Big Girl Boots

Twenty-Four

By the time Dustie and I went over every event that had happened with Coda, I felt a lot better. In fact, I felt good enough to get in my Ranger and drive to the grocery store for a pint of half-baked ice cream. Coda loved ice cream and she'd let on that it was her favorite kind. The house was still eerily silent when I walked in, brushing some snow off the hood of my heavy Carhartt coat.

Kellan and Mark were nowhere to be seen, but I did find my aunt sitting on the living room floor with a basket full of half-folded clothes. She chewed her lip, looking deep in thought, and stared at the dusty orange T-shirt in her hands.

"Hey, I was looking for that this morning!" I grinned, plucking it from her grasp and wadding it up in my left hand. The pint of ice cream was still tucked under my right arm and she glanced to it and then back up at me.

"What's that all about?"

I jabbed my chin in the direction of Coda's room and shifted the cardboard carton. Even though I'd set it in my passenger seat and adjusted the vents, some of my Ranger's hot air had melted the outer layer.

Mama Callie stared skeptically up at me, her blonde eyebrows drawn together. She'd released her bottom lip from both sets of teeth to talk, leaving a little indent on the pink skin. Usually a well-put-together lady, it was odd to see my aunt sitting on the floor in dirty jeans with greasy hair hanging in her face. That was the initial sign of just how worried she was about Coda. "I hope you don't plan on eating all of that at once."

I shook my head, shooting her a half-grin. "Nope, it's not for me. It's for Coda."

The crease between her brows deepened and an almost dark look appeared in her normally sparkling blue eyes. She sighed. "Blake, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" I stared at her, unwilling to back down. I'd gone through the trouble of driving to the store for a stupid container of ice cream in shitty weather and I wasn't about to just let it go to waste.

"Blake..." My aunt rubbed a hand down her face, suddenly looking exhausted. "Honey, I know you're trying to help her, but I think what she really needs right now is time to be alone and process everything. Unless you've started a custody battle and broke a boy's heart in the same day, you don't know how she's feeling, and it's probably not in the best interest of either of you girls to try and duke it out."

I could have gotten offended by her obvious distrust of me when it came to handling emotions, but I just let it roll off of my back. While she had a valid point, I had just spent the last two hours discussing exactly how to handle the situation with Dustie. I was actually pretty confident in my approach and strategy. "It's okay, mama Callie. You just gotta trust me."

She sighed again but waved me off. "Whatever, but if she comes out of this worse than before, you're asking to get your butt kicked."

Taking that as a cue to go ahead with my plan, I shot her a grin and bounded down the hallway, shrugging out of my coat and dropping it on the stairs before retrieving a spoon from the kitchen. Even though the ice cream was probably melted enough to drink like a milkshake, I didn't want to have to come back out and search for utensils.

I held the ice cream and spoon in one hand and knocked heartily on her bedroom door with the other, preparing myself for the worst. As predicted, the only noise from inside was a muffled, exhausted 'what'.

"Coda," I called, not even touching the doorknob, "can I come in?"

I heard some shuffling and the sound of something heavy hitting the bed before she replied. "Blake, just leave me alone."

Yesterday those words were like a knife to the heart, but today, I was ready for them. As Dustie and I had decided, Coda's defense mechanism was to close herself off from everything. But, too bad for her. I was going to get my way, as usual.