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He laughed, then pulled me into a loose hug. “You’re adorable.”

I gave him a quick squeeze before pulling away and looking back at my target. “I can’t believe I did it. But it was only ten feet, so I guess it’s not too impressive.”

“Fucking Hell, Meg.” I flinched at the anger in his voice.

Jack must have noticed, because he softened his tone. “You should feel good about how much you improved today. Stop finding reasons to put yourself down. Please.”

“Okay.” I paused before adding, “but I’m not wrong I-”

“Yeah, you are.” Jack sounded exasperated. “I moved your target out to fifteen feet while you were loading your mag.”

“You did?”

“I did. Do I need to tell you again to feel good about how well you did today?”

“You just did.” I looked at the floor, my shoulders sagging. I hated to think I’d upset Jack.

“Hey,” He lifted my chin. “You did great today.”

Chapter 16

Jack

As we were leaving, I blurted out. “It’s too late for coffee. Can I buy you a beer instead? To celebrate.” Damn it, I’m supposed to keep it professional.If she says no, just accept it.

“I don’t know. I should probably go home.”

“Come on, Meg, you’ve earned a treat for all your hard work today.” I ignored my advice. I had beer with my friends all the time, it was nothing special.

She hesitated before replying, “Okay, but it’s my treat. Especially since this felt more… lessony than the other times.”

“Lessony? Is that even a word?”

“Hey if Shakespeare can do it, so can I. Seriously though, is everything okay? You seem-”

I cut her off, hoping to diffuse her concern. “Teachery? Hey if you can do it...” I wiggled my eyebrows to lighten the mood. It didn’t work.

“I was going to say serious.”

I thought I did a decent job of keeping it light and fun. Guess not. “Sorry. Guess I’m still a little jacked up after last weekend.” I lied. Now wasn't the time or place to tell her what I'd learned.

“Okay.” She didn’t sound convinced.

“Where are we going so I can buy you a beer?”

I raised an eyebrow when Meg ordered water. “Are you really going to celebrate with water?”

She shrugged. “I’ve tried beer a few times, but have never found one I like.”

“Trust me?” I asked, grinning. I was treading in dangerous waters but couldn't stop myself.

Meg nodded, then turned to the server and smiled. “I’ll have a water too.”

I asked our server for two flights of their most popular beers. “We’ll try them together. Each flight is four beers, so there’s bound to be one you like.”

Meg tried a tiny sip of each of the eight beers. It was cute how she scrunched her face up after tasting most of them. The only one she thought was “pretty okay” was the pumpkin amber ale. I made a mental note for later. She said she didn’t think she could drink a whole glass, so I slid the sample towards her. “Here. You can drink the rest of this one. It’s about a quarter of a beer.”

“You don’t want it?”

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