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“Grace, I need your help.”
Grace looks up from her meal. “Hello to you too, Jess.”
Jess tosses her bow down on the table and sits across from her. “It’s about Adora.”
“The deputy?”
“Know any others?”
With a sigh, she sets her fork down and leans on the table. “Alright. What’s up? I’m assuming she’s not hurt or anything? You two are usually inseparable.”
Jess’s cheeks darken with her blush and she tugs her hood up a bit more. “She asks me to go with her, so I go. She’s good with a bow and at killin’ peggies.”
“That the only reason you go?” Grace looks amused. She’s seen the two around each other enough to know what’s up.
“I--” Jess is about to deny it, but that’s exactly what she’s asking Grace about. “Yeah. Yeah, I… I like her, alright?” She’s grumbling. Her voice is low. She’s not about to risk anyone else hearing.
“So what? Need tips? Trying to seduce her?” A grin. “I’m a little out of practice as of late, but I can tell you what I would do.”
Jess makes a disgusted noise. “I don’t need help there. I know how to get in a girl’s pants. And how to invite her into mine.” She shrugs. “It’s not that. It’s…”
Grace waits. She takes a bite of her food and gestures for Jess to go on. When she doesn’t, she raises her eyebrows. “Well?”
“I just… Don’t know if she’s… like us. You know. Into women.” She takes an arrow from her quiver and fiddles with it. “I’ve never been great at spottin’ other women… who are like me.”
Grace has to hold back her laughter. Instead, she follows up. “You mean lesbians?” Her voice stays low. She knows Jess isn’t big on shouting it out.
“I… Yeah.”
“One: there’s no shame in bein’ like us. Anyone tries to tell you there is, threaten them with that bow of yours. Two: I find it funny you’re asking me if Adora, our Adora, Hero of Hope County, is a lesbian.”
Jess scowls. “S’not funny. I ain’t about to embarrass myself askin’ a straight woman out. It’ll make things all sorts of weird.”
“Adora isn’t the type to treat you poorly for it. Her dads raised her better than that, you know as well as I. Probably better than I do.”
“I just… I ain’t great at being able to tell. Not riskin’ it without a second opinion.”
She purses her lips. “Jess, the fact you can’t see that she is exactly like the two of us? Blows my mind.” Grace leans back in her seat. “So that’s my answer. I’ve been around plenty of women and not a single straight one has ever looked at a woman the way Adora does.”
Jess sets the arrow next to her bow and drums her fingers on the table. “You’re sure?”
Grace had expected her meal to be quiet, but if she’s got to answer questions, that’s what she’ll do. “Yeah. She checked out Mary May after we cleared out Fall’s End. And that one hunter, you know, the one with the big dog? Forget her name. Oh, and that gal at the marina? Don’t know her name off the top of my head either, but she’s black, real muscular. Nice arms.”
“You talkin’ about yourself?” Jess deadpans, unamused.
A laugh from the sniper. “No, but I’ve caught her looking at me too. I appreciate you agreeing that I’ve got nice arms.” She flexes to prove the point. “But despite that, she’s never looked at me the way she looks at you.”
That catches Jess off guard. “What… What are you talking about?”
“What do you mean, what am I talking about? Why do you think it’s you who’s with her all the time? More than me, more than Peaches.” She nods towards the bow on the table. “Sure, it helps that you can kill quiet. But there’s more to it than that.”
She’s frowning. “Dunno what you mean. We keep quiet so we can save more people.”
“Then why does she keep you around when she’s just fishing by the water? Or when she takes a few hours off?”
Jess doesn’t really know how to answer. “I… I have her back. I’m always ready for a fight.”
Grace sighs and shakes her head. “Any reason you’re tryin’ to convince yourself she doesn’t like you?”
“... Not used to it. Not with…” She gives a vague gesture to her own face. “Not many gals go for this whole deal.”
“Pssh, she doesn’t care about your scars. You’ve seen her go swimming. She’s got some of her own.”
“Hers aren’t a slash across the face.”
“Well, I bet you she’ll kiss ‘em better for you.” Grace smirks. “And every other one you’ve got.”
Jess tugs her hood down with a jerk to hide her bright red face. “Don’t tease.”
“I’m not. I really do think she’s head over heels for you.” She picks her fork back up and picks at her food. “You don’t get to see it, but when you go down in a fight, she sprints to you. No matter what she has to run through-- peggies, judges, or a field of fire. She gets to you and she gets you back up.”
“She does the same for anyone she fights with.”
“Not the same, but close. She’s a lot calmer and collected when she goes for me or anyone else. You, she always panics a bit. Afraid she won’t get there in time.” Grace shrugs. “I’ve seen you do the same for her.”
Jess frowns and her fidgeting hands go still. “I ain’t gonna be the one people blame if something happens to her. As long as I’m around, I’m not lettin’ anything happen to her. Not again.” She hates it, but her mind is on when the bliss took Adora a couple weeks prior. The hunting parties are after her too, and Jess is scared she won’t be able to stop them. But if they take Adora, she’ll be bringing every single Whitetail with her when she goes to get Adora back.
They can’t have her.
Her fidgeting starts again.
“Where is she now, anyway?”
Jess jerks a thumb behind her. “Down at the lake, fishing like always. I’m not too worried anything will happen here, not with everyone about.”
“Why don’t you head on back to her? But first… I can teach you some sign language that’ll help you out.”
Jess leans forward, ready to watch. “Yeah, alright.” She needs to keep learning if she’s going to be fluent. And it’s easier to learn when Adora isn’t close by, being, well, her distracting self.
“Alright, all you gotta do is point at her,” Grace points at Jess. “Then at yourself.” She points at herself, “And then do this.” She’s got her fingertips pressed to the tip of her thumb with each hand. She keeps her pointer fingers extended up. She brings the two hands together so her fingertips touch but her pointers are still extended. “Now you do it.”
Jess repeats it back.
“Good. Now go sign it to Adora.”
“What’s it mean?”
“You trust me, right? It’s nothing naughty, but it will help you jump start this whole being with Adora deal.”
Jess frowns. “If it’s something wrong or--”
“Just go do it. Even if she’s got her hearing aids in, sign it. She’ll like it more that way.”
She seems uneasy, but Jess stands and picks her bow back up. “I’m coming for you if this embarrasses me. Blamin’ you too, if I need to.”
“Go, Jess. Let me know how it turns out.”