ear muffs. “Good choice.”

“Thanks. Grant helped me pick them out.”

Jack had a couple of different guns for me to try. He said I should try as many as I could and make notes of what I liked, and didn’t like, about each one, so I’d be better prepared when I was ready to buy my own. He must have made a mental note of the gun I shot the best, which was also the one I liked the most, and had me shoot it the rest of the day. The SIG p320 fit my hand perfectly, and I liked how smooth the trigger felt.

“Ready to take your shooting to the next level?” Jack asked.

“What? I’m barely good enough at this level.”

“You’re too hard on yourself.” He brought in my black silhouette target, took it off the hanger and held it up to his body. “See where the holes line up with my body?” He made a circle around the holes. “Any hits in the body are good defensive shots.”

Without thinking, I put a finger through a hole and poked his ribcage. It seemed strange to me to hear I didn’t have to hit the bullseye to be effective.

“That’s a lung shot.” Jack gently pushed my hand away. “Lung shots stop threats.”

I met his eyes. “But-”

“Will you please listen to me,” he pleaded, “and trust I know what I’m talking about?”

“I do trust you.” It shocked me to say it, and even more so that I believed it. I didn’t trust many people and didn’t know when I’d started trusting him.

He smiled. Something in his eyes seemed to say he knew I didn’t give my trust easily.

“Thank you.” After a brief pause, he changed the subject. “Want me to show you how to shoot like an action hero?”

“Um, yeah, I’ll never be that good.” I hadn’t seen a lot of action movies, but they did the impossible in the few I had seen.

“True, no one is. But you can learn to shoot better faster with a little guidance and practice.”

Jack taught me how to use the trigger reset and encouraged me to practice it for the rest of our time.

When I looked at my last target, I did a little happy dance. “Holy shit!” I pointed at my best target yet.

“I don’t want to say I told you so, but,” Jack grinned and emphasized every word as he pointed at me, “I told you so.”

God only knows why, but I put my hands on my hips and stuck out my tongue like a petulant child.Poor Jack, he must think I’m crazy. There was something else there too, but I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I let it go. I was too excited to think about it.

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