The range is on a quiet road about five miles from the apartment. Not surprisingly at three o'clock on Christmas Day, the parking lot is empty. Raylan unlocks the door and punches in the security code. It takes the old florescent lights in the entry a few minutes to come on. Once they do, Raylan's all business. He walks over to a long table and opens the case.
"Show me how you load it."
"We already did this three times back at the apartment."
"Show me again."
The gun is easier to handle than the other one she practiced with. She goes through the steps Raylan showed her again while he looks on. "There." She says, making sure the safety is on before she hands it to him.
"Good." He takes the gun and empties it. "One more time."
"Oh for God's sake, Raylan!" He's ticked her off so this time she does it twice as quickly as before. He nods and smiles but she forgets to put the safety on and has to listen to his speech about how to treat the gun as if it's always loaded and never point it at something you don't intend to shoot.
"I'm about to shoot you."
He smirks at her. "Nice. Let's try some targets instead. You can pretend they're anyone you'd like."
Winona would have taken the first spot, but he keeps walking and she follows him down the aisle until he finds the row he prefers.
"You use this one everytime you're here, don't you?"
"Yeah, so?"
She laughs and kisses his cheek. "You're so predictable." She watches his face as he files that observation away.
He gives her the pair of ear protectors he brought and pulls another pair off the hook on the wall.
"Don't put 'em on yet. When you do, this little knob here lets you hear me, okay? You remember your stance?"
She does, but decides it would be more fun to have him show her. "I'm not sure. Like this?" She stands in front of him, deliberately keeping her legs too close together.
"No, you gotta spread your legs more, balance your weight."
"I love it when you say that." She looks back over her shoulder at him. "The first part, anyway."
"Funny. You're real funny." He slips the ear protectors on and motions for her to do the same. "But keep it so you can hear me."
He slips his arms around her from behind, lining his up with hers, steadying her grip. "Okay, now, you ready?"
She nods her head, but then wriggles her backside against him, just to feel his involuntary response.
He backs away and rips off the ear protection. "Come on, Winona. Are you gonna be serious or screw around?"
"Sorry," she says, but the giggle that escapes at the end makes the apology seem less than sincere. When she looks at him though, he really seems irritated, so she apologizes again. "I'm sorry. Really. I'll behave."
He takes a step closer, leans down and kisses her, then moves his lips to the curve of her jaw, her throat and finally her ear. "Pay attention now and when we get home, you can screw with me all you want," he murmurs.
"Promise?"
"Promise," he says. "Now look at the target and aim at center mass...that's the middle of the target."
"Center means middle. I think I've got that."
There's an exasperated sigh and he's back in teacher-mode. "When you squeeze the trigger use steady pressure. If you jerk it, it'll throw your aim off."
"Okay."
"When you start pulling the trigger, just keep pulling it steady until the gun goes off." He reaches up and turns the knob off and the only sound she can hear is her own heartbeat pounding in her ears.
He's still behind her with his arms steadying hers, but it's her finger on the trigger. She stares at the target and slowly puts pressure on the trigger. When the gun goes off, it startles her and she jerks back against him.
"You closed your eyes."
"I didn't."
"Yeah, you did. That's okay, lots of people do that at first."
"Did I hit the target?"
"Not exactly." He laughs. "It's alright, it just takes practice. Try to time firing with your breathing. Take a breath, exhale half of breath, then fire a round."
They do it over and over again, stopping to reload four or five times. She loses count of how many shots she's taken. She's stopped closing her eyes, evidently, because there are actually a few holes in the target. Raylan has backed away and watched her from both sides and the back. This time when she raises the gun, her arm shakes and she sees him motion to her.
"That's enough for today, I think. You're gettin' tired. I'll fire a few and then we can go home."
He shoots quite a bit more than she would call 'a few' but she enjoys watching him. He's completely absorbed in what he's doing and the holes that appear in his target are dead center.
"How long have you been shooting?" He's finished and they're putting things away. He reminds her to check to make sure the gun is empty and she does, twice, fitting it into the case and latching the lid.
He shrugs at her question. "We always had shotguns. I used to shoot tin cans and squirrels when I was a kid. Everyone went huntin', too."
"Who taught you to shoot? Arlo?" She wonders if there might be one or two pleasant memories of times with his father.
Raylan closes his own case and slaps the hat back on his head. "He probably showed me the first time, I don't remember. He wasn't patient enough to be very good at it. Helen's a better shot. That's rifles, though, everyone has a rifle in Harlan. More'n likely two or three. I didn't shoot a pistol till I was in high school. Johnny Crowder had one, took it off some kid in a fight. Didn't your Daddy hunt?"
She shakes her head. "He wouldn't have a gun in the house. He said they were dangerous."
Raylan gives a dismissive snort. "Guns aren't a problem if people know how to use them."
"Unless they use them to hurt someone." She holds the door open as he punches in the security code.
"Listen, that's more about the person than the gun. If someone wants to hurt someone, even in the heat of the moment, they'll find a way to do it. There are plenty of weapons in any home; knives, hammers, lamps, electrical cords..." He must notice the look on her face because he curtails his list and swings an arm around her, pulling her close. "I want you to learn how to use a gun properly because it'll make you safer, okay?"
"Okay."
He opens the car door for her and she slides in. He stashes the guns in the trunk and slips behind the wheel, turning to look at her. "So it wasn't an awful Christmas present?"
"No, it was kinda fun."
He looks at her skeptically. "Really?"
"I liked watching you shoot your gun," she says looking up at him. "It was kinda sexy."
"Just kinda? Gee, and I brought you here thinkin' that might improve my chances of gettin' laid."
"Cowboy, the only way you could improve your chances of gettin' laid at this point is to shoot naked."
He laughs out loud.