Page 89 of Fighting For Light
“I want to make sure you know how to shoot a gun.”
I freeze. Dad taught me a while ago, but I haven’t touched one for a while. It’s not like I needed ituntil now.
“Why?” I ask.
He frowns and sighs at the same time. I watch him search for the words as he looks out the window behind me.
He clears his throat before saying, “I will always protect you. I will always be there to save you. Nothing and no one will keep me from you. But…if there were a case where I wasn’t, I want to give you a fighting chance. I hope it will never come to that, but if it does, you will know what to do.” He looks at me with serious eyes, and I know deep down he’s afraid that someone will get to him and it will leave me on my own. That may be true, and I have to accept it. I know who I married.
“Okay,” I rasp.
“Thank you, baby,” he murmurs and kisses my cheek. “Ready for breakfast?” he asks while still hugging me.
I nod against his shoulder, and the kettle starts whistling.
He lets me go and pours the water into the mug, gesturing for me to go sit down. My mind drifts while Kai finishes making breakfast. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost him. The thought alone makes me want to puke. I just got him. I want, no,needto keep him. A plate full of eggs, bacon, and pancakes is placed in front of me with a glass of orange juice.
“Thank you.”
He grunts and sits down with his coffee. I miss coffee.
“When we’re really old, and one of us dies, I hope we go together.”
Kai pauses with his fork full of eggs close to his mouth and drops it back on his plate. “That’s not morbid or anything,” he quips.
I laugh dryly. “We’ve been on the topic of morbid things this morning.”
He lifts his shoulder and shovels the eggs into his mouth.
I assume he’s going to leave it, but then he gives me one of those bone-shaking, thigh-squeezing stares, and I can’t do anything but look back at him. “Hopefully, it’s me because I don’t think I could live a day on earth without you being mywife. I can’t even bear the thought; it hurts too much,” he says, rubbing his chest.
I nod, knowing exactly how he feels.
“So yeah, I guess it would be good for us to go when we’re old and wrinkly, and I can’t take care of you or make love to you, and our kids are long gone, living their lives happy and healthy.”
The corner of my mouth tips up. “That sounds like a good plan.”
He takes a drink of his water. “Good thing we have a lot of life to live before then.”
***
“Keep your hand here and make sure your thumb is not there,” he says, moving my thumb from the top part of the gun. “Fingers here and here,” he says, resting my finger against the trigger instead of on it. “The safety is here, and the general rules are to squeeze the trigger, don’t pull it. And make sure this elbow is slightly bent, and your other arm is straight here.” He taps each of my legs, helping me position them. “Make sure your back leg is steady because there will be recoil. If you’re not ready, if it’s not second nature, it will throw you off, and you’ll lose your balance, leaving you vulnerable.”
I nod and take a deep breath.
He releases me and takes a step back, leaving my skin feeling cold.
“All you, Cordi. Squeeze that trigger.”
I glance at him over my shoulder, then focus on the target ahead. He brought us to a shooting range, and instead of sharing the space with other people practicing, he rented out the whole place and told the people working here to take an extended lunch.
I focus on the outline of a body and squeeze the trigger like he taught me. I shoot a few times, then flip the safety back on. Kai hits the button to bring the paper back on the track. There are three bullet holes nowhere near the center of mass. One hit the arm, the bottom of a leg, and then a random spot not even remotely close to the black-printed body.
“Well, it looks like we need to practice…a lot.”
I frown at the paper. I don’t know what I thought would happen. Part of me hoped that maybe I would be like Mrs. Smith and hit every target. A girl can dream.
“Hey, it’s okay. Did you assume you’d hit the target every time?”
