Big Girl Boots

Twenty-Nine

I won't even try to explain all the things that happened in my absence, but I will apologize for being gone. It kills me to leave you guys hanging! I'm so sorry...

***

Torrin and I chatted a bit on the drive back to my house. We were both extremely full and running on sugar from the brownies and coffee. If I had felt jittery before he picked me up, this was really upping the ante.

We had talked for almost two hours, mostly about Coda. She was, after all, the only common ground the two of us shared. It become extremely obvious after our sugar induced discussion that neither of us was about to let her wallow in her own sorrow and self-pity any longer.

I felt a crack form in my heart when Torrin admitted that she was in desperate need of some help, the kind he couldn't give her, while only making eye contact with his cup of coffee. When he finally did glance my way, the sadness there cut me like a knife. I'd seen that pained expression before. Where Torrin and Coda didn't look a whole lot alike, both of them were somehow able to shatter my heart with the same broken look in their eyes.

"Hey," I went against every principle my reputation was built on and reached out to touch his hand, "It's gonna be okay. If you love your sister anywhere near as much as I do then she doesn't have a chance in hell at not being okay. If it was up to me she'd already have her ass back to school and she'd be plowing through this like a dozer."

He'd grinned a little at my confidence and the stupidity of the analogy and then thanked me. From there we'd just discussed ways to get her back on her feet.

"Mama Callie!" I hollered, barrelling through the front door. Clumps of snow fell off my boots as I kicked them into a corner and went sliding down the hall in my socks. Torrin stood awkwardly by the door and began unlacing the work boots on his feet.

"What?" I changed course as her voice wafted down the stairs. She followed soon after, carrying a hamper and making a disgusted face. I did a double take and then began laughing. The hamper in her arms was from Kellan and I's shared bathroom. Between the two of us it usually smelled like something died and was almost always overflowing.

"What're you laughing about?" She chastised, setting one hand on her hip.

I shook my head and straightened up. "Nevermind, sorry. Can I talk to you real quick? And where's Uncle Mark and Kellan?"

She motioned towards the kitchen with her chin. My eyes traveled along the path to find my uncle deep in conversation with Torrin, and Kellan just walking through the door. My cousin was a real sight, covered in a layer of grease and snow. He reminded me of the abominable snowman who was in desperate need of a bath.

"Hey," I called taking a few steps toward them, "don't go anywhere. We need to talk."

His sky blue eyes widened and he pointed a thumb at his chest. "Me?"

"Yeah, you, and everyone else. I'm calling a family meeting."

He glanced warily down the hall towards Coda's room. "Should she come, too?"

I shook my head vehemently. "Not yet. We need to make a game plan first."

Everyone sat down at the kitchen table, staring suspiciously at each other. Torrin was dead silent, leaving me to do all the talking. "Okay. If you guys can't tell, this is about Coda."

I saw my aunt's eyes narrow like she wanted to yell at me for trying to screw with Coda's life again but she didn't say anything.

"She's been down and out for a whole week now, and I can't blame her, but the thing is she'll never get on the road to recovery unless she tries. It doesn't matter if trying is taking a shower or if it's calling up her mom and telling her to burn in hell. Either way, it's progress. And if you ask me, it's our job as her family to help her get back on her feet." I stood with both hands on my hips and waited impatiently for their feedback. My aunt was the first to speak.

"Y'know, I've been trying to just leave her alone to do some processing and recovering, but I think you have a point there. If we let her be for any longer she might never get out of this funk."

"Right!" I cheered, holding a hand up for a high five. She gave it a half hearted slap and propped her chin in her hands. My aunt looked completely exhausted.

"Blake," Kellan began, his tone weary, "I get what you're trying to say but I think she just needs a little more time."
I stared him down, watching a bead of melted snow run along the arm of his wool shirt. "Kellan, don't you remember what happened the last time people just let her wallow in her own sorrows? I didn't know her but you said she lost like twenty pounds and wouldn't talk to anybody."

Torrin nodded sadly on the peripheral. "She did. And the only thing that got her to even try was Oakley dragging her to that rodeo. It gave her something to do, I guess. Coda needs that. She's not lazy."

"Oakley may be a two-faced bitch but at least she got made Coda get out instead of trying to work and sleep the pain away," I admitted. As much as I hated that girl, she'd done no less than two good things in her lifetime. For one, she forced Coda to get right back on after she was bucked off and stomped all over. For two, she introduced me to my best friend and the sister I never had. I'd be damned if I was going to let Coda's crazy-ass mother ruin our friendship. She may have took a wrecking ball to the foundation of our friendship while attempting to ruin her daughter's life but that didn't mean it was totally gone. I had my own family as cement and supports to help her rebuild.

"Alright." Mama Callie sent me a nod and stood up from the dark wood table. "I'll go get her and we're gonna work this out."

Uncle Mark, Kellan, Torrin, and I stayed silent as she padded down the hall, back straight with resolve. Coda's bedroom door creaked open; we could hear it dragging something along the carpet. Other than that, it was silent. My aunt knew better than to yell at someone as fragile as Coda. I was the only one stupid enough to try that tactic with her. No more than five minutes later we heard the shower start up in the bathroom and my aunt appeared looking exhausted but proud.

Kellan's mouth dropped open as his mom sat down and he continued staring for several more seconds. "You got her in the shower? How?"

She smiled gently. "Sometimes it just takes a mama to make a kid do what they need to do."

I threw my hands up in despair. "Why couldn't you have tried this four days ago when I wanted her to get her ass out of bed?"
"Blake," she warned, "you just calm down. As much as I know you'd like to, you can't do everything in this world."

I flopped back against my seat and glared down at my injured hand. Just like my aunt predicted, it was hurting pretty good after being up and around so much when I wasn't supposed to. My gaze snapped up when I felt a hand on my right shoulder. Torrin was looking at me with a mixture of gratitude and sympathy. Surprisingly he didn't even flinch when I moved. We stared at each other for a few minutes, only stopping when Kellan's voice broke in.

"Have you heard anything from Wyatt lately? Somebody told me at work that his grandpa was in the hospital with a stroke."