Right Back On

Twenty-Three

Wyatt and I danced the night away, periodically running out to check on Blake. She was having a blast, harassing the Starton cowboys. I'd seen most of them around but never bothered to strike up a conversation. Until mid July of this year, I wasn't really a part of the western crowd. Blake, however, seemed to know everyone, even though she didn't grow up in the area.

I stayed at her house that night, but oddly enough, didn't run into Kellan. He'd been busy with work all week so I figured he was tired. Wyatt offered to run me out to my place since he was heading to his grandparent's anyway, but I declined. Time at the Dace home was always enjoyable.

I headed out their door at seven on Saturday morning, Blake in tow. Kellan was still dead asleep but his family made no effort to keep quiet.

She shoveled out my stall while I walked my steer to the watering trough. I was just pouring grain into my black feed tub when Blake began laughing from her reclined position in a camping chair, boots on my show box.

"I still can't believe you punched Wyatt!"

"Well, I punched Kellan, too."

"Yeah, but that's different," she declared, toying with the brim of the same felt hat she'd worn the night before. "He was acting like a dick. That reminds me, why in the hell do you put up with his shit? He's seriously been an ass since the day you met him."

I shrugged. "He can be sweet. I really liked him, for a while there."

"But you don't now."

I sighed. "I don't really know."

"Well, you're gonna have to make up your mind one of these days," she stated.

"Just like you have to make up your mind about where to go to school?" I deadpanned. I'd heard Mark and Callie discussing it earlier that morning and put the pieces together.

Blake sighed and avoided my gaze. "Yeah, I guess I do. School starts, what, Monday?"

I nodded slowly, not sure of where she was going with this.

"So I still have two days," she laughed, folding her arms behind her head.

"Nothing like waiting until the last minute. How come you're having such a hard time deciding anyway? I thought you hated school down south."

She sighed again. "Yeah, I do. Well, did, I guess. Anyway, if I choose to go to school up here that means I'll be away from home all the time. I was excited to come up here for the summer, don't get me wrong, but at the time I figured it'd just be the summer. Never really bothered to think about the future, hence the reason I haven't decided yet."

I nodded, understanding it now. When my mom was around, I liked staying with Tommy better than anything. At the same time, I missed my dad, too. We weren't overly close, but I obviously got along with him better than my mother. For me, being away from Charlie was the hardest part. The summer without him had gotten me somewhat used to handling things on my own. That was the only reason I wasn't a sobbing mess then and there, with him moving to college and all.

"Flip a coin."

"What?"

"Flip a coin on it. Heads, you stay here. Tails, back with your parents."

"I don't have a coin on me. Do you?"

I shook my head with a laugh. "Nope."

"Then I guess we'll have to do it later. For now, we should probably be getting you ready to show. Otherwise you'll have to fight people for a wash rack and get soaked," she chuckled, watching my steer flip his empty feed pan over and rest his chin on it.