A Shot at Gold

by Nicole Pyland

  “Do you have a client in your office? I can disappear.”

  “No, it’s fine. Madison, you look like you went for a swim.”

  “It’s a funny story,” she began before she opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. “I kind of did.”

  “What?”

  “So, I did everything you asked. I went to the gym first, got us both memberships, but you have to get your card and stuff the first time you go. They do a thumbprint scan, and I didn’t bring your thumb with me. I went to the store and bought everything I thought we’d need. I set the target up in the backyard first; measured it at exactly seventy meters. I thought I should hang a backdrop behind it just in case. I don’t plan on missing or anything, but you didn’t want trees injured, and there’s a road back there, so I wanted to hang up a thick canvas tarp that would at least slow them down. There were two trees on either side of the target, so I used them to anchor it and–”

  “You fell down the drop?”

  “Falling sounds at least somewhat graceful. This was not at all graceful. I used a step stool I found at the side of the house. It tipped a little bit. I recovered from that only to lose my balance at the edge. Then, I tumbled more than fell for a few feet, held onto a rock with a hand for a moment, and when I let go of that, I ended up falling butt-first into the creek that really isn’t a creek – I’d call it a stream, which meant I landed on solid ground. There are some nice pebbles down there, though. I know because I had to pull some out of my butt and my hands. Then, I tripped as I was getting up and got a little wetter. It’s been a great first day so far, Elodie. If you were planning on torturing me, you could have at least told me first.”

  Elodie couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing. And Madison, standing there unamused, only made her laugh even harder. It took a solid three minutes for her to stop. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Madison again.

  “Are you okay?”

  “You laugh, and then you ask me that?”

  “I didn’t tell you to hang anything up. If you had waited, I would have helped you.”

  “You told me to set everything up. I was trying to do just that.”

  “Madison, that was kind of stupid. You know that, right? It was dangerous. You could have really gotten hurt.”

  “I realize that now, yes.”

  “Are you okay?” Elodie asked her again.

  “I need about a million showers, but I’m okay. I’m a little sore, honestly.”

  “Skip the run this afternoon.”

  “No, I’m not trying to get out of–”

  “Madison, I don’t want you to get hurt. It’s the first day. We’ve got time. Go clean up. We’ll shoot around later today.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. Check for bruises and ice them, okay?”

  “I will.”

  “And we need to talk about your diet.”

  “We do?”

  “I’m not going to be as bad as the academy, but did you buy any real food or just junk?”

  “Oh, that?” Madison pointed to the fridge. “I bought stuff quickly because I had nothing.”

  “You shouldn’t be eating all that junk.”

  “It’s not all bad?”

  “It’s all cheese,” Elodie replied.

  “You have a problem with cheese?”

  “No, I’m an American. I love cheese,” she answered. “But you should not be living on the stuff. After you clean up, you should head back to the store. Pick up some real food.”

  “I’m not much of a cook,” Madison said and shrugged.

  That was when Elodie remembered.

  “Do you know how to cook?”

  “I can read what a box tells me to do. I’m not an idiot. I’ve just lived in a dorm for four years, and my parents weren’t big on family dinners. My mom helped with my meals, sometimes, or we’d just order.”

  “I’ll write you a shopping list, okay? Then, come back here, and I’ll show you how to cook the food you need to be eating.”

  “You don’t have to do that. I can–”

  “This is it, Madison. This is coaching. It’s part of it.”

  “Right,” Madison replied. “Did…”

  “What?” Elodie asked when Madison faded out.

  “I was just going to ask something that’s not my place to ask.”

  “You were going to ask if Rod taught me how to cook.”

  “Yes,” she said.

  Elodie considered for a moment and said, “I’ll make two lists. Go shopping. Then, bring the stuff I tell you over to my place. The rest, you can put away in here, assuming there’s room in all this cheese.” She glared at Madison.

  “Why your place?”

  “I think we should probably spend a little time getting to know each other, don’t you?”

  “I guess,” Madison replied.

  “We’ll cook over there and eat together. First, you need to get cleaned up, though.”

  Madison nodded and winced.

  “What’s wrong?” Elodie asked.

  “Nothing. I just must have tweaked something. I’m fine.”

  “Where?”

  “The back of my neck.”

  “Madison, don’t be brave. Just turn around and show me.”

  “Fine.”

  Madison turned around, and Elodie walked up to her and followed Madison’s hand, which was at the back of her neck. She pulled Madison’s shirt down slightly to see a cut about two inches long. It wasn’t bleeding anymore, but it had bled earlier. Her shirt had a sizeable drying stain on it.

  “Madison, you’re bleeding; or at least, you were.”

  “I am?” Madison turned her head.

  Elodie looked up to meet Madison’s eyes. They were so close now. There was concern in them. Madison was scared.

  “It’s fine,” Elodie said, pressing a hand to the small of Madison’s back. “It’s not bad. It just needs to be cleaned. I’ll clean it now. Then, take your shower. We’ll cover it when you get out, okay? Your shirt is probably trash, though.”

  “That’s fine. I don’t think there’s enough bleach in the world to get rid of that algae smell anyway.” Madison turned around, causing Elodie’s hand to travel around her side to her stomach. “Thank you.”

  Elodie looked down at it. Then, she pulled it away.

  “Sure,” she said as she cleared her throat.

  CHAPTER 7

  Elodie’s hands on her skin had been nice. That was the thought running through Madison’s head as the woman standing next to her talked about how avocado was the world’s greatest food. Madison watched her deftly remove the pit and toss it in the trash before she slid a spoon around the inside of the peel and removed the creamy flesh.

  “Technically, it’s a fruit,” Elodie said.

  “What?” Madison asked.

  “Avocado. It’s a single-seeded berry. It’s just nutritionally closer to a vegetable, so people call it that a lot.”

  “Right,” Madison replied.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m just trying to soak it all in.”

  “It’s grilled chicken with a salad. I think you’ll be fine. You don’t even have to cook the salad.”

  “You started with something easy for me, right?”

  “I figured you went through it today. The least I could do was teach you an easy dinner.”

  “I’m fine. I’m just a little disappointed with how I shot this afternoon. I’m not used to sevens and eights.”

  “It’s probably because of that cut on the back of your neck and that bruise on your arm. You took a bigger fall than you led on, didn’t you?”

  “It was scary there for a minute.”

  “I’m sorry. I should have helped you set everything up. I had some meetings cancel. I was trying to teach you a lesson. Rookie coach move.”

  Madison watched as she sliced the avocado and placed it inside the giant salad bowl that already had the greens, tomatoes, and a light vinaigrett
e Elodie had taught her how to make. The chicken was still on the grill outside, which was an old-fashioned charcoal grill. Elodie had also shown her how to get the fire started and keep it burning at the right temperature.

  “Who taught you this stuff?” she asked.

  Elodie picked up the salad bowl and carried it to her kitchen table.

  “Can you bring those please?” she asked, nodding toward the plates and cutlery she’d stacked on her kitchen counter. “And, technically, I learned at the academy. The nutritionist there at the time took pity on me and taught me a few things. My coach taught me more, and I picked up the rest on my own. I prefer to cook healthy for myself, but I’m not exactly competing anymore, so I slip more than I stick to it these days.”

  Madison carried the plates over to the table, and they set everything out. Then, Elodie grabbed a clean plate, and they went outside to get the chicken. Madison followed, watched her slice into the bigger chicken breast to check that it was done, and stood off to the side to follow her back in with the food.

  “You wanted us to get to know one another, right?” Madison asked after they’d both sat down at the table.

  “If we’re going to be working together, we probably should.”

  “But, every time I ask a question, you shy away from the real answer.”

  “No, I don’t.” Elodie drank from her water glass. “I might not give you all the details, though.”

  “How did you get into archery?” Madison asked the woman, changing the subject.

  Elodie took a long gulp then from her wine glass. Madison was in training and, therefore, not allowed wine by her new coach.

  “It happened by accident. I was at Girl Scout camp. We had these activities, and we could earn badges. I chose archery one day, and I liked it. When I got home, I asked my aunt if I could get my own bow. She was against it. I saved up and got my own later. Then, I practiced on my own. I got really good, and… I guess you could say I got scouted. That’s when I came here to the academy.”

  “Your aunt?” Madison asked as she scooped some salad onto her plate.

  “I lived with her from about age five until fifteen.”

  “Can I ask why?”

  “My parents died when I was young. My mom when I was two, and my dad when I was five. I moved in with my aunt after that. She and I didn’t get along all that well, so when I was fifteen, I got emancipated.”

  “Jesus. I’m sorry, Elodie. I shouldn’t have–”

  “It’s okay. It was a long time ago. Besides, you knew all that already, didn’t you?”

  “Some of it,” she admitted.

  “The Internet is full of secrets.”

  “Why didn’t you get along with your aunt?”

  Elodie took a bite of her chicken and said, “I got along with her fine. She didn’t get along with me.”

  “Why not?”

  “She caught me making out with a girl when I was fourteen. It was all downhill from there, but even before that, it was like she could sense something in me that I didn’t even know about myself yet, and she didn’t like it. We argued a lot, but when she found me kissing someone that wasn’t a boy, she grounded me. I was to go to school, come home, and repeat that the next day.”

  “That sucks.”

  “Yeah, it wasn’t fun.”

  “It was more than that, though, wasn’t it?” Madison asked, sensing something in Elodie’s tone.

  “The Internet again?”

  “What? No.” Madison took a bite of her chicken.

  “Let’s just say I was able to get emancipated because she wasn’t a good guardian.”

  Madison stared into haunted blue eyes. She recognized that look because while she, herself, didn’t share the same experiences, she did share a similar loss.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too.” Elodie took another long drink of her wine. Then, she reached for the bottle and filled the glass back up. “So, tell me. How did you get into archery?”

  Here was where Madison made a choice. She had just asked Elodie some pretty personal questions, and from what Madison could tell, Elodie had answered them honestly. Madison could give the overview here, or she could give her the whole story. She took a drink of her water and made her decision.

  “My girlfriend.”

  Elodie looked up from her plate and said, “You have a girlfriend?”

  “Had,” she corrected. “I had a girlfriend.”

  “And she was the one that got you into it?”

  “Wiley was good,” Madison said, smiling.

  “Wiley?”

  “Oh, her last name was Wiley. Most people just called her that.”

  “What was her first name?” Elodie asked.

  Madison swallowed and said, “You’re going to laugh.”

  “What? Why?” Elodie asked.

  “Her first name was Madison,” she answered.

  Elodie did laugh, but instead of it bothering Madison, it only made her smile and laugh a little, too.

  “It was a very popular name the year we were both born, I guess,” Madison said. “Thus, everyone called her Wiley, and most people called me Fletch.”

  “Did she call you that?”

  “She called me baby,” Madison said. Then, she heard Wiley’s voice saying that very word in her head. “We met as freshmen in high school, but we were friends first. We didn’t start dating until we were sophomores. Our school didn’t have a program, but there was an archery club. Wiley’s dad belonged, and she’d been going forever. She invited me to go one day, and I had a good time.” She paused and smiled. “I had a great time, actually. We had our first kiss that day.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “It was like that was what I wanted, you know?”

  “I do know,” Elodie answered and nodded.

  “We came out pretty much right away. We didn’t have too many issues; just some stupid boys making comments, but her parents were fine with it, and so were mine.”

  “So, she got you into it?”

  “She loved it, and it turned out, I loved her.” She stabbed at a piece of lettuce with her fork. “I was pretty good at archery right away. My parents got me a bow, and I started practicing every free moment I had. If I wasn’t at school or with Wiley, I was out at the range practicing or going to tournaments to compete.”

  “Did she compete?”

  “A little. But when I started to get really into it, she started to tag along when she could, but she couldn’t a lot of the time,” she said.

  “Why not?”

  “She got sick.” Madison stared out the window at the sun that was losing its fight against the horizon. “Leukemia. She was almost eighteen when it got bad. We had her eighteenth birthday party in the hospital; her nineteenth, too.” Madison swallowed. “She didn’t make it to twenty.”

  Elodie dropped her fork and said, “Madison…”

  “I had about five years with her; two as friends and three as a couple. I haven’t really dated anyone since,”

  “I’m so sorry,” Elodie said.

  “Me too.” Madison stood up and moved to her purse, which she had hung over the kitchen stool a few feet from the table. She pulled out the phone, returned to the table, and held it up for Elodie to see. “This is hers. I saw you notice it in your office.”

  “You have her phone?”

  “I asked her parents if they’d keep it connected if I paid the bill,” she replied. “I know it’s silly. I have photos and videos of her on my phone, but I loved her voice mail message, and sometimes, I call the number just to hear her voice. She’s been gone for almost as long as we were together now, and I still call her every now and then because I can’t believe she’s gone.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  Madison put the phone on the table and said, “Remember how I told you that it was important to me that you were my coach?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wiley and I watched you compete. We were sitting on her bed, watching YouTube
. I had just gotten into archery, and she told me she wanted to show me something. She put on the Olympic final, and we watched you kick some serious ass. She wasn’t sick yet. She was still going out shooting with me and thinking about competing, and she said she wanted to be just like you. Later, when I was getting noticed, and you had retired, she told me that I needed a coach as amazing as I was, and she threw out your name.” Madison hesitated. “I guess I held on to that. And when I heard you were actually coaching, I had to try. I had to try for her.”

  “That’s quite a story, Madison.”

  “There are only two things I’ve really cared about in my entire life. Wiley was one. Archery is the other. At first, it was because of her, but it’s not anymore. I know I’m not going to become a millionaire doing it. I’m lucky that, at least now, I don’t have to worry about money. I can give everything I have to this. I can do what it takes to be the best. That’s why I kind of stalked you until you agreed to give me a shot.”

  “I get it now.”

  “Elodie, I don’t tell people this story. I don’t make friends easily. I have one friend back at college that I only came out to as I was driving away from campus to come here. After I lost Wiley, I put everything into my sport. It’s all I have. And I will give you everything I can if you help me be the best.”

  Elodie leaned back in her chair and said, “Tomorrow, we’ll finish setting up the targets in the woods together. Then, we’ll go for a run if the fall didn’t do you in. After that, we’re going back to fundamentals.”

  “Fundamentals?”

  “If you want to be the best, it starts there.”

  “I do.”

  “There’s a tournament coming up.”

  “The invitational, yeah.”

  “It’s here this year. That’s one of the benefits to training near the academy. You should register for it.”

  “Okay.”

  “It’s soon. We’ll have a lot of work to do to get you ready.”

  “Elodie, I’ve won bigger tournaments than this before.”

  “Maybe, but just because you’ve won those, doesn’t mean you’re ready for the Olympics. The invitational is a good place to start. And we’re going to adjust your stance to allow you better hip placement, which helps line up your shots. Let’s finish eating. Then, you should go back to the office and take a long, hot bath. You’re going to be sore from the fall. In fact, I have some Epsom salt in my bathroom. Take that with you and soak in it.”