It had been a week since their first date. Sam was on night duty all week. They had talked on the phone almost everyday since then. Jillian had finally come from school to visit her when she had a break in her week. Mara was thrilled to spend some time together and have her see the new place. They went clothes shopping of course and walked around the town a little bit. But there favorite guilty pleasure was a movie and ice cream which they enjoyed on the couch.
Jillian told her all about her friends and this boy Bryan she liked. But she was upset because he was hanging out with another girl. Mara reluctantly told Jilly about Sam. She didn't go in to too much detail. But they had been messaging each other and Jillian grabbed her phone from her. She demanded to know who her mom's new boy toy was as she put it. She told Jillian it was still very new. But Mara had to admit she felt butterflies. It was like she was a teenager again, counting the days till she saw him.
Sam wanted to take her to do something fun this weekend. He told her to dress casual, which was her favorite way to dress anyway. It was the start of October and it was still warm out. She had jean shorts on and a tank top with a crochet sweater over so you could see the tank. He picked her up in his truck and they made their way to the surprise. Mara's mouth dropped open, it was a gun range.
"Sam, I, I don't know how to use a gun," she said nervously. He smiled, "I figured as much, but it's fun, when you get the hang of it. Of course at the range I mean." He clarified. He was so cute, always being a cop she thought. She had to admit she was a little excited, but scared at the same time. Sam looked so cute. He had a tank top on with an open plaid shirt and shorts on.
But you could see his pecks through the muscle tank top. He had his aviators on and his warm chestnut hair was wavy and styled back to the side. Mara just wanted to run her hand through it. They got out of the car and walked over to the range. She loved how confident he was. The sounds of bullets were getting louder and louder as they walked over. She wasn't sure if she ever heard a gun go off in real life.
He said hi to a couple guys, shook someone's hand and then they made their way over to an empty stall. The range was outside but the area was covered where all the shooters were. Sam grabbed his pistol from his side holder and started showing Mara how to use it. "So when you cock it back, it's ready to shoot." He continued to walk her through a tutorial, but all Mara's dirty mind heard was the word cock. She shook her head and tried to focus again.
"So here just hold it like this," Sam hoisted her hands up holding the gun pointing towards the target. He was so close, Mara could feel him breathing on her neck. But she kept trying to concentrate, she had never shot a gun before and she was always curious about it. Sam took his hands off and grabbed some noise blocking headphones for him and her. Then he braced his hands on both sides of hers and told her to shoot. Mara squeezed the trigger and the force sent her back a bit, but Sam held her arms in place. They practiced there for a while till Mara got the hang of it.
After about 25 minutes, they switched and Mara watched Sam shoot. It was like second nature to him. When they were done they went over to a picnic spot not far and had some water and snacks that Sam had packed. They were sitting at a cute picnic table by a shaded area close to the forest.
"So is this your solid second date spot. I bet it seals the deal." Sam spit his water out and Mara just started laughing. She was right of course, this was a spot he did take girls in the past. He looked a little embarrassed and Mara just kept smiling. "I'm sorry," she was giggling so hard.
"You're very funny," he said drying the water off his face and shirt. "So what did you think of shooting?" "It was exciting, scary for sure. I've never heard an actual gun go off close range. Although.." She remembered. "There was this one case I had. I was still young, fresh out of school. I was doing a home visit for a child and we always had officer's come with us. It get pretty heated and he took his gun out. I've never been so scared."
"Oh man, yeah I've done a few of those calls with the social workers. But I thought you said you worked in adoption?" he said. "I did, but that was part of it. Going on calls to see if a child needed to be removed from the home. It was too tough for me. Eventually I switched to the other side, helping to place them," she replied. "So are you planning on going back to it," he asked curiously.
"Maybe, yeah. I'd like to do work again, at least part time. I did go back a little bit when Jilly was in high school. But luckily with the life insurance and some investments Keith made, I haven't had to work." She felt bad bringing Keith up again. It probably wasn't a good mood builder, constantly bringing up your dead husband.
She decided to change the subject. "Want to play hide and seek?" she said in a cute tone, "Close your eyes and count to 10!" Sam closed his eyes and she ran behind some big trees trying to find one that would cover her body, which wasn't hard since she was small. "7...8…9.…10! Ok here I come!" he yelled.
He loved this side of her. He thought it was so cool that she still had a playful side even with a grown kid in college. And god was she funny sometimes. A lot of the girls he was used to dating were too scared to break their nails or spent all their time taking selfies . Mara could care less about any of that. In fact, he wondered if she even had social media. He'd have to ask her about it later. As a police officer, social media wasn't something they really promoted using too much. He was never on it, except for college so he didn't miss not using it.
He kept running around looking behind every tree. "I'm gonna find you," he said. She just tried to stop laughing. She was trying to be still, but when he would get close to her she would sneak around the tree and find another one to hide in. "Boo," she snuck up behind him. He jolted and then reached around to grab her waist and pulled him into her. They were both laughing. "Don't you know never to sneak up on an officer? I'm going to have to punish you for that." he smiled.
She turned around to look at him and he pushed a piece of her blond hair behind her ear and traced his finger down to her plump lips. "Really, now" she answered amusingly. He ran his finger over her bottom lip, he didn't know why he felt like he needed permission to kiss her. They had already kissed a few times. But it just felt different now somehow. He licked his lips, "Mara...can I kiss you." She smiled so sweetly, "I thought you'd never ask." He leaned down and she stood on her tippy toes up to meet him in the middle. Their lips met and she felt her whole body tingle. I could get used to this, she thought….