Brad caught her crying behind Phillip’s truck one time. At first, she denied it, but when he pressed, she finally admitted how much she hated when it was her turn to hold the gun.
She thought back through today. “Maybe sometimes, but others, no. I didn’t enjoy the range, but I did learn some things about safety and legalities that I didn’t already know. I really enjoyed spending the day with you and your mom. Thanks.”
“I’ll walk you to your door.”
She looked around. “Brad, it’s eleven in the morning. I’m sure I can get to my door. But I appreciate the chivalry.”
As she walked past him, she squeezed his arm then waved at Rosaline.
Brad sat at the tableand stared at his bowl of soup. His mother’s voice startled him. “So, what do you think? Do you think she’s going to be open to having a firearm in her house?”
Despite the impulse to shrug as a response, he simply met her eyes. “I don’t have anything to do with it. I would want one. But I’m a different person than she is with different life experiences.”
“You know she was thinking about her parents the entire class today, right?”
“Of course. She associates bullets with the killing of human parents. How could she not?”
“Yet you still took her.”
“Yeah.” He pushed his bowl away. “She told me about it when dad and Buddy took us all shooting one year. We were probably fourteen. She confessed how much she hated the annual treks out to the field for target practice and how every time the gun went off, she imagined her mother or father getting shot.”
His mom stared at him for several seconds before nodding. “Is she in a place to be able to say no if she really doesn’t want to do something, or is the passive abused woman just passively complying with your wishes to placate you?”
He took a deep breath through his nose. “Honestly, I don’t think I bring out her passive side.” He thought about how grumpy she’d been the day he showed up on her doorstep and how she had blown off his attempted chivalry when he dropped her at home. “My opinion? She doesn’t want to feel like a victim anymore. She’s desperate to just feel normal again. I think she went to the class because the idea intrigued her. Maybe she thought the class would help with that. I invited but I didn’t push.”
“No, you never push.” She picked up her empty soup bowl and stopped by his chair to kiss him on the top of his head. “Thanks for taking me. Goodnight.”
“‘Night, Mama,” he said. As she left the kitchen, Jon came in from the mudroom. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself.” He sat in the chair his mother had just vacated and grabbed a bowl from the stack next to the slow cooker. “How’d concealed carry go? Valerie didn’t mention it.”
“They both passed. They’re going together to file for permits on Monday.”
“Cool.” He ladled potato soup into the bowl and grabbed a roll out of the breadbasket then slipped his baseball cap off his head.
“How was the game?”
“Braves won in the bottom of the ninth. Good game.”
Brad looked at the mudroom door. “Dad didn’t come home with you?”
“Nah. He and Buddy went back to the hospital to visit someone from church. Buddy drove. They were dropping Valerie off on the way.” He shoveled three big bites of soup into his mouth before taking a bite of his roll.
“Who’s in the hospital?”
Jon shrugged and swallowed. “Didn’t recognize the name.”
“Well, you haven’t been recently. There are a lot of new people.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and shot his dad a quick text. The reply came almost immediately. “Elmer Jansen. Oh, he’s the new janitor. Looks like he had a motorcycle accident and broke his leg. Yikes.” He replied to the text and stood, lifting his arms over his head and stretching. “Want to do something tonight? Maybe we could get Ken over here for a card game or something.”
Jon shook his head. “I’m going to go up to my room and get some work done. I have a couple projects coming up for bid.” He shoveled more soup into his mouth and took another bite of roll. “Ken isn’t free, anyway. He has a dinner meeting with some charity he’s involved in.” After washing down some soup with his glass of tea he added, “The house one.”
“He must be about to do one of those houses-in-a-weekend things.” He texted Ken, letting him know about Mr. Jansen. “‘Night, brother.”
“‘Night.”
He knew his dad would have told his mother about the accident, so he didn’t bother her. Instead, he went up to his room and turned on his laptop. Jon wasn’t the only one who had work that he couldn’t ignore any longer.
Valerie stared at her reflectionin the mirror, meeting her own eyes. She had zero desire to go to this church service. However, she and Buddy had such a great time yesterday at the game. He’d loved on her in a way that made her feel like no strife had ever existed between the two of them. If going to this service would please him in some way and served to make the man who had given up his youth to raise her feel happy, then she’d do it. Even if she didn’t personally understand it and even if she personally thought the entire thing was a waste of time, Buddy deserved her respect.
