Slowly.
And not quietly.
The deer looked up again and we both froze.
That was when Zee’s phone hit the metal deer stand with a thud, causing the deer to tense.
I closed my eyes and tried to fight the smile that was tilting up the corner of my lips but failed.
We sat still, barely breathing, as we waited for the deer to figure out what he wanted to do. Run or stay and eat.
He chose to stay and eat, only after he watched us and blew out angry breaths for a good five minutes.
I bit my lip and lined my eye back up with the rifle. Then took the shot.
***
“We can’t eat this deer,” I told Zee. “We’re going to have to stuff it.”
He tossed me a grin and said, “You know it, baby.”
I felt all warm and tingly inside as he stood over the deer and looked at it in awe.
“Thirteen points,” he rumbled.
I frowned. “I thought there was eleven.”
He bent over, giving me a nice view of his ass.
“There are two drop tines, here,” he said. “And here.”
I tore my eyes away from his ass to see him grinning at me over his shoulder.
“Leave me alone,” I muttered darkly.
He shook his head and said, “I have to send my pop a picture of this. He’s been seeing this one on the game camera for weeks.”
I pursed my lips. “Did I shoot his prized deer?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. But he won’t care.”
Zee was right. He didn’t care.
He was beyond excited.
He was even more excited that I was the one to shoot it.
“You and your crack shot self,” I heard Gordon say over the line. “Always were good.”
He was right.
My father had taught me how to shoot with Annmarie, and of the two of us, I’d always been the better one.
Even now, after I hadn’t shot a gun in over a year, I was still good.
Which was surprising seeing as I could barely see the target due to my eyesight.
That reminded me if he was going to make me keep doing it, I was going to have to bite the bullet and actually go see the eye doctor.
Gordon’s voice suddenly sharpened. “Son of a bitch.”
I frowned. “What?”
“What?” Zee repeated a millisecond later.
“Uhhh,” Gordon said. “Nothing. Just hit my thumb with the hammer,” he said quickly. “Aren’t you glad that I convinced your mothers that you needed a lifetime hunting license?”
I rolled my eyes at his change of topic.
He hadn’t hit his thumb with the hammer, but he hadn’t wanted to tell us what was wrong.
I just hoped it wasn’t my house that had just broken and he wasn’t telling me.
“Baby, would you mind going back to the deer stand and getting my phone off the floor?” Zee asked. “I want to take a picture with my better phone.”
That was true. The camera that was on my phone was weak sauce compared to his. So I didn’t think anything of going to get it.
When I got back a few minutes later, it was to find Zee looking pissed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned now.
“Nothing,” he grumbled. “I need to walk back to the cabin and go get the side by side so we can load this bitch onto it.”
I frowned. “You might need to get the tractor.”
I was right. We needed the tractor.Chapter 17I hate how you’re just born out of nowhere, forced to go to school and get a job. What if I wanted to be a cat?
-Jubilee’s secret thoughts
Jubilee
I was also right about going to the Thanksgiving Bazaar with my mother sucking.
Because it did suck. Mightily.
My mom was also horrified that I’d actually shot a deer.
She was morally against hunting.
My father wasn’t.
Which only made it funnier seeing as when the deer steaks came out to cook, my mother almost always found herself going out to eat and not coming home for hours.
“I can’t believe that you did that!” My mother was still harping on the same tired subject. “And you smiled in that picture!”
I looked at her like she was crazy. “Listen, I need a goddamn cookie before we talk about this anymore.”
Zee looked up at my outburst, and I narrowed my eyes.
“And why the hell is he over there on the phone?” I asked. “It’s like he’s hiding.”
My mother looked over to where my man was standing, huddled in the dark recesses of a building’s shadow, and shook her head.
“Let’s go get your cookie,” she suggested.
I narrowed my eyes at my mother, who was being very easy to deal with all of a sudden.
“What do you know that I don’t?” I asked, eyes narrowing in on her.
“Hey,” Carrie said. “What’s that?”
I didn’t fall for the trick.
“Mom?”
She bit her lip.
“Mom,” I repeated, this time stomping my foot for emphasis.
She looked over at me, lip caught between her teeth, and sighed.
“Yourdadfoundsomeonelivinginyourattic.”
I blinked. “What?”
“Your dad found someone living in your attic!” she repeated, this time much slower.