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“Okay. Thanks.” When she had them on the counter by the register, she knocked one of the boxes to the floor with her elbow and then bent to pick it up, but she whacked her forehead on the edge of the counter and yelped, “Ow!” If she hadn’t been so completely out of her comfort zone, it would’ve been funny.

Crane looked at me, shaking his head in exasperation. “Where is Red?”

“Well…” I hesitated. “Red’s across the street at Ace’s House.”

“And why the hell is he over there?”

Devo interrupted, rubbing the sore spot on her head with the heel of her hand, “He’s doin’ my job, and I’m doin’ his. It’s not a big deal.”

Crane looked her up and down. “You the one broke his window?”

She blushed as she rang up Crane’s ammo. I liked the way the pink color made her eyes seem brighter. “Maybe. That’ll be $127.98. Holy crap! For bullets?”

“Yes, little girl. These are premium rounds, then you got your state tax, huntin’ tax, ammo tax. These bullets ain’t no joke.”

She lifted one box and studied it, then dropped it into a plastic bag with the other two. “Yeah, but that much money for these tiny little boxes? That seems extreme.”

“They’d be a lot more anywhere else. Red keeps his prices as low as he can. Oh, and he gives me a veteran discount. Make sure you put that in.” He pointed at the cash register. “Twenty percent.”

Devo looked at me, questioning the discount, and I nodded. I knew for a fact that Red treated his veteran customers really well. He also donated to the Wounded Warrior fund every year, and he gave out coupons for any soldier who attended group meetings at the veteran’s center in Jackson.

“Hm. Well, I can’t say for sure if this is the right solution to that mess, but I also can’t disagree Red might need a push to be kinder sometimes.” He peered down at Devo. “But you won’t be breakin’ any more windows, will ya? That ain’t gonna help your cause.”

She had enough humility to say, “No, sir.”

“That’s good then.” She adjusted his price on the register, and he handed her two one-hundred dollar bills, but before she put them in the drawer, he added, “Don’t you wanna mark those with that pen Red uses? Gotta make sure they’re not counterfeit.”

I tried to help again. “If the mark is yellow or gold, it’s legit. If it’s dark or black, it’s a fake.”

I was standing right there. He better not have given her counterfeit bills. But I knew he hadn’t. Artie Crane was a fair and honest man, if not a little rough around his edges.

“Okay.” Devo searched around the register and found the pen he was talking about. She held it up to look at it in a better light. “Cool.” She popped the cap off and drew a line on each bill. After she’d made sure they weren’t fake, she counted out Crane’s change and dropped a paper receipt into the bag. “Thank you, and you have yourself a nice day.”

Crane laughed and shook his head. “And you do the same.”

“See ya, Crane,” I said, and he waved me off as he left the store with a black Red Wild bag dangling from between two fingers.

As soon as the doors shut behind him, Devo’s eyes narrowed, and she came around the counter toward me. “What was that about?”

“What?”

“Are you not out?”

“I-I’m not in.” I winced. That wasn’t really an explanation. “I think a lot of people know I’m gay, but no one brings it up. And I guess I don’t like to make a show of it, y’know?”

“‘Make a show of it’? What does that mean?”

I thought before I spoke, not that it helped me explain much. “There’s a lot of… well, in my line of work, there are a lot of people who don’t agree with… same-sex… Um, y’know. Lesbianism.” God, I hated that word. “So I keep it to myself. Guess I’m just tryin’ to make things easier for Carey and Frank.”

Devo scoffed under her breath. “Easier for them? Or do you mean for you?”

“Yeah, it makes things easier for me, too, I guess.”

She shook her head, clearly not buying it.

“Look,” I said, “it’s hard enough bein’ a woman in this job. Addin’ gay on top of it, well, that’s just askin’ for trouble.”

Her face fell. “I thought you were braver than that.”