Thanks to my team for everything!

"Do I come off like that a lot? Pissed off?" I ask Edward as we remain seated on the grass next to our belongings. I was enjoying the lighter side of things with him as we walked, and I don't intentionally veer the conversation towards anything serious, but it seems like I've managed to do so anyway.

"I was only joking," Edward answers. "But no. Not pissed off. Maybe a little...hesitant, but not pissed off."

I try to see myself through Edward's eyes, and it's fair to say I have been both a little skittish and forward with my mood swings lately. Maybe he can sense the way one minute he's pulled me in with his perceptiveness, and the next, I'm retreating inside myself again.

At a loss for words, I nod slowly in acceptance. "Hmm."

"There's nothing wrong with that if that's what you're worried about. You're new in town, and I'm almost a stranger."

I laugh through my nose and look down at the grass between my fingers. "That's what I'm trying not to do. Worry. I've spent far too long doing that in my life."

God, I'm fucking tired of worrying.

"I think you've picked a good place then," he says, motioning with his hands around the meadow but also implying the cabin back home. "This was the place I came to forget about things for a while."

I laugh at myself. "Am I that obvious?"

"No," Edward shakes his head. "Though the gun lessons have made me curious. And the haircut."

I run a hand through my hair when he mentions it, still loving the short waves. "What if I'm preparing for a bear attack?"

Edward laughs out loud. "Then you'll be the first one in a good fifty years or so. You'll be a celebrity." He quiets for a moment but then peers beneath the brim of his hat to look at me. His voice is soft when he continues. "But are you okay, though? At least tell me that."

"I'm okay for now," I admit to him, because whenever I'm with him, I'm exactly that. More than okay, but I don't trust it enough to admit it right now. "But not all the time."

He nods, accepting my answer as always and never pushing me to a place where I'm uncomfortable. "Will you tell me when you're not feeling 'okay'?"

He's staring at the ground again, but his eyes find mine when I answer him. "Okay."

"Come on," Edward says, and we walk towards the center of the open meadow. "Close your eyes."

I do what he says but can't let an opportunity to give him a little shit pass me by. "Closing my eyes to shoot on my first lesson?"

He sighs in feigned annoyance. "Can you let me do my thing here?"

I laugh loudly in the open air. "Okay, yes. Sorry," I say, trying to remove the smile from my face.

I find it really hard to do that.

"Are your eyes still closed?" He asks me a few moments later.

"Yes," I breathe.

"I want you to focus on what you hear," he says, coming to stand next to me. He doesn't touch me purposely, but I can feel the sleeves of our hoodies bump against each other. "Tell me."

"The trees moving," I answer. I take a deep breath, my eyes still closed to everything around us. "Light wind. Birds."

"Anything else?"

"No."

"I want you to remember this, Bella. Because if the time comes when you really do need to use the gun, the only thing you'll be hearing in your ears is pure adrenaline."

Hmmm. How does he know that?

See you tomorrow!