Page 29 of Every Rose

Chapter Ten

“When we talk about guns, the first thing we talk about is safety.” James Chance stood before the two-dozen guys at Harvey’s stag party. He’d really come through for them, taking them to a private outdoor gun range used mainly by law enforcement. The skies were the same muted gray as a gun barrel, but there was no rain in the forecast and the weather was warm for May. They’d driven up a twisting mountain road into the middle of nowhere. The shooting area was a long field divided into lanes. A series of targets hung at the end of the lanes, everything from a human outline, to pie plates and water-filled plastic bottles. There was a dirt hill behind the targets that would catch stray bullets.

Even out of uniform James had an air of command. Not that he was a particularly imposing guy; Matt suspected it was because this was his world and they were all novices. As tough as they all pretended to be, they were desk jockeys and professionals who hadn’t spent a lot of time around guns. He felt a pull of tension and suspected every one of the men here experienced something similar. Except for James who was as comfortable with a firearm in his hand as Matt was with a scalpel.

They stood in a long, covered area, kind of like a front porch, and behind them was a small clubhouse. James went through safety first, with the thoroughness of a man who does not want to get shot by some idiot who’s played too many video games and forgets he’s using live ammo among real people.

“Now, listen up, because I don’t want to have to arrest anybody for stupidity, and Matt over there doesn’t want to spend his day off stitching you up. No one ever walks in front of a guy with a gun, and if you’ve got a loaded firearm your safety is on unless you are shooting. Are we clear?”

A chorus of ‘Yeahs’ answered him.

“Good.” He’d brought along a couple of young guys to help out. They handed out noise-canceling earphones, and then James showed them how to load a Glock pistol. They went in groups and practiced shooting. Matt had expected to be good since he was accustomed to work that demanded fine hand-eye coordination. However, as he faced the outline of a body, his mind flashed to the many gunshot wounds he’d treated back when he was a surgical resident. He went for the pie plate instead, managing to whack it a couple good ones.

Next, James showed them how to load and shoot a .22 rifle. No one noticed, but while he was speaking, his helpers were re-setting the targets.

This time, they were creepy-looking zombies, and the ammo was something green that exploded on impact.

They were laughing like a bunch of boys when they all returned to the covered area. Harvey clapped Matt on the back. “Gotta hand it to you, bro. This was a great idea.” And Matt knew that once again he’d performed excellently under pressure. He could have researched and brainstormed for weeks and not come up with a better stag than this one. Manly without involving strippers or anything else potentially embarrassing to a future politician—or a future anything, depending on where their various lives took them.

The beer crawl was an obvious stag choice, but different since he’d focused on local craft beers, and ending up at the Hedgeman was inspired. Okay, Rose Chance was the one who’d inspired him, but she’d been part of his pressured brilliance from the start.

He could still recall the cold snake of panic that had crawled down his spine as he’d tried to grab a germ of brilliance from his exhausted brain, and her cool scrutiny had only spurred him on not to make a fool of himself.

He owed Rose. Well, since he’d saved her dad’s life he suspected they were more than even.

They were hanging out for a few minutes winding down from the shooting high when Harvey clapped him on the shoulder again. “We need to bring James along for the rest of the night.”

“Great.” Matt had the same idea, and James fit right in with the rest of them. Harvey called him over and invited him to join them for the pub-crawl.

James grinned when told he was now an honorary member of the stag. “I’m not one to turn down a beer.”

So he jumped in the minibus with the rest of them. Thanks again to Rose Chance, who’d given him the number once she was certain they didn’t need the vehicle for the same day she’d booked it.

A pub-crawl was pretty much a pub-crawl, and after the first couple of beers Matt couldn’t tell one hop from another. They tried wheat beers and IPAs and lagers. He’d figured out a route that allowed them to walk as much as possible. Though there was definitely weaving involved in the end. Not to mention some staggering. When they got to Hazel Nut’s, he’d hit the beer-goggles stage. Not drunk, not by a long shot, but less restrained than he usually was. He felt it, accepted it, warned himself not to be an ass. A couple of Harvey’s friends were already fighting for the role of biggest ass-hat of the night. He didn’t think he’d be a contender.

Harvey might have been the groom, but he took it easy on the booze. No Facebook post was going to derail his career. James was way more of a regular guy away from the guns, but Matt could see that he was taking it easy, too. He might be off duty, but Matt got the strong impression that he was always vigilant.

Matt walked over and took a seat beside Rose’s brother. “What do you think? Those two going to end up in the drunk tank tonight?” He gestured to Dave, who sold commercial real estate. Matt suspected he was also bipolar and used alcohol to self-medicate. Matt put up with him because he’d been Harvey’s friend since childhood. He was currently having a loud-voiced discussion about peak oil with Dawson, who managed a car dealership. Since they’d run out of facts long ago, they were using tactics such as talking faster and louder than the other to attempt to win their arguments.

James studied the two for a minute. “Na-ah. Worst that will happen is we’ll get the minibus to take them home.”

Matt glanced at him with respect. “You could do that? Make them leave if they don’t want to?”

James wasn’t a large guy, and as Matt had suspected, away from the guns and out of uniform, he fit right in with the rest of them. But when he said, “Yes. I could,” Matt had no problem believing that those two would be waking up with hangovers before they realized they’d been sent to bed.

“You’re a good man to have around,” he said, clinking beer glasses with his new friend.

James grinned briefly. “So are you. You saved my dad’s life. How cool is that?”

“You save lives too,” he said. “Without law and order, we’d all be in danger all the time.”

James didn’t argue or pretend not to agree. He said, “Here’s to us. Saving lives, day and night.” They toasted again and drank.

“So, your sister,” he said without planning to. Damn, he needed to slow down on the beer.

James didn’t seem shocked he’d asked. Probably every man who’d ever glimpsed Rose wanted to know all about her. “Yes. My sister.” He didn’t offer more, but his tone wasn’t discouraging. So Matt plowed on, not even sure where he was going or what he wanted to know.

“She’s a good doctor.”

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