Chapter 213: Dinner Was Not Going to Shoot Itself

DOVE’S POV

The expensive part, according to the mechanic, might be a cracked fuel line. The expensive part, according to Dove, was the word might.

She stood outside the campground’s rear shed while the man moved the generator onto a clear patch of concrete. Edrik crouched beside it, watching without pretending his new interest in machines had made him an expert overnight. Thorne kept the store door from swinging into the work area.

"Can you fix it before tomorrow?" Dove asked.

"If that’s the only fault. I’ll run it with a load before anyone pays me."

She liked that answer. "Then please continue being my favorite stranger."

The keeper’s nephew arrived with the moving truck while the keeper’s younger brother opened the cabins for travelers. The nephew would take the unsold store goods away that afternoon; the brother would stay. Dove paid for a cabin, then found Cal beside the passenger truck.

She asked about another night before assuming everyone wanted one. Two passengers were happy to stay; the others had already arranged places on the nephew’s returning truck. Cal checked the road report and agreed to leave the following morning, with the cost of the delay settled from the goods she had earned.

"Anything else?" Cal asked.

She glanced toward the wooded slope beyond the cabins. "Is there anywhere people still hunt around here?"

"Ask the brother staying behind. Don’t shoot his chickens."

"That seems a very personal warning."

"It became personal yesterday."

Edrik found her laughing and immediately wanted to know why. She explained, then told him she wanted the lesson they had discussed on the road.

His attention sharpened. "Now?"

"Unless you think the rabbit requires an appointment."

"I think you need a rifle you can handle and someone who knows where the property ends."

The keeper’s younger brother was staying to run the cabins. He fetched a small hunting rifle, checked Edrik knew it, then offered Dove the rifle butt first.

"Could teach you myself. Got a cabin with a better bed, too."

"I asked about hunting," she said. "Your mattress can remain a mystery."

"Just being friendly." He kept smiling at her instead of naming a price.

Edrik set their barter goods on the counter. "Then be friendly from there."

They settled a loan and a handful of cartridges. The brother pointed out the permitted scrubland, still suggesting she visit again when the big fellows were busy. Dove handed his offered snack gift back. "I said no. Keep up." The path went behind the last cabin and away from the lake fence. Thorne walked it first while Dove checked the borrowed weapon with Edrik.

He made her name the safe direction, check the chamber, and repeat what she would do before handing it to anyone.

"I’m not going to kiss you into skipping this part," she told him.

"I would still enjoy the attempt."

"You’d enjoy me reading a grocery list if I sat on your lap."

"You understand me beautifully."

She tried not to smile and failed. He caught it, looking entirely too pleased, then returned to the lesson without making her feel foolish.

At the edge of the scrubland, Thorne pointed out a disturbed patch of soil and a low opening beneath a bush. Dove crouched beside him. The ground smelled warm and damp under the dry top layer. Mosquitoes whined near her ear, and she slapped one with more anger than it probably deserved.

"Can Sprout sell something that makes insects hate me?" she thought.

"You may select a relevant category on a future stock day."

"I’m being eaten today."

"Your scarf is in the outside pocket."

"And your exercise task is thirty active minutes," Sprout added. "Thirty-five normal coins. No requirement to kill dinner."

"You could have led with the part where you pay me."

"You could have asked before the mosquito."

She wrapped the scarf over her neck and kept moving, privately delighted that this time the reward was attached to something she already wanted.

The first rabbit appeared beside a fallen branch. Dove raised the rifle slowly, then saw movement farther behind it: the keeper’s brother walking the far fence with a bucket.

She lowered the barrel.

"Not that one," she whispered.

Edrik’s hand briefly rested against her back. "Good choice."

She watched the rabbit vanish and felt the disappointment anyway. Doing the right thing did not make her stop wanting dinner.

They moved farther along the permitted ground. This time, when a rabbit paused near a dirt bank with a clear backdrop, she took the shot and missed. The sound startled birds from a tree. Her shoulder stung, and she lowered the rifle with her mouth pressed tight.

Thorne stayed beside her while Edrik checked the weapon and asked what she had done just before firing.

"I rushed it."

"You lifted your head. You wanted to see whether you hit it before you’d finished shooting."

"Apparently I like spoilers."

He smiled, then showed her the movement again. She practiced without firing until her shoulder settled and her breath slowed.

On the next clear chance, she waited.

The rabbit fell. Dove stared at the place it had been standing, then looked at Edrik as if he might announce there had been a mistake.

He was smiling at her, openly proud.

"You corrected it," he said. "That was yours."

Her throat felt unexpectedly tight. She had wanted to be useful, but she had also wanted to be good at something that frightened her. There was a difference, and she did not have to explain it for him to understand.

"Don’t make that face," she said, checking the rifle as he had taught her. "I’ll get unbearable."

"You’re late for that."

Thorne laughed, and she elbowed him carefully with her free arm.

Cleaning the rabbit was much less rewarding. Dove watched the first part, turned away, then made herself come back with the water and cloths they needed. She could learn without enjoying every bloody detail.

"I prefer dinner after it stops looking at me," she informed them.

"We’ll keep that in mind," Thorne said.

Back at the campground, they returned the rifle and unused cartridges. The brother checked it before taking it inside. Dove helped wash vegetables and measured rice while Thorne handled the meat over the outdoor grill. Edrik found the seasoning packet she had saved and passed it to her without comment.

The rabbit tasted much better than she expected.

"All right," she admitted. "I was rude about dinner, and dinner has proved a point."

The mechanic came around the shed wiping his hands. "Found your problem. Split line, blocked fitting. I’ve replaced both. Tomorrow we find out whether it works when it’s actually doing something."

Dove looked toward the generator, then at the cabin waiting behind her husbands.

Sprout credited the thirty-five coins while Dove reached for more rice. She had learned something, fed them, and earned enough to put toward another comfort. She intended to keep the feeling.

Across the yard, the loud supplier offered her his little gift again.

"No," she called, louder this time.

He put it away, but his eyes followed Thorne when he took their cabin key from his pocket.