“Come on, Charley, I’ll show you where we practice shooting,” Sully said.
Walking behind the counter, Sully grabbed two sets of ear protection. He led the way to the heavy door, but before opening it, they put on their ear protection. Inside the shooting gallery, she noted that she could hear voices but not the shooting. Charley saw ten glass-sided booths. Sully waved to a couple of customers and chose a booth nearest the door. At the far end of their booth was a target of a man shaped like a burglar, or a bad guy of some sort, on the run.
“Can you hit the bull’s eye? Whatever that might be on such a target?” Charley asked.
“Where would you like the bullet to hit him?”
“I don’t know.” Charley looked away from Sully and studied the target. Turning back to him, she asked, “The chest or the head?”
“Yeah.” Sully pulled his gun out of his holster, aimed, and fired four times in quick succession. He punched a button in the booth and, hooked to an overhead chain, the target flew toward them.
“Wow!” Charley stepped forward and stared, astonished. The bad guy’s heart, both eyes, and the middle of his forehead had bullet holes smack-dab in the middle of them. “Remind me never to make you mad.”
“My dad first brought me here on my sixteenth birthday. He had just been elected sheriff of El Paso County for the first time. At that point I had been shooting a shotgun and a revolver for about four years on our ranch. But since the owner was my mother’s brother, and with my dad signing a waiver and a consent form, my uncle let me start shooting here.”
“So, you’ve been practicing for half your life.”
“Yes. I told my dad after we left that first day that I was going to buy this place when I grew up. As it turned out, when my uncle died, he had left it to me.” Sully sent the target sliding backward on the overhead chain. “This is a Ruger Redhawk .44Magnum,” he said in regard to his gun. “There are two bullets left. Give it a try.” When Charley nodded, he said, “This is how you hold it.” He demonstrated using both hands to hold it while keeping the index finger along the barrel and off the trigger.
“Okay, I can do that,” Charley said. The second Sully gave her the gun, her hand dropped about four inches. “Wow! It’s heavy.”
“Yes.” He gave her instructions on how to stand, then moved behind her. “Aim for the middle of the target, put your finger on the trigger, and squeeze.”
Charley did so, squeezed hard, and nothing happened. Not to be defeated, she squeezed harder. BOOM! The powerful gun sent her stumbling backward, straight into a wall of muscle. Sully caught her, kept her upright, and steadied her. He helped her regain the proper stance and indicated she should shoot a second time.
“I don’t want to use up your last bullet,” she said over her shoulder.
“I might know where I can get some more ammunition.”
Charley repositioned her grip on the gun, like he’d taught her, and aimed dead center. She squeezed the trigger, and when it boomed the second time, she took only a single step back. She placed the gun on a small shelf, and Sully brought the target forward. There were no new holes in the paper.
She teased, “I must have shot the target through the holes you made.”
“Yeah, let’s go with that.” Sully chuckled and winked. He was so good-looking, so strong, and so masculine that Charley felt the familiar swooning sensation. Then he said, “You weren’t afraid to give it a try and that’s what matters. We’ll practice and use a smaller, more manageable gun next time. For now, let’s head to the Lodge.”
“Yes, let’s. I’ve worked up an appetite,” Charley said.
“I worked one up last night and this morning,” Sully replied. Her cheeks heated as he gave her a cocky grin. When they were back out in the main part of the store, they removed their ear protection. He grabbed her hand, and they walked across the room. Letting go of her, he went behind a glass case and set their ear protection on a counter where he said it would be disinfected for the next user. Then he unlocked one of the gun cases and removed a pistol. Turning to Roy, who was waiting on two cowboys, Sully said, “Roy, I’m taking this new SIG Sauer P365 9mm.”
“Okay, boss,” Roy said as Sully locked the case.
Sully also gathered up a couple of boxes of ammunition and loaded the new gun as well as his revolver. He demonstrated for Charley how to put the safety on and take it off before they returned outside to his truck and Jeep.
“I don’t want you to be without a gun, with a serial killer on the loose,” Sully said as they paused beside the Jeep door. “This SIG Sauer is an excellent concealed weapon for a woman because it can kill as easily as it will fit in your purse.”
“How much does it cost?” Charley said as he handed the gun to her. “I’ll pay you for it.”
“I don’t think so,” he replied with a shake of his head. “I put my 20-gauge Remington youth model shotgun, which I used as a kid when I was about your height and weight, in the back seat of the truck. I’m going to hide it for you at your cabin. All you have to do with a shotgun is aim it in the general direction of the target and at least some of the shot will hit them.”
Charley tucked her fingers over his belt buckle and pulled herself closer to him. “Maybe you could just stay with me in my cabin until the killer is caught.”
“Maybe.” Sully cocked a brow. “You learn to shoot, and I’ll buy some plants from your shop for my gun club.”
“I was thinking your gun club could use a plant or two,” Charley said as a plan formed in her mind. “What kind of plants would you like?”
Before he could answer, the horn of a truck, similar to Sully’s, honked. Since they were headed to lunch, for now Charley placed her gun inside the console.
“There’s my dad,” Sully said with a smile. “You can meet him.”
