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arrow only moved about eight inches. Evan was doubled over with
laughter. Even Jackson covered his mouth with the back of his hand.
I gritted my teeth and let the arrow drop for a moment. “Let me try
again.”
    “Here, I’ll help,” Tanner said. His
smile was soft, but a little crooked. I could tell he was trying
not to laugh as well. I felt like a huge wimp.
    Tanner stepped behind me this time and
brought his hands up to my shoulders. I had not noticed how much
taller than me Tanner was until he looked down at me over my
shoulder. Now I felt like a midget too.
    “ Bring your elbow up, like
this.” He pushed my elbow up a little higher and covered my hand
that was holding the bow with his own. Bringing his other arm
around me, his hand tightened around my fingers and the end of the
arrow. “Now pull it back towards your ear.”
    I pulled as hard as I could. The arrow
moved a little further than before, and then Tanner took over,
pulling the string taught and holding it. “Do you have the
bull’s-eye sighted?” he asked.
    I tried to concentrate on the
bull’s-eye instead of Tanner’s closeness, but that was easier said
than done. After inching the bow slightly to the left, the black
circle came in line with the riser. “Yeah, I have it
now.”
    “When I say ‘now’, let go.”
    “Okay.”
    “Now.”
    I released my grip and watched the
arrow slide past my hand. It veered from where I had intended it to
fly, sliding past the target and into the tall grass, but I was at
least pleased to see how far it had gone. Evan hooted at my miss.
Jackson pushed him to the ground, but looked glad he had moved
behind me.
    “That was good for a first try,” Tanner
said.
    “I couldn’t even pull the arrow back
far enough,” I said. I handed the bow back to Tanner. “Thanks for
the help. It probably wouldn’t have gone ten feet without your
help.”
    “Did you like it?” he asked.
    I smiled. I doubted I would ever be
able to draw the arrow on my own, but watching it fly away had been
breathtaking. Having Tanner as a teacher wasn’t too bad either.
Knowing that my mom would kill me for doing something so dangerous,
as I was sure she would see it, only added to my smile. “It was
neat. Thanks for letting me try.” Tanner’s smile brightened. I
turned away from him, heading deeper into the meadow.
    “Where are you going?” he asked
catching up to me in a few short steps.
    “You want your arrow back don’t you?” I
asked.
    Together we searched through the tall
grasses for the misguided arrow. Tanner was, of course, the one to
spot the bright red fletching. It had stuck in the dirt just
outside the line of trees surrounding the meadow.
    “Sorry.”
    “No problem.” Tanner wiped the dirt off
the arrow head on his pant leg before returning it to the quiver
tied around his waist. “Hey, a bunch of us are getting together at
the beach on Saturday.”
    “Oh yeah,” I said, “for the
bonfire.”
    Tanner cocked an eyebrow. “You’ve
already heard about that? I thought you’d only been here a few
days.”
    I grinned. “You country kids must be
hard up for company. It was practically the first thing out of that
girl’s mouth at the grocery store. I think her name was Anne or
Amy.”
    “Dani,” Tanner corrected. “I should
have guessed it was her. She usually meets the new arrivals first.
Everybody needs to restock the fridge after moving in, I
guess.”
    I smiled again. “Yeah, I guess
so.”
    “So are you going to come?” Tanner
asked. “I could give you a ride if you want.”
    “I don’t know, Dani seemed willing to
show how to get there, too,” I teased.
    “She doesn’t even give me a chance,”
Tanner said. The breeze flipped a stray piece of hair into my eyes
and Tanner reached up to brush it away. His fingertips brushed
against my forehead and I literally felt my skin tingle. Tanner
looked at his fingers and quickly dropped them, his cheeks turning
a shade pinker than before.
    My earlier