Being Emma (17 page)

The president of the state archery league
said a few words to the several hundred eager archers assembled for
the tournament. Of course, he was glad to see them all and wished
them luck. The top three of this event would qualify for the
national tournament. It had been previously determined which
archers were in certain sets with probably thirty per set. Craig
was in the opening set, while Janie was in the second. A whistle
blew twice and the first set was on.

Craig lined up with the other archers on the
shooting line. Down the room across from them stood the regulation
targets set up twenty feet away. Craig’s quiver of arrows hung from
his right hip and he carried his compound bow loosely. He checked
his peep site and the feathers of his arrows. When a whistle blew
once, all the archers took an arrow out of their quivers and nocked
the arrow against the bowstring. Then the archers shot their
arrows. They continued shooting until each archer had shot all six
of his arrows. When everyone was done shooting, the whistle blew
three times, meaning the arrows could be retrieved.

At the targets, other people tallied
individual scores and told the archers what their scores were when
they walked down to retrieve their arrows. The different colored
circles on the targets indicated a certain number of points per
circle. Craig had scored 2 tens, 4 nines or 56/60 points. He was
all right with his score, but Janie thought it was fabulous. He was
shaking his head about his score until he looked over at Janie who
had two thumbs up. He grinned at her and prepared for his next
round.

Craig continued shooting through all his
rounds. He ended with a final score of 347/360, which he didn’t
think would be good enough for elimination. Next up was Janie’s
group. The whistle blew and she walked up to the shooting line.
Craig sat behind her, close enough to see everything she was doing.
He was nervous and wanted her to do well.

Janie was dressed in form fitting exercise
pants with a polo shirt. She had a baseball cap on with her
ponytail through the back part of it. The whistle blew, so she set
up her bow, nocked her arrow and let it fly. She hit the target
dead center. Craig didn’t know which was more beautiful – Janie or
the shot she just hit. She turned back at him briefly with a big
smile on her face. It lit up the room for him. When she finished
the round, she had scored 50/60 points. Not bad, but she’d need to
do better to qualify for tomorrow.

Before the next round, she came over to
him.

“What do you think?” He thought a minute.

“You’re pulling a bit right. Try to correct
it.” Just then he caught sight of Sandy and Bill who had come to
watch them. Craig waved for them to join him as the whistle blew
for the next round. Janie smiled as she headed to the shooting line
and waited for the whistle to blow to start the round. Janie
reached for an arrow from her quiver, nocked it against the
bowstring and let the arrow go. It hit dead center. With her dad,
uncle and best friend watching, Janie hit 3 tens and 3 nines, 57/60
points. They applauded for her and traded comments about her
ability. Craig was proud of her and it showed.

When she finished all her rounds, she went
back to sit with the guys. Her total score for the day was good –
335/360. They sat chatting through one more round with a different
set of archers to wait for the elimination scores to be posted.

“Janie… I’ve never seen you shoot before.
That was incredible…” Sandy gushed. “I’ll have to tell your mother
when I call her.”

Bill agreed. “I knew you were good, I just
didn’t know how good.”

Craig nodded his head in agreement. “She is
that good…”

“Thanks for all the fine words, fellas. We’ll
see if I made the first elimination or not.” She smiled at them
all, but her smile lingered on Craig.

Sandy noticed and thought he might have
something else to tell Lily when he called her tonight.

The first day’s eliminations were announced.
Both Craig and Janie qualified for Saturday’s all day shoot.
Thrilled, they all made plans to meet for dinner and went back to
their rooms to freshen up. Janie was soaking in a hot tub when she
got a call from Diane.

“So… How’d it go?”

“I made it past the first cut.”

“No, silly… I mean with Craig.” Janie
blushed.

“For Pete’s sake, we’re here to shoot.”

“… Okay, if you say so. Could you just please
kiss the guy once, before you come back?” That made her laugh.

“I’ll see what I can do…”

“Have fun and good luck…”

“Bye.” Janie snapped her phone shut and
smiled. Her friend, Diane, was a good friend indeed. Then she got a
call from Craig. She smiled just answering it.

“Yes… May I help you?”

“How’d you know it was me?”

“A little bird told me… And your picture
comes up on my phone.”

“Ha. Have you soaked long enough? Are you
squeaky clean for dinner now?”

“How’d you know I was in the tub?”

“…A little bird told me. And how long have I
known you?” She laughed at that.

“Ready to go in fifteen?”

“Yep. I’ll meet you by the elevator.”

She didn’t know what it was about elevators,
but they kept glancing at each other all the way to the restaurant
floor, where they were to meet Sandy and Bill. When the elevator
stopped, he smiled and grabbed her hand.

“I’m starving. Let’s go eat.” She laughed and
let herself be pulled along.

All during dinner, Sandy would look at both
of them and wonder what they were up to. With her being of age, it
was none of his business, but being her father was a different
story. They seemed happy and chatted about the tournament. Sandy
felt there was more excitement here than the event merited... They
finished eating and left first. Bill looked over at Sandy.

“Has he proposed yet?”

Sandy looked at him in surprise.

“What makes you say that?”

“They just seem so happy together and it’s
about time.”

“… Actually,” Sandy started and then
stopped.

“What?”

“Craig called me sometime last week and asked
me for permission to marry Janie.” Bill’s eyes popped wide.

“… Ah…”

“He said it was just in case he ever got the
opportunity to ask her. He wanted to be prepared.”

“Now that sounds like Craig. Great guy… Hope
you said yes.”

“I said yes to him back when they were six
and ten.”

Upstairs, the elevator ride had made them
both nervous. Craig watched the elevator numbers change and Janie
leaned from one foot to the other… They were heading to separate
rooms, but they were next to each other. In fact, Janie had
discovered that they had adjoining doors into the other’s room.
Hmm…. She thought about that…

“… Well, good night,” Janie said while
unlocking her door.

“… Sleep tight,” he added, unlocking his.

“
Don’t
let the bed bugs bite,” they finished together smiling.
Okay, she thought,
that’s silly. But it’s still so us…
They had said that to each other as
kids.

Janie went into her hotel room and checked
what she had brought to wear to bed. She was finally ready to try
something… Trying to get up her nerve, she thought her nightwear
wasn’t up to it. All she brought was a sleeveless tee shirt with
Alcatraz Island written on it and some loose shorts. Somehow, she
didn’t think it would matter. She went to the bathroom, brushed her
teeth and let her hair down. She brushed it over and over, until it
fell softly down on her shoulders. Janie thought that might do the
trick. Then she walked over to the adjoining door, took a deep
breath, and knocked softly on it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Craig looked surprised as he opened the door.
He was wearing only loose sweats and his curly brown hair was damp
from the shower. She walked into his room.

“… Um… Janie, this is my room. Yours is over
there.”

“Really?” She looked around his room and then
walked up to him.

“Is that all you have to say?” She fluttered
her eyelashes at him and he laughed. Craig tilted his head to look
at her.

“… You look very… Um… Are you trying to
seduce me?”

“Yes... Am I having any luck?”

He looked deeply into her eyes and sighed.
“You seduce me every time I see you and many times when I don’t…
Janie…” She took a step closer. He reached out to caress her cheek.
The time had come, so he took a very deep breath and said it.

“You must know I love you… I desperately need
to know how you feel about me.” She leaned into his hand and then
kissed it. His soft eyes took her in.

“You ninny… I’ve loved you all my life. Where
have you been?”

“Waiting for you, sweetheart. Just waiting
for you…”

He kissed her then. Oh… That had been forever
coming… He enclosed her in his arms and held on tightly as the kiss
deepened. Janie had never been kissed like this in her life and
clung to him as they were swept away. Too soon, she pulled back a
little.

“No… Don’t go.” She smiled against his
lips.

“I just want to see your face.” He looked at
her with tenderness and love.

“Just what I thought – the Carter face.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Just kiss me… “ He smiled at how
cute she was.

“Yes, ma’am…”

Her hands slid up his face and she kissed his
nose and cheeks. His closed eyes and parted lips gave away his
depth of feeling. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he
pulled her closer. Kissing her in his arms was the best thing that
had ever happened to Craig and he was going to enjoy it. Gently, he
disentangled her arms and led her by the hand to his bed.

“Are you ready for this, sweetheart?”

She breathed hard… “Yes…” Craig lifted her
tee shirt over her head and threw it somewhere. He gazed at her
lovingly as he tugged her shorts down around her feet. He also
tossed them away. She watched his every move…

“I’d like to find those clothes again, you
know,” she laughed.

“Why? You’re not going to need them on this
trip…” He gave her a long look, but she wasn’t a bit embarrassed at
her nakedness. After all, this was Craig…

He thought she might be nervous, as he laid
her on the bed and got in beside her. It was probably new to her,
but she responded to him with complete confidence. Craig covered
them with the comforter and thought briefly of how many times he
wished he were in this exact situation. Then thinking was just too
hard…

She demanded more from him and he was there
to please. Craig began kissing her everywhere. Some places tickled
and caused her to laugh. Every time she giggled, he would come back
to her pretty face and kiss her lips until she begged for air. It
was quite a routine until he demanded more. He moved her hands to
caress his erection and then put it between her legs. He teased her
again and again, until she finally insisted on more. Janie loved
being in charge, but not this time… This time she let Craig take
his sweet time making love to her. And it was wonderful… she obeyed
him like a woman in a trance. Maybe she hadn’t consciously known,
but somehow she always knew that Craig would be her love and lover
for life. There couldn’t be anyone else…

With his
hands roaming freely over her body, she gave in to all sensations
that his touch created.
Is this what all the shouting’s about? Well, no
wonder
… She was glad
she’d held out for love. Watching her rise and fall, Craig was a
happy man. There would never be anyone for him but Janie. Making
love with her was the icing on the proverbial cake. Coming down
from that high, Janie snuggled into the crook of his arm and
promptly fell asleep. He smiled, kissed the top of her head and
pulled the covers over her. Craig felt he could have died right
then and there… Life probably wasn’t going to get any better than
this. Glancing at the clock, it was high time they got some sleep.
Early day tomorrow… Drifting off, his last conscious thoughts were
of Janie, wrapped in his arms, lightly snoring. He grinned thinking
he’d have to kid her about that in the morning…

But they didn’t quite make it to the
morning…Craig had fallen into a deep, contented sleep and rousing
him was difficult. Janie managed… He finally rose to consciousness
awakened by warm movement on his chest. When he opened his eyes,
his arms were still wrapped around her and she was kissing all over
his chest and shoulders.

“… So you don’t want to sleep tonight, I take
it,” he said sleepily with eyes half closed. She grinned and began
kissing all over his face and neck. When she came to his lips, he
was smiling.

“…Ah…No. Do you mind?”

“
I love
you, Janie…” She laughed and he flipped her over, so he was on top.
“My turn…” And this time, they made love to each other. Afterwards,
Janie again snuggled happily into his side and wrapped herself
around his torso.
I better get used to this… She’s a snuggler.
She was asleep again before he
could say ‘boo’. He didn’t think he could love her any more than he
already did, but he was wrong.

* * *

They were nearly late to the shoot the next
morning. Craig’s internal alarm had been shut off, thanks to
Janie’s visit last night and her subsequent sleepover. Craig
groggily glanced at the clock and had flown out of bed, effectively
making Janie move as fast. No time for breakfast, but they arrived
at the archery range just in time for the first round of archers.
Janie was chosen in the first round, while Craig was in the second.
There were less than half as many archers today, since so many had
been eliminated. And only ten of the archers shooting today would
make it to the final round.