Tom's interview

Kara lead me out to the back patio where Kyle greeted me almost as happily as Kara. "Hey!"

"Hey, big man!" I slap him five, I always used to ask Santa for a little brother. "Hi." I waved at Erin and Kara's dad, Joe. "Thanks for letting me come over, Mr.Doe."

He nodded, "Sorry I think I forgot to get chips."

"It's fine," Kara told him.

"It's just not the same without chips, you know that. Why don't you and Erin run to the store real quick? Take Kyle with you." He's not very subtle.

"You don't really need three-" Kara started to say but Erin cut her off.

"It'll be fine. We'll go." She dragged Kara into the house whispering to her, "You knew this was coming."

Kyle pushed himself away from the table chasing after his sisters shouting, "Can we get ice cream too?"

And just like that, I was alone with Joe and some strange man. The strange man stood over Joe with his arms crossed trying to give the impression he had more muscles than he really had. "So." Joe started, "Tom. Is that short for Thomas?"

"Yes, sir." The strange man huffed. I think he was trying to play the bad cop in this scenario.

"Let's go for a ride."

I was **** to sit between Joe and this strange man I never met before. No one spoke the entire ride. We didn't even listen to the radio. Just the sound of the shocks squeaking as we went over bumps and potholes. I'm not going to lie, when we turned off on the dirt road into the woods I got a little nervous. Even more so when he pulled out a rifle out of the back after we stopped.

"You hunt?"

He shrugged, "We like it out here. No range fees."

"And no one around to bother us for miles." The Mason guy spoke as he pulled a rifle out of a bag.

"Come on." He nodded towards a beaten path they probably made themselves over the years. "Tell me, how'd you two meet?"

"Kara didn't tell you?"

He stopped and turned to me still clutching the gun with both hands against his chest. "I'm asking you."

"At a party."

"Were you drinking?"

"One beer." He turned and we continued walking.

"And how many did she have?"

He already knew since I had to drive her home, he's just testing my honesty, "I only saw her have two but I don't know how many before that. Too many I guess since I had to drive her home."

"So you drank then drove her home?" The strange man growled, does he think that's what the bad cop does? Personally, I think the .308 was enough. "Mason, go get us some beers." The strange man Mason kept his scowl and with his added confusion he just looked stupid now. "

"It had been over an hour since my one and only beer that night."

"Tell me, Thomas, are you gay?" I see now why he sent Mason away.

"No, sir."

"It's my understanding you met Kara before she even began transitioning."

"I'm actually bisexual. I thought she was handsome before and now she's just beautiful."

"You don't find it strange?"

Is that how he felt or was he just trying to see my reaction? Get a rise out of me? "No."

"Bisexual huh, so have you dated men in the past?"

"I have."

"And had sex?" His cold stare dared me to lie or be honest, either way, he was going to hang me for it.

"I did. But we always used protection. I've been checked so I know I'm clean. My mom insisted because she thought I'd get aids."

"So she knows."

"She does, she doesn't really understand it but she's better than she used to be."

"How'd she used to be?" I could swear he almost sounded concerned.

"She used to tell me I was going to hell if I didn't change."

"And now?"

"She doesn't."

"Because of Kara."

"That helps but she hasn't said anything like that in a year or two."

"What about your father?"

I knew this question was coming, it always does eventually. "He left."

"Why?" I tried to keep my face blank and my voice even. I can't show the anger, not to him.

"My mom threw him out for beating me when I came out." He simply nodded, frankly I was tired of hearing people say they were sorry.

"What do you think she'll say when Kara moves back in?"

'When'? "If she does she'll probably be happy. She doesn't care for houseguests." He caught my emphasis of 'if'.

"And what about you?"He pushed a branch out of his way and we stepped into a clearing.

"I love having her but I know she misses her family and I won't stand in her way."

"Mason and I set up some targets out here couple years back." He pushed the gun into my hands. "See if you can hit one." I scanned the tree line for something resembling a target. "See if you can find one." He said after a minute of not finding anything. I finally find a deer that wouldn't budge and settled on him. "Have you two had sex?" Again he asked a question he already should have known the answer too. Did he not trust Kara? Maybe he's wondering what other secrets she's kept from him.

"We haven't." I fired a shot barely grazing the plastic buck's back.

"Why not?" Mason finally walked up chugging on what I'd guess isn't his first beer of the hour as he threw Joe one.

"She's not ready and I respect that." Mason handed me a beer with a scowl.

Joe cracked open his beer with one hand as he took the gun from me. "See that you do." Joe took up his own beer and waited for me to do the same. I raised the bottle and he clinked our bottles together never taking his eyes off of me as I took a drink. "Tell me, man to man, how much does she drink?" His voice was different now, not the same cold and sharp steel of a man set to **** someone, but a concerned father worried about his daughter.

"Besides the club incident, she hasn't had a drink in months." If what she and Erin have told me that's not something she was want to do. I think she's scared something bad will happen again. I didn't tell him that I worried about her too. All I did was worry about her. But she can't know that.

Joe took a shot hitting the deer in the chest followed by Mason hitting it in the neck. "Take another shot." Joe pushed the gun to me. I found the deer again and tried to steady my aim. I did what I always did and silenced the my worries and prioritized. Take aim. Keep both eyes open or one? Steady my breathing. Brace for the kick. Squeeze the trigger don't pull. The hole blew open in the closest thing a deer has to a shoulder but not the chest and not the target. Better than a graze at least.

Joe and Mason didn't seem impressed but considering their shots were more consistent than mine. I think I hit the plastic deer four out of ten times. About a half dozen shots later I felt like the interview was over and I was no longer being examined as a prospect for his daughter but weighed and measured against themselves as men. I believe whatever test they had for me was over now and it was just three men shooting in the woods at a fake plastic deer in the woods.