Big Girl Boots

Sixteen

"Kellan," I hissed, poking my head through his cracked door.

"What?" My cousin didn't even bother to look up from his phone. The lights in his room were turned out and he was sprawled among a pile of tangled blankets. A faint glow from the power pole outside and the too-bright phone screen illuminating his face were the only things keeping the room from being pitch black.

"I need to talk to you."

"If it's about that science assignment I'll help you tomorrow," he yawned, adjusting the pillow his arm was propped on.

"It's not about science."

"Okay?" He sat up a little and looked at me for the first time since I'd entered. His blond hair glowed oddly in the light from the window and some of it reflected off his blue eyes.

I padded in on the cool hardwood floors and plopped on the corner of his bed.

"What's up?" A crease appeared between his eyebrows. I rarely came to him with any kind of problem; normally he had to pry it out of me.

"Coda was crying today."

Pain flashed across his sharp features. Kellan knew better than anyone else that Coda had been through hell. Since I was bad at comforting people, she often went to him with emotional things. "What happened?"

I blew out a breath. "She's missing her family. And honestly, I think that's messed up because both of her parents treated her like shit, but whatever... And actually, Torrin treated her terribly for most of her life, too, so he's not much better."

Kellan ignored my characteristically blunt comment. "Yeah, I bet Christmas sucks. Do you want me to talk to her?"

"No," I shook my head, "I already did." Thinking back, I was proud of the way I'd handled her tears. Doing the only thing I could think of, I hugged her while she cried. Then Mama Callie had brought in two mugs of hot cocoa and taken over from there.

"Blake, no offense, but your idea of comforting people is patting them on the head and telling them not to cry."

I cracked a smile, knowing full well that he was right. "Yeah, I know, but that doesn't matter. Can we talk about something more important?"

"Like what?" I knew I had Kellan's full attention when he shut off his phone and sat up in bed.

"Well, I was trying to come up with good Christmas gift ideas for Coda."

"Oh, God..." He ran one large hand down his face. "You know I suck at gifts."

I shifted so both legs were tucked underneath me. "I don't."

Even in the dark, I knew he was rolling his eyes. "Says the girl who bought me a plastic shovel for my last birthday."

"Hey, you're the one who got the pickup stuck! I got you a thoughtful gift that'd be helpful when it happened again."

"It probably won't happen again, but whatever," he muttered. "Do I even want to know what you've come up with for her?"

I sighed, feeling disgusted with him. "You have no faith in me."

"For good reason," he grumbled. "Will you spit it out already?"

I grinned and sat up a little straighter. "Well, I want to surprise her."

"Blake," he groaned, running a hand through his hair, "that's the point of Christmas. Are you gonna tell me or not?"

For a minute I pouted, but then it occurred to me that this was about Coda, not me. "I want to surprise her with her brothers."