7. 7
7
Colton
9 YEARS EARLIER…
N othing could wipe the grin off my face as I turned the ute into Appleyard Farm’s open gates. Below, where the white two-storey house was nestled at the lowest point of the property, I saw Honey run out to the wrap-around verandah. I gave a merry toot of the horn. The red P-plates were taped on the number plates. I’d never felt so free. To think that I could now go where I wanted whenever I wanted.
Honey was grinning at me, her blonde hair tumbling around her shoulders and arms wrapped around one of the verandah posts when I pulled up with a playful rev. I cut the engine and climbed out, no sooner catching Honey against me when she wrapped herself around me like a koala.
‘You got your licence!’
‘Why do you sound so surprised?’
She pulled away from me to look at me with a quirked eyebrow. ‘I’ve been your co-pilot while driving through the paddocks. Caution isn’t something you practice all that much.’
I grinned, kicking the door of the ute shut with my foot so I could still hold her thighs. ‘Would I be a champion bull rider if I did?’
She rolled her eyes playfully. ‘No, I suppose not.’
A gentle kiss was placed on my lips and I drank it in. Now there would be no more sneaking around houses. We could go out for a drive. By the smoothness of her freshly shaved legs, I knew she was thinking the same things and a jolt of excitement crackled through me.
‘Ah, Colton. I see you got your licence. Congratulations!’ Granny Beauregard stepped out onto the verandah and I instantly dropped Honey to her feet, making her shriek in shock. Honey’s grandmother regarded me with kind, but speculating, eyes. I wondered if she’d been reading my mind. Then again, in these parts, everyone knew what boys with new licences did with their girlfriends.
I stood like an army soldier in drill when she walked slowly around the ute. The black V8 was already a police target. Even more so with the red P-plates screaming inexperience. But it was my dream car, one I’d been saving up for by doing as much work on the ranch as physically possible.
‘I’m surprised your father allowed this to be your first car.’ She leant down to peek through the tinted windows, a smirk on her wrinkled mouth when she stood back up. ‘Leather seats. Some would say easier to clean.’
‘Granny!’ hissed Honey.
My face burst with flames.
The old woman chuckled. ‘It’s a very nice ride, Colton. I’ve known you long enough to know you’ll be a responsible driver and take care of my grandbaby.’
‘Yes, Ma’am.’
She gave an affirmative nod. ‘Well, I’ll let you go enjoy your newfound freedom.’ She began making her way back to the house, turning around with her hands behind her back. ‘Oh, and Colton? The spare key is always under the front mat … you were ruining the ivy.’
***
‘I can’t believe you’re driving!’ Honey shouted over the breeze flowing through the cab. It was the perfect spring day and felt too much of a waste to have the windows rolled up. ‘Your own car!’
I grinned, an idea forming in my mind as I brought the ute to a steady stop on the road.
Honey looked over to me with a worried frown. ‘What’s wrong? Have we broken down?’
‘I sure hope not. I just serviced it. You’re driving.’ I undid my seatbelt and jumped out to make my way around to the passenger side. Honey was gaping at me. ‘Come on, you’ve practically finished your hundred hours!’
‘Yes, Colton. My legal hundred hours.’ She shook her head profusely. ‘I am not allowing your car to be impounded and us to be arrested under hoon laws.’
‘It’s the Sarge’s lunchtime. We both know he’s currently stuffing his face at the pub. Come on, it’s only the back roads. You’ll be right!’
‘I dunno …’ The idling ute continued to rumble like a monster. Honey chewed at her lip and I grinned, knowing this was her tell sign of caving. ‘Only for a little bit.’
Eventually, she moved around to the driver side, her hands wringing nervously when we shut the doors after ourselves. She adjusted the seat, almost using the entire length of the rails from where I’d had it against the back window. I bit back a smirk when she checked all three mirrors, adjusting them to fit her height.
‘Now this one is a bit touchier than the old farm ute,’ I warned. ‘Nice and easy with the clutch. High revs, even if it sounds like you’re giving twice as many.’
Honey sucked in a wobbly breath and I could see her hands trembling as they released the handbrake. ‘Okay, here goes nothing. You’ve got insurance, right?’
The ute revved as she found the point in the clutch of when to release. I gave a whoop when the ute began moving along the road. She grinned wildly, pushing the clutch in and changing up to second.
‘That’s my girl!’
Honey gave an excited squeal, finding the confidence to build up enough speed to move into third. I looked at her, a wide smile on her face while her hair whipped about. Driving my ute. It was the stuff of my dreams. My dreams which always had Honey in them. I couldn’t imagine a future where she wasn’t by my side.
‘Take us to View Point!’ I punched a fist towards the windscreen.
‘What?’ Honey screeched, slowing down to a snail pace to take a sweeping bend before accelerating again. ‘That’s on the edge of town! We’ll get caught!’
‘Not if you drive fast.’
She glanced over to me, her lips pursed and my euphoria of the moment threatened to fade, feeling the same argument we’d been having brewing in the cab. ‘I’m worried about you since the bull riding. Just because you need to live dangerously in the arena, it doesn’t mean you have to outside of it as well.’
I swallowed down my retort, not wanting to ruin the day with another fight. ‘If you don’t feel comfortable, I’ll drive.’
Honey gave a small smile, obviously not wanting to pick a fight either. ‘No, it’s okay. I’m kinda having fun.’
Soon enough, we were ascending the road, which wrapped around the highest peak of Gumtree Valley, View Point. It was where tourists towing dusty caravans came for a panoramic photo to show the grandkids when they returned home. To the locals, it was where teenagers came to smoke and have sex. Sarge would patrol this area like mad on a Friday and Saturday night. Parents had given up trying to deter their kids from taking part in any going-ons up here. In a way, it was a rite of passage growing up in Gumtree Valley.
Honey brought the ute to a stop in the carpark at the top, shutting off the engine to leave us in total silence. The township sprawled ahead and below with greenery and glinting rooves. Cars moved at a leisurely pace down the main drag. The large screen of the drive-through sat on the edge of town, not far from the primary and high schools. Farmland surrounded the outskirts in fences and red dirt.
‘I can’t believe we’re in year twelve next year,’ murmured Honey, leaning over to rest her head on my shoulder.
‘To think we met in a sandpit all those years ago.’ I pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
She giggled. ‘You thought my name was weird.’
I shrugged. ‘I ain’t ever heard of anyone else called Honey.’
‘Yeah, well, you can thank my mum for that, who was most likely high as a kite in the hospital with me.’
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you think of them,’ I said earnestly.
Not too long ago after her seventeenth birthday, Honey had made the decision to cease contact with her parents. No more supervised visits. No more awkward phone calls. A lot of kids at school who’d grown up with loving and caring parents couldn’t fathom how she could do such a thing. But Ellie-May, Riley and I were the only ones who understood. We were the only ones who knew the horror Honey had been taken away from to come and live with Granny and Poppy Beauregard. We were the only ones Honey talked to about living with two drug addicts for parents. We’d been all for her breaking contact, relieved they could no longer hurt her heart by coming up empty with promises to get clean.
‘So, this bull riding thing … you’re really into it, huh?’ said Honey quietly.
I sighed. ‘I don’t get why you were okay with the broncs and not on board with the bulls. I thought we supported one another.’
She sat away from me, tearing her fingers through her hair. ‘I do support you, Colton! Don’t try to manipulate me!’
‘Sure doesn’t feel like it,’ I muttered, staring at my boots in the floor well.
‘Bulls are dangerous!’
‘So are horses!’
‘But you’ve been riding them your whole life! I know you’re capable with them!’
‘So you don’t think I’m good enough for the bulls? Jeez, thanks.’
‘You know that’s not what I meant!’ shouted Honey. Tears sparkled her eyes and I refused to look at her out of guilt. It wasn’t like Honey to become angry or shout. But it seemed to be coming out of her ever since I switched from broncs to bulls. ‘I’ve cut my parents out of my life. I can’t lose you too! Every time I watch you out there, I feel sick! Every time that bull twists and turns … I can’t lose you, Colton.’
All the anger in my body faded when she crumpled into a mess of sobs behind the wheel. I reached over and pulled her to me, as much as I could with the centre console between us.
‘It’s why I’m training so hard, baby, so I can be the best. So I don’t have to put you through this every time I ride.’
Honey hiccupped, her sobs subsiding with a few deep sniffles. I brushed her hair from her face when she looked at me, tear tracks carved in the foundation on her face.
‘Okay then. Be the best damn rider in Australia.’