Chapter Twenty
Bailey stands in the kitchen waiting with me for McKenna and Katherine to show us their outfits. “I’m telling ya, you aren’t going to recognize her.” Bailey elbows me in the arm.
Just then the door opens and out comes McKenna wearing a pair of shorts, a pink shirt, pair of pink and black cowboy boots and her hair is down in two long braids with a baseball hat on backwards. “Ready to roll Bailey!” McKenna says, holding a thumb up. She’s so damn adorable.
I’m in a pair of shorts, with tan work boots on, Bailey told me I’d want to wear these because of all the sand. I took her word on it since I don’t know whats about to happen or what I’m in for.
“Ready?” Katherine shouts from her room.
“Yes!” The girls shout and I feel my heart stop from the anticipation. And in pure Katherine form, she jumps out, her arms out wide to reveal her sand dunes outfit. She’s wearing a pair of black cut off shorts, a black tank top, her hair is down in braids with a baseball cap on backwards, and to top it off she’s wearing a pair of plain black boots with no platform. I haven’t seen her in something so basic before. Before she started wearing goth clothes, she was always in dresses and heels. She has a black handkerchief hanging out of her pocket and, hot damn. She’s like a gothic cowgirl barbie. If that’s a thing.
“Kitty.” I state, in shock. I think this is shock, seeing her dressed like a gothic redneck, my eyes are not deceiving me either.
“You look beautiful.” McKenna laughs as she struts her stuff back towards her mother.
“Everyone ready?” She asks.
“Yes. I’ve got the cooler packed in the back of the truck and the trailer is locked down with the side by side.” Bailey says. She’s sporting a tiny blue tank top with a pair of cutoffs and her own boots. Her hair is up in a messy bun though, not braided like the girls.
“Ready to experience the wild things we do here in Moses Lake?” Katherine says as she walks up to me. “I’m not sure you can handle it.”
“We’ll see about that.” I reply, taking her hand as we leave the house. I notice the large truck and trailer with a vehicle on the back. It’s the same as the ones we saw a couple nights ago.
Once we’re parked, Bailey takes off to do something while Kat and McKenna hold hands and lead me towards a large crowd. Everyone has a beer in their hand, and I hear cheering as we get closer. There are people on bikes, zooming past us. This is what I imagined when she was telling me about it last night. But, it’s so much more. This is a completely different life than what we grew up having. Her parents would shit bricks if they knew she was here, living like this.
“Momma, Kris is racing!” She points to a guy in a white and blue jumpsuit, standing in a small crowd with people.
“Yes he is, wanna go say hi?” Kat asks.
“Yes! Is Syd here?” She asks Katherine.
“I don’t know, go ask Kris.” McKenna takes off towards the guy she’s calling Kris, “Kris is Syd’s dad.” Katherine fills me in.
“And he races?”
“Yes, we usually get to hang out with them when we’re here. Bailey goes off and does her own thing with the side by side and a few other people. We stick close to the bikes for her.” She nods to McKenna.
“Why the bikes?”
“She wants to race them when she’s older. There’s kid races, and I got her a training bike last summer and Kris plans on getting her started this summer.”
“You’re going to let her do this?” I ask, looking around watching people race on the bikes.
“Yes.” She stops us before we get to Kris and McKenna. “This is our life, remember. We’ve been here the whole time, a lot of our lives revolve around this.”
“And-”
“And nothing, if you want to be a part of this, then you will learn how things work here before you just show up and judge us.” She says with a furrowed brow.
“I’m not judging, she just seems young to start training for it.” I back peddle real fast, not trying to question her parenting. I was just curious. The loud sounds of engines revving pulls my attention for a second. I see a little boy in a full suit holding McKenna’s hand.
“Syd does it too, he’s been riding since he was a baby. Kris took him out all the time. I told you, they do everything together, this is what they love.”
“Is that Syd, holding her hand.” Katherine turns to look over there.
“Yes. Come meet them.” She nods for me to follow her. We still haven’t told McKenna that I’m her father yet, right now, I’m just West, an old friend of Momma’s. Which is fine, but I want more. I haven’t even kissed Katherine since that first day. I’ve been here three days and I feel like I’m being held at a distance.
“Kris, this is West.” She announces as we step up to the group. “West, this is Kris.”
He holds out a hand and I shake it. We exchange nice to meet yous and then my attention moves to McKenna who pulls on my shorts. “This is Syd!” She nearly shouts at me.
I squat down, “Hi Syd.” I say holding my hand out for him to take. He does and bows his head respectfully. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too sir.” Syd says, turning his attention back to McKenna. I stand up and look at Kris and Katherine as they carry on a conversation.
“Yeah, I figured you’d want to train her at the house first, so she’ll know what to do out here.” Katherine says.
“For sure. She’s gotta get better control over her balance before I’ll let her off the Strider.” Kris says. “You guys gonna watch me race?” He asks.
“Heckya!” McKenna shouts.
“My tent is down over there, they’ll let you in, they always do. Take Syd back with you.” Kris grabs his helmet and takes off running down the side of the track.
“Come on kiddos.” Katherine holds her hand out and McKenna takes it, then grabs Syd’s hand with her other one.
I follow them, watching everything around us. There are people dancing to music, crowds watching different events, and people lined up for beer. We make our way to a tent, really it’s just four poles with a top next to an enclosed trailer, which I’m assuming is what he stores his bikes in.
“Kat!” A woman shouts, and comes over to hug her. McKenna and Syd move over to their little chairs that are already set up to watch the race.
After their hug, the woman looks at me, I probably look like a sore thumb, sticking out to everyone around here. “This is him?” She asks.
“Yes.” Katherine laughs. “This is West.”
“Well, hello West. I’m Kindra, Kris’ girlfriend. Welcome to the sand dunes!” She bends over and pulls a can out of the white cooler. She cracks it open and takes a drink. “We’ve got beers in there. You’re welcome to some.”
“You guys staying all day and night?” Kindra asks Katherine.
“We’ll stay for a while. Depends on if McKenna gets cranky or not.” She laughs.
“Girl, you know she lives for this life.”
“Yes, I’m aware.” Kat states, bending over to grab a beer from the cooler. She pulls a black sleeve out of her pocket and pushes the beer into it, cracking it open. “We’re here all day, West, enjoy yourself.” She puts the beer to her lips and fuck it. I guess I’m drinking beer.
After a few minutes, there’s some loud announcement and everyone moves to line up at the edge of the track. I look down the track to see several people lined up on bikes, helmets on and they look like they’re about to race.
When the race starts the crowd goes fucking nuts. I watch the only person I know up there take off and get the lead first. They fly by us, the dirt or sand flicking everywhere as they hit the turn. My heart is thundering watching them. This is exciting and so very different from my life.
When the race ends Katherine, Kindra, Syd, and McKenna all scream for Kris, who just won. They all run down, and I’m on their heels to keep up making our way to him. Kindra jumps into his arms placing a kiss on his lips.
The night continues on, the sun has gone down and now there’s a huge bonfire we’re all gathered around. Half of us are wasted, and Bailey has found her way back. I can’t lie and say that I didn’t have fun, because if I’m honest, I haven’t had this much fun since the summer Katherine and I traveled. I’ve been mister stick in the mud since then. Only focusing on my school work, until Hilary gave me something to try to find happiness in.
But in this moment, as Katherine sits in my lap, laughing with her friends, I realize that there’s no fucking way I could ever go back to the life I lived before. I want all of this, the insanity of the sand dunes, the crazy woman who owns a tattoo shop, and the dangerous little girl who wants to race dirt bikes.