Big Girl Boots

Twenty-Eight

Hey, everyone! I hope y'all remember Torrin! If not, here's a very adorable picture of him. Enjoy!

***

"Are you sure you're feeling up to this?" My aunt questioned, glancing to my swollen hand with one blonde eyebrow poised towards the sky. I let my eyes drift to the almost shiny green tinted skin. The ultra-sticky suture strips were beginning to peel off, making it look pretty horrible. Thankfully, it looked a lot worse than it felt and I was tough.

I lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "Yeah, I'm fine. It can't get any worse, right?"

"Blake..." Warning sounded in her voice as I was pinned with a motherly gaze, "I wasn't even there and I know the doctor told you to take it easy. If you rip those stitches out you're gonna be in a world of hurt."

"Mama Callie," I groaned, sending her a pleading look, "I'm fine. It's a little swollen but I took some Ibuprofen already. That's about the only thing I can do for it. Besides, we're just going for coffee. It's not like I'll be lifting weights or anything."

She sighed, giving me one more pointed look. "Alright, you can go. But if it starts hurting you tell him to take you home, got it?"

I nodded solemnly and tucked my wounded hand behind my back. The swollen skin felt tight against the row of stitches across my knuckles, but I didn't really care. I was sick and tired of being stuck inside this house with nothing to do. As stir crazy as I felt, even school wasn't sounding that bad.

"And don't stay out too late," my blonde aunt called over her shoulder as I pulled out my phone to text Torrin.

"I won't," I hollered back, typing out a quick confirmation message and hitting send.

I definitely hadn't expected to receive a concerned message from Coda's brother right after I finished puking up what little had been in my stomach, but it had been a gentle reminder that I was doing everything in my power to take care of that little blonde. Torrin had been sweet, asking how my hand was and if I'd gone to the hospital. I was a little ashamed to admit it, but he caught me in a vulnerable moment and I'd agreed to get coffee with him after school ended on Friday.

Dropping my locked phone face down on my stomach, I closed my eyes and waited patiently for a response. I could hear Mama Callie puttering around in the kitchen but she wasn't singing. My heart constricted as I thought back to how defeated she had sounded on Wednesday night when I overheard the conversation between her and my uncle about what to do with Coda. Even though it wasn't her fault, my best friend was definitely testing the patience of every family member. I felt for her but couldn't help the sliver of irritation that always poked at me when people do nothing to help themselves. For the millionth time I wished I could smack her hard enough to knock some sense and spunk back into her. This broken girl was the same one I had met six months ago and managed to put some life into with the help of Kellan and Wyatt. She had been doing so much better until her crazy-ass mom had to come in and ruin everything, again. Bitter didn't even begin to describe my sentiments towards that woman.

My phone chimed with Torrin's reply of on my way (: and I let it fall onto the couch beside me. If I remembered right, the Paxton place was about twenty minutes away from Uncle Mark and Mama Callie's, but I wasn't sure whether he was coming straight from school or not. Kellan wasn't home yet, not that I expected him to. His job kept him busy until nearly six most nights and then he would come home exhausted and covered in grease from mechanicing all afternoon on top of school work. I would never admit it, but my cousin definitely impressed me sometimes with his work ethic and dedication.

A job was one thing I'd never really had. With all the queening and rodeos I was normally involved in, working wasn't feasible or necessary. My parents made good enough money to keep me running all over the northwest participating in the sport I loved (most of the time). I was grateful for for that opportunity, although there were times I wished I had a job just to keep me busy in times like these. There was no indoor arena up here so working horses wasn't an option in the winter. I tended to go a little stir crazy when stuck inside all the time.