“He did, and I don’t mean to brag, but he was impressed. Maybe it’s not nice of me, but I’d like to show off for my girlfriend and for your famous mother.”

Mike swallowed. “That sounds great. I look forward to seeing you, uh, shoot.”

“I look forward to it all,” he said suggestively. “I’ll pick you up at your house.”

Her mind raced. “No!” she said. “I mean, I’ll meet you there, on the grounds. You know where it is, right?”

“It’s not like Mason is a grand metropolis, is it? I’ll find it.” He clicked off.

Mike put the phone down on the dresser top and glared at the corner of her bedroom. Propped near the door, from where she’d left it after practice yesterday, was her sixty-inch Striker Takedown recurve bow. The canvas case next to it had her initials on the leather flap. Inside were her gloves and arm guard. Her quiver, also initialed, was next to them. Outside her window was her big target, and boundaries had been spray painted on the grass. There was no way she could clear up everything before he got there. She grabbed her equipment and put it in her closet. Too bad there wasn’t a lock on the door.

The second summer she’d spent with Vera and Papi was in Bhutan, and she’d tried the national sport of archery. Unlike the other sports and crafts she’d dabbled in over the years, archery stuck. She and Papi often spent long afternoons aiming at various targets, some of them moving.

She’d become rather good at the sport, which Kyle well knew. If he’d seen Hayes shoot and Kyle had still arranged a target, then he must know that Mike’s skill level was better. Damn him! It was just his sense of humor to set up an archery field so Mike would be tempted to show off. In other words, she’d beat Hayes at something he believed he was good at. She could almost see Kyle laughing and exchanging money on a bet.

“Kyle is not going to win,” she told herself. When she got to the archery field and Hayes picked up his bow, she would bat her lashes in admiration and heap him with praise. She didn’t want her day, the whole carnival, ruined by a silly archery contest!

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

When Mike got to the field where the carnival was set up, she had a moment of pride. It had been mostly her and Kelly who’d organized it. Her mom was too tied down with running Heritage Harvests to have time; her dad had his clinic, and Adam had half a dozen teams to coach. The others came up with creative excuses, so it was left to her and Kelly. At least Forey had taken care of the food.