A Shot at Gold

by Nicole Pyland

  “Fuck,” Madison said, seeing the next target. “A five? What the hell is wrong with me?”

  Elodie had scored an inner ten.

  “Do you want to call it now, or–”

  “You’re really enjoying yourself now, aren’t you?” Madison entwined their fingers.

  “I am, yes.”

  Four targets later, and Elodie had scored three more tens and a nine. Madison had earned a nine, two eights, and a ten. Elodie had won.

  “I guess you’re the coach for a reason, huh?” Madison asked, staring at the final target. She then moved into Elodie’s side and rested her head on Elodie’s shoulder in the most natural way in the world. “I admit defeat, master. Should I call you Robin Hood now?”

  Elodie chuckled and said, “We’re going to Brick’s for dinner tonight. They have an amazing cedar-planked salmon. We can go to Doyle’s after if you want.”

  “Why? I can’t drink when I’m in training.” Madison lifted her head and looked at her. “Do you… I mean, do you want to…”

  “It was just an idea. I thought you might want to go out. You wanted to before.”

  “I’m okay. We can skip it.”

  “Because of me?” Elodie asked as she pulled on Madison’s hand to take them back toward the yard.

  “It’s just that you didn’t drink this weekend, and I don’t know if you’re trying to abstain altogether or–”

  “I’m not. But I am going to take a break from it, I think. It wasn’t helping.”

  “What will help?” Madison asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe this,” Elodie said, motioning with her hand to the space around them. “Maybe this will help.”

  CHAPTER 17

  “Stop it. Really?” Madison asked.

  “Yeah, really.”

  “You shot the guy in his ass?” Madison cackled so hard, she had to set her fork back down on her plate.

  “He was close. It was fine.”

  “The world’s greatest archer shot a competitor in the ass?” She continued laughing.

  “It was my first tournament, and it was an accident. I had the arrow in the bow. He walked up next to me, and then his coach bumped my shoulder. I let go accidentally, and it hit him in the ass. It barely broke the skin. He could still compete.”

  Madison laughed wildly before she finally had to stop herself to focus on breathing again.

  “This is the best night ever,” she said after a minute. “And I can’t eat anymore of this. Do you want the last bite?” She pushed the dessert plate toward Elodie.

  “I’m good.”

  The waiter arrived with the check they’d requested. Elodie snatched it up before Madison could, slid her credit card inside, and passed it back to the guy before he could wander off.

  “You don’t have to pay, El.”

  “I want to,” Elodie said.

  “You hardly touched your food and definitely didn’t eat your share of this dessert.”

  “So? You enjoyed it.”

  “I was surprised you let me order dessert. I lost today, remember?”

  “Well, everyone should get a cheat day, right?”

  When the waiter came back, Elodie signed the receipt and took her card, putting it back in her wallet.

  “Should we go?” Madison asked.

  “Doyle’s?”

  “No, not tonight. I’m full, and I think I’d rather have a quiet night in.”

  “I’ll drive you home, and you can–”

  “Movie?” Madison asked before Elodie could finish her sentence.

  “I’d love to, but I have some paperwork I need to get done on a case.”

  “You were just about to take me to Doyle’s.” Madison squinted at her.

  “But if we’re not going to Doyle’s, I should get some work done.”

  “Bullshit.” Madison laughed. “Either you’re free, or you’re busy. You can’t have it both ways, El.”

  “You’re making the rules now?” Elodie smiled at her. “Since when?”

  “Since now; and probably only for tonight, since you’re the coach. But I vote we leave here, go back to your place, and pop in a movie that you’ve seen before, but I haven’t. That way, you can work, and I can watch.”

  “That college degree made you smart, huh?” Elodie teased.

  “I’m making popcorn. Do you have popcorn?”

  “No.”

  “I do. I’ll stop by the office, change into some comfortable clothes, and bring my own popcorn.”

  “Fine,” Elodie said through light laughter. “But, you can’t distract me.”

  “No promises.” Madison winked at her.

  ◆◆◆

  The next morning, Madison woke up feeling pretty good, despite the fact that she hadn’t slept well. They’d watched a movie. Elodie worked with her laptop in her lap, and Madison sat next to her. When Elodie finished, about an hour into the movie, she put her computer on the coffee table and pulled Madison’s legs into her lap, allowing Madison to lie down on the sofa. Madison found herself watching Elodie more than the movie. Elodie yawned a few times, and every time she did, she covered her mouth with one hand, and then she’d place that hand on Madison’s ankle and rub it. A couple of times, Elodie ran her hand up Madison’s pant-covered leg and massaged her calf over it. Madison wasn’t even sure Elodie knew that she was doing it, but she sure did.

  When the movie had ended, Madison left. She had tried her best to fall asleep, but she had just tossed and turned, wondering what this all meant. Elodie was supposed to be her coach, not whatever the woman was turning into. Madison reached for her bow around eight in the morning and made her way to the backyard. She fired off a few shots, but it wasn’t helping, so she stared toward the trees, thought about it for a second, and then took off. As she ran, she reached for her arrow, fired at the first target, and continued. She was determined to beat Elodie’s score, if not her time. She would have to do it again later to prove it to her, most likely, but this wasn’t for Elodie right now. It was for Madison.

  As she ran and fired, she thought of Wiley. She remembered how hard it had been, leaving for college. Wiley had been sick. They didn’t know how long she had back then. Madison had wanted to defer school for the year, but neither her parents nor her girlfriend would let her. Wiley had told her to go. Madison hated doing it. She’d returned home every single weekend so that they could spend time together. When Wiley left her, Madison was lost. She had no idea what to do with her nights after that. They had talked on the phone and on FaceTime every single night, no matter what Madison had going on or how sick Wiley was feeling. On the weekends, Madison would stay in bed with Wiley all day and all night. She had watched her fall apart, and just thinking about that made her sick. Then, she thought about what Wiley had said to her on one of her final days.

  “Baby, don’t be alone. I don’t want that for you. I’m not the one you were supposed to end up with, after all. That can’t be true because I can’t stand the idea of you being alone. Find someone.”

  Madison ran faster because she couldn’t stop herself. She jumped over a tree limb, reached for her arrow, and before she could even fire, she tripped and fell onto the makeshift path. She reached for her ankle immediately, dropping everything else to hold on to it. She just sat there for a minute, letting the pain overtake her, before she finally let out a grunt and stood up. She picked up her stuff and hobbled painfully out of the woods and into the backyard.

  “Fuck!” she yelled to no one because she was alone.

  ◆◆◆

  “Hey, what–” Elodie had a cup of coffee in her hand. When she noticed Madison’s appearance, she added, “Maddie, what happened? Are you okay?”

  “I fell. I fell again.”

  “Fell, doing what?”

  She placed the cup on the ground and rushed toward her.

  “Running the course.”

  “By yourself, without me there in case something–”

  “Yes, I’m an idiot. I get it, okay? I
’m stupid, and klutzy, and some kid who shouldn’t be–”

  “Hey, stop it.” Elodie lifted Madison’s arm over her shoulders. “Let’s get you inside.”

  “Elodie, I’m sorry. I–”

  “It’s probably just a sprain if you were walking on it. It’ll be fine. We’ll get ice on it, okay?”

  “What about–”

  “You’re coming to my place. I’ll get you set up there. No more running that course for a while and never again without me at least right there, Madison. What if something would have happened to you? God, I shouldn’t have asked you to put those up. You fell down the cliff that first day. You–”

  “You’re blaming yourself for me falling in the woods?”

  “Your parents are going to kill me,” Elodie said.

  “Hey.” Madison stopped her hobbling. “I’m okay. Like you said, it’s probably just a sprain. And my parents won’t hate you, El.”

  “Just… come on. Let me get a closer look at it.”

  They made their way into Elodie’s house through the back door into the kitchen and farther into the living room. Elodie deposited Madison onto the sofa and then prepared an ice pack for her. She brought it back, lifted Madison’s leg gingerly to remove her shoe and sock, and placed the ice pack directly on her ankle.

  “I prefer lying here last night with my legs in your lap to a freezing-cold ice pack on top of my foot,” Madison said.

  “Me too,” Elodie said, allowing a small smile to peek through her otherwise focused face. “I’ll get the ibuprofen. Wait here.”

  “Can’t really go anywhere,” Madison said.

  Elodie disappeared down the hall. Madison silently admonished herself. She hadn’t slept well. The only reason she had been even remotely excited about the upcoming day had been because she would be spending it with Elodie. And last night had felt so much like a date, that Madison hadn’t even considered the fact that she would be spending the day with her coach, not a potential love interest. No, potential was wrong. Madison was interested. Madison was very interested. That was why she had started to run in the woods in the first place. Elodie was the first woman she’d been even remotely attracted to since Wiley. Of the few dates she had forced herself to go on, none of those girls – or women, Madison guessed – had anything on Elodie Booker. She had wanted to shake that feeling off. She couldn’t be attracted to her coach. She had been reckless.

  “Here you go. Let’s see if it swells. If it does, I’m taking you to urgent care. Don’t argue, either.” Elodie passed her the pills and a glass of water. “Actually, take those, and let’s just go to urgent care. Now, I’m being stupid. We shouldn’t risk it.”

  “It’s probably fine. The pain is already going away.” Madison took the pills and handed the water back to Elodie.

  “That’s the ice. Can you make it to the car if I help you?”

  “El, it’s–”

  “You really could have gotten hurt out there, Maddie.” Elodie was angry now. Her eyes were big. Her cheeks were red. “What if you would have fallen harder or tripped and smacked your head against something? I was there last time. What if you couldn’t yell for me this time or–”

  Madison removed the ice quickly, stood up, and put all her weight on her good ankle.

  “Hey, I’m okay.” She pulled Elodie into a hug. “El, you didn’t mess up. I did, but I’m okay. It’s just my ankle. It’ll be fine.”

  “Why didn’t you wait for me?” she asked, squeezing Madison tightly and pressing her face into Madison’s neck, making Madison’s heart race.

  “Because I just wanted… I don’t know.”

  Elodie pulled back, looked into her eyes, and asked, “You don’t know?”

  “I needed to do it. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

  “Never again without me?”

  “Okay. Never again,” Madison agreed, knowing Elodie needed that.

  “Urgent care. Come on. Let’s go.”

  “Fine,” Madison agreed reluctantly.

  “And grab that ice. It stays on in the car, and you’re elevating that ankle in the back seat.”

  “Fine,” she agreed again.

  CHAPTER 18

  “Time for more ibuprofen,” Elodie said.

  “El, they said it’s not even a sprain. It already feels better, and it’s not swollen.”

  “They also said to take the anti-inflammatory at least for the rest of today,” she replied, passing Madison the pills. “Come on. For me,” she added softly.

  “For you,” Madison said and took the pills.

  They had spent much of the day on the sofa watching film of the archery greats since Madison wouldn’t be practicing today. The urgent care doctor said she had likely just bruised it, and that Madison should take it easy today, but that she should be fine. Elodie had questioned that doctor’s credentials because taking one day off didn’t sound right to her. When she had seen Madison exit the woods, hobbling, with pain written plainly all over her face, Elodie worried Madison had broken her whole leg. She was happy the X-ray and subsequent exam had ruled that out. Madison said she was feeling much better, and that she’d probably overreacted, but Elodie didn’t want to take any chances.

  “You’ll stay here tonight,” she told Madison as she sat down, pulling Madison’s legs onto her lap as she had done the night before.

  “El, I already feel better. I’m walking better. The pain is practically gone.”

  “I can get to you easier if you’re here and it gets worse.”

  “You literally live next door to where I’m staying.” Madison chuckled. “It can’t get much closer than that.”

  “It can, actually.” Elodie looked away from the TV to Madison. “You can stay in my room. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

  “No way.” Madison sat up quickly.

  “Hey, be careful.” Elodie held onto Madison’s feet to keep them in place.

  “I’m not kicking you out of your own bed because I’m a klutz. I’m okay. I’m not lying to try to get out of taking your bed, either. It’s not a big deal. I think I overreacted initially.” She gave Elodie an expression that told her Madison was being truthful.

  “I’m thinking about ordering a pizza for dinner,” Elodie said.

  “Yeah?” Madison smiled. “I do love pizza.”

  “I’m eating the pizza. You’re eating the salad it comes with.”

  “El, that’s not fair.” Madison stuck out her bottom lip.

  “Don’t puppy-dog me, Madison Fletcher.”

  “But I hurt myself,” she said, sticking the lip out even more.

  “You can’t have it both ways, Maddie. Either you’re fine, and I don’t need to worry, or you’re still in pain, and you’ll stay here tonight.”

  “And I can have pizza?”

  “Salad and one slice.” Elodie held up her index finger. “One.”

  “What do you eat on your pizza?” Madison asked.

  “I’m not picky. You can order whatever you’d eat, and I’d be fine with that.”

  “Banana peppers, pineapple, chicken, and anchovies with extra cheese,” Madison said.

  “What?” Elodie shot her a shocked expression.

  “I’m kidding.” Madison laughed. “Pepperoni is fine.”

  “I thought I’d have to kick you out of my house for a minute,” Elodie teased.

  “I do like all those things; just not on the same pizza.”

  “I can make you a salad with that stuff on it.”

  “What is it with you and salads?” Madison laughed.

  Elodie watched Madison lie back down and turn her head to the TV again.

  “Are you okay?” Elodie asked.

  “I told you, my ankle–”

  “No, I mean with everything else. It’s been a crazy few weeks for you.”

  “It’s been a crazy few years for me,” Madison replied.

  “Wiley?” Elodie asked, hoping she could hide the change in her tone, but Madison looked her way, and it was clea
r that Elodie hadn’t been able to keep the irrational jealousy she had for Madison’s ex-girlfriend out of her voice.

  “I haven’t been talking to her as much as I used to, and… I don’t know. It kind of got to me this morning.”

  “How often do you talk to her?”

  “It used to be multiple times a day, but mostly, when I’d wake up and then before I’d go to sleep. That lasted for about a year. Then, I went on a date, trying to push Wiles to the back of my mind, and it didn’t work. The girl was all wrong for me, and I got angry with Wiles for leaving me because no one else would ever be right. I stopped talking to her every day. That was stupid, and I went back to the daily talks. That’s slowed since to maybe a couple of times a week, but I haven’t even been doing that lately, and it’s an adjustment for me.”

  “A good one or a bad one?” Elodie asked, swallowing hard.

  “A little of both. It was so hard, saying goodbye to her the first time, and it kind of feels like I’ve been trying to do that again. I don’t want to forget her.”

  “You’ll never forget her, Madison.” Elodie rubbed Madison’s bare calf. “She was your first love. You’ll always remember how good that felt.”

  “And how bad when I lost her?”

  “That too.”

  “It’s getting better,” Madison said. “And I think that’s what’s making me feel guilty.”

  “Guilty?”

  “That I’m not thinking about her all the time; not talking to her how I used to. I had two friends at school. You saw Larry at Doyle’s. I’ve only recently gotten somewhat close to him. Then, there’s Candace, but she and I have only really texted since I left campus. I’m not sure we’ll be best friends forever or if we’ll just run into each other at the reunion – assuming I go – and talk about the past ten years of our lives because we haven’t seen each other since. Wiles was the person I talked to because I didn’t have anyone else.”

  “And now?” Elodie asked softly.

  “Now, I have you.”

  Elodie smiled slowly and said, “You do.”

  Madison smiled then and turned her head back to the TV.