Page 47 of Untamed
A bull that is difficult to ride is considered "rank."
“How’s it feel?” Mom sits down on my bed and hands me an envelope filled with money. Never in a million years did I think she’d give me money for my birthday.
I gawk at her, a fish out of water look. My eyes dart to the envelope, then her, wondering if this is just a dream or reality. Why would she be giving me all this money? “What?”
Mom smiles, brushing her hand over my cheek. “Being eighteen.”
I’ve thought about this day for so long that I actually lay in bed for an hour trying to figure out exactly what it means. My eighteenth birthday . . . the day I can escape this place. Not technically today though. Haylee and I plan on leaving on Friday. She read somewhere that if you’re gonna start a road trip, do it on a Friday. Not entirely sure why that is, but we went with it.
“So . . .” Mom rubs my knee, drawing me from my thoughts. “How’s it feel?”
“It’s like . . . freedom.”
She gives me another smile. This time there’s sadness just below the surface because she knows in her heart it’s only a matter of time before I leave.
Morgan bounces into the room with a party hat on her head and a big grin. She’s eating a donut. “Happy Birthday, sissy!”
“Happy Birthday,” Mom whispers, and gestures to my hand with a thousand dollars in a white envelope. “I’ve been saving this for you for two years.”
Morgan sets the donuts down, and then is distracted by my necklace on my nightstand. She loves to count the beads.
My eyes drift back to my mom. I think she knows I’ve been planning to leave because why else would she hand me an envelope full of money?
When I started my senior year of high school, everyone automatically asked me where I was going to college. I suppose in this day and age, that’s what’s expected of a high school graduate. Immediately go to college. But me? I have no plans. It was one of two ways. Stay here and work, go to CWU like everyone else? I want to go to school and see where my love for animals might take me, but I also want to see the world, experience for myself what the world has to offer. I want to be wild and free and let my wandering soul lead the way.
“I’m gonna go make breakfast,” Mom says, leaving Morgan and me in my room.
“What are you doing today for your birthday?” Morgan moves from my nightstand, to my bed, a smile plays at the corners of her mouth. She’s still in her pajamas, her hair tangled from sleep.
“Well, I’m going to eat my donut first, and then do chores. Haylee’s going to come over too.”
Morgan’s smile gets bigger, like she’s holding back a secret. “Are you going out?”
Licking the chocolate from the donut, I hold the candle she stuck in there between my fingers, then I lick that too. “Maybe.” I don’t know why, but her smile makes me think of Grayer and I remember them talking in the driveway. “Hey, was that you talking to Grayer in the driveway last night?”
She nods, still smiling, and leans forward to take a bite of my donut I offer her. “Yeah. I lost Chirp in his truck.”
“Chirp?”
“Yeah. The baby chick.”
This isn’t the first time Morgan’s lost an animal. She had a baby bunny she’d found once and put him in the bathroom. Somehow he’d got himself into the heating vents and Dad had to tear it apart to get Bugs out.
I smile at the memory. “Did he get it for you?”
Her eyes sparkle when she says, “Yep. I like him. He’s nice and really cute.”
You ain’t kidding. I like that Grayer’s nice to her.
There’s a thump from down the hall followed by what sounds like something hitting Morgan’s bedroom door.
She panics, her eyes wide. “I gotta go.”
Laughing, I lie back on my bed. More than likely there’s a baby bull in her bedroom. Or maybe a donkey this time. You never know with her. I’m pretty sure she’s snuck half the animals on this ranch into the house and they follow her anywhere.
Haylee comes over around noon. She parks behind Grayer’s truck and it gives my heart a flutter to know he’s here and I’m eighteen now. I know it’s silly of me, but I want to run outside, strip naked and yell,I’m eighteen, take me now.
I won’t, because that’s not me, and my dad would kill me before I was ever able to leave town.
