Chapter 21 Caitlin
TWENTY-ONE
CAITLIN
“Maybe this was a bad idea—we should just go,” I said for the third time as Fiona dragged me to the entrance to Buckman’s, a ridiculously popular burger and ax throwing place.
“Nothing doing. You need to get out and blow off some steam and I’m here to make sure you do it,” Fiona said.
“We all are,” Aurora added. “Seriously, this place needs to set up women-only nights. You have no idea how satisfying it was to throw axes while I was pregnant.”
I smirked at that. While I hadn’t been in communication with Aurora while she was pregnant, I could definitely imagine her taking out her frustrations on a target.
We walked inside and Aurora waved her hand at the hostess. “Jen, tell her how great this place is when hormones are raging.” The woman definitely looked pregnant, but I had no idea how far along she was and couldn’t begin to guess.
“Oh, absolutely. And…” She leaned closer, as if she was about to tell us a secret. “I have actually taped photos of he-who-shall-not-be-named to the center of the target to use as incentive.”
I choked out a laugh, shaking my head at how she was referring to her husband. “Does he know?”
“Absolutely. I make sure to leave them up for Roger to find in the morning. He said that he always checks the amount of damage to the photos before talking to me, so he knows how to behave,” Jen said, laughing.
She and her husband, Roger Buckman, owned the place.
“I’ll take you to your table, the others are already here. ”
We followed her to a long table where Sofia, Amy, Zoe, and Shannon were waiting. “You made it!” Zoe said and I grinned at her enthusiasm.
“Oh, she tried to get out of it,” Fiona declared. “Although she wasn’t as hard to convince as that time Shannon and I dragged you to the Squeaky Wheel. Come on, let’s get drinks. What’s everyone having?”
I joined them, once again surprised at how friendly everyone was to me. As Jen went around the table taking everyone’s order, I was contemplating the biggest margarita they had but when she got to me, it suddenly didn’t sound good.
“What can I get you, hun?” Jen asked.
Momentary panic set in and I couldn’t decide what to order. “This is going to sound weird, but can I have a virgin daiquiri and an order of loaded potato skins?”
“Not weird at all. Do you want the sour cream dipping sauce to go with it?”
“Definitely.”
With our orders placed, we decided to play our first round. Turned out that Amy had been on a tournament team in college and was currently the reigning champ around here. She’d even brought her own axes, in a wood box with handles. She was the one to help me get started.
“Okay, you want to stand comfortably on both feet—behind the foul line—and keep your weight evenly distributed,” she started. Then Amy demonstrated how to hold the ax and how to step. “Some people prefer one hand, but for me, I have better control when I use both hands. Ready?”
At my nod, she threw her ax and I watched it rotate before it hit the target in the bull’s eye. “Whoa. That’s amazing.”
Amy grinned and retrieved her ax. “Your turn.” She demonstrated the stance and threw again, and then stepped behind me.
I followed her instructions, lifted my arms, took a deep breath, and let the ax go. It flew across the room, rotating end over end and embedded in the target just below where hers landed. I stared at it in shock.
“No way that was your first time,” Fiona said, standing outside the throwing cage with her hands on her hips. “That is so not beginner’s luck.”
I stared at the ax and then burst out laughing. “It’s definitely beginner’s luck,” I declared.
“Do you want to try again?” Amy asked and I was already nodding my head. Amy pulled the ax out of the target and brought it to me.
This time, she didn’t help me. I assumed the position and lifted the ax over my head, careful to hold it the way she showed me. I took in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and threw the ax.
It sailed across the open area and embedded in the bull’s eye. A cheer went up from the women followed by congratulations.
Our food and drinks were delivered and we sat down to eat. We ended up putting all the appetizers in the middle of the table for everyone to try. The two favorite dishes were the deep friend macaroni and cheese and the potato skins.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but give me a greasy, carb-heavy meal and I’m in heaven,” Sofia said and we all agreed.
I was pretty sure Aurora was taking notes and I would be loath to admit that some of the apps tasted better than what Marc made.
Granted, Bite and Brew generally offered much better food and many of the customers who came through their door didn’t fit Buckman’s demographic.
I grinned trying to picture Mitch and Charles here.
We spent the evening alternating between throwing axes and eating way too much food. At one point, some of the hands who worked over at Black Hat were seated at the table next to us, leaving Shannon seething where she sat. I leaned over to Zoe, who was sitting next to me, to ask what was going on.
“The woman who owns the ranch is a rival. Well, not really, but she has a huge grudge with Shannon and I can’t figure out why. They breed different horses and have different clients, but Becca can be a real bitch and she just makes Shannon furious,” Zoe said.
“Whatever we’re planning, I’ll drive,” Fiona said, giving her sister a hug.
“Whatever you’re planning, you better not,” Sofia said waggling her finger at Fiona. “Do not make me have to lecture my friends on why crime doesn’t pay.”
I laughed when I saw Fiona’s attempt at an innocent expression. “I swear by my pretty floral bonnet that I would never do something like that,” Fiona said blinking her eyes slowly.
“That’s not how the quote goes,” Sofia said.
“Well, if I recited the actual quote, pretty sure you’d be pulling those handcuffs of yours out. Not that that’s a bad thing, but I’m just not into you in that way,” Fiona said making everyone laugh.
The guys from Black Hat were loud and boisterous and for a little while, there was a not-so-subtle attempt to out noise them, but the enthusiasm was waning fast, so we decided to call it an evening.
We all had to be up early anyway, so we paid our tab and left, all of us confirm that we wanted to come here again before I returned to Austin.
I followed Fiona to her car since she was giving me a ride home. I had to admit that I had a great time tonight. I was sure there were ax throwing places in Austin, but I’d never bothered to look. But I also didn’t have a large enough circle of friends there to make going there fun.
When I first arrived here in town, if anyone said that I would like living in Poplar Springs, I’d have told them they were crazy. But with the exception of my mother and her friends, this small town that I grew up in was proving to be what I needed right now and I had no idea how to react to that.
Now if only I could get Brian to relax his need to tightly control everything and spend more time with me, living here would be pretty close to perfect.