Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Wyatt
Twenty-three years ago
The sun is burning on the back of my neck, but I don’t care. Jackson, Emily, and I are down at the creek at the edge of the ranch, pretending it’s a kingdom and Emily is the evil queen trying to take over.
“Get her, Wyatt! She’s heading for the barn!” Jackson yells suddenly, his face red and streaked with dirt. He’s holding a massive, slime-covered bullfrog with both hands, his eyes wild with that mean-spirited look he gets when he’s winning.
I have a frog of my own, but I’m not really trying to catch her.
I’m only running because she’s running. Emily is faster than I am, which I hate because she’s a girl.
All I can see is a blur of pigtails and a bright yellow sundress.
She’s laughing loudly as she changes direction and flies through the tall grass toward the house.
She thinks if she gets to the porch first, she’ll be safe.
“You’ll never catch me!” she squeals, looking back over her shoulder and smiling.
But then, she suddenly disappears.
Her pink cowboy boots catch on a hidden root near the porch, and time seems to slow down. She goes down hard. The sound of her knees hitting the gravel driveway makes my own stomach turn. She stops laughing instantly, and so do I.
Jackson skids to a stop, holding his frog out like a trophy. He lets out a loud laugh that sounds a lot like a bark. “Look at her! Emily’s a klutz! You’ve got blood on your dress, Em!”
Emily doesn’t yell back. She’s curled on her side, her shoulders shaking. When she lifts her head, her face is covered in dust and tears. The sight of the raw scrape on her knee makes a big, hot ball of guilt settle in my chest.
“Shut up, Jackson,” I snap, dropping my frog without a second thought. I don’t care that it was the biggest one we caught all day.
“What? She’s fine,” Jackson grumbles, but he backs off when he sees the look on my face.
I scramble over to her, dropping to my knees in the dirt. “Em? You okay?”
She sobs. It makes me want to hit something. “It hurts, Wyatt. And my favorite dress is ruined.”
“It’s not ruined,” I lie, even though the yellow fabric is stained dark with blood and dirt. I reach out, my hand hovering over her shoulder before I finally squeeze it. “Come on. My mom has the ‘magic’ bandages. The ones with the stars on them.”
I help her up, letting her lean her weight on me. She’s small, but the responsibility of holding her feels like the most important thing I’ve ever done. I lead her toward the ranch house, ignoring Jackson saying silly things from behind us.
Inside, the kitchen smells like cinnamon because my mom is baking cookies for Emily to take with her tomorrow.
Mom looks up from the sink, her face softening the moment she sees us.
She doesn’t scold us for the dirt. She lifts Emily onto a stool, wipes her tears away with a smile, and starts cleaning the wound.
I stay right there. I don’t go back out to play. I watch my mom press a star-shaped bandage over the scrape. Emily’s tears dry up, giving me a smile.
“Wyatt, that was a very gentlemanly thing to do for Emily. Thank you,” my mom says, ruffling my hair.
“Thanks, Wyatt,” Emily whispers, still a little rough from when she was crying
My mom looks at me and nods toward the hallway. “Why don’t you two go into the TV room? Go put on some cartoons until Emily feels a little better. I’ll bring in some fresh cookies and cold milk as soon as they’re out of the oven.”
I lead the way, walking slowly so that Emily doesn’t have to strain the knee she fell on. I let her pick which side of the couch she wants to sit on, and she chooses the one with the flowery cushion, because it’s her favorite.
Jackson is still outside somewhere, probably trying to find the frogs we dropped, but I don’t care.
I pick up the remote. “What do you want to watch, Emily?” I ask because she should choose. She’s the one who got hurt today.
“Umm, can we finish watching the Dalmatians movie? I really like that one.”
I like that one too because I really want a dog.
We started watching it yesterday, so the DVD is still in the player. Emily and I love watching Disney movies. I actually like doing this with her more than I like playing in the dirt with Jackson. But I won’t tell him that.
I can hear the sound of Mom clinking plates and glasses in the kitchen. A few moments later, the TV room smells like warm butter and sugar. Mom walks in with two tall glasses of chocolate milk and a plate of cookies so hot, the edges are still soft.
“There you go, loves,” she says, setting the tray down between us on the coffee table.
I take a cookie, but I don’t eat it yet. I watch Emily take a sip of her milk, and it leaves her with a chocolatey mustache on her top lip, which makes me smile. She looks better now. I think I cheered her up.
She looks over at me. She probably felt me staring. “I have a chocolate mustache, don’t I?” She giggles, pushing her lips out, which makes me laugh too. She sounds funny when she giggles.
“You wanna share my blanket?” she asks, pulling the red woven blanket my mom hangs over the couch onto her lap.
She lifts it a little, inviting me in. I scoot over toward her, and she shares some of it with me as she leans back, making herself cozy. She sticks her leg out of one corner of it. I bet it still hurts. My arm is really close to hers, and it feels warm and tingly.
Emily always makes me feel warm.
“Are you really going to Oregon tomorrow?” I finally get the courage to ask.
My dad mentioned at breakfast that the Callahans are moving tomorrow, heading to Oregon to take care of Emily’s grandma. I think she’s sick, which is really sad for them. I don’t know where that is, but it sounds far away, so I hate it.
“Yeah,” she says, looking down at the cookie in her hand. “My dad says it’s a real long drive. We have to leave before the sun comes up.”
I look down at the cookie in my own hand. I really want to tell her not to go. I want to tell her that Jackson is annoying and I need her here to help me handle him. We won’t be able to play Kingdom without her.
Jackson doesn’t know this, but she’s my best friend. I know I’m really going to miss her.