Page 10 of Rope Me, Cowboys

And how the hell had I ended up at Senator Westling’s? I didn’t even know where he lived. No matter how drunk we’d been, we would have given the cab driver Haley’s address and gone back there to pass out. What the hell had happened after the tequila shots?

I wracked my brain, but besides that image of Charlie’s face, I drew only a blank.

Ten minutes later, after splashing my face and rubbing toothpaste over my teeth with my finger, I shuffled into the kitchen. Mom and Senator Westling were sitting at the table together, both on their devices. They looked up as one, both setting down their tablets when they saw me. For one weird moment, I thought they looked like parents about to discipline their naughty child.

And that’s exactly what they did…or so they thought.

10

Amber

Now

Wyoming totally sucked. I had done everything right. I snuck up to the cows, but they danced away from me, bumping each other with their big butts. Mooing and moaning, they cast baleful glances my way, as if I meant to shoot them with a gun instead of a cell phone camera.

“Stupid cows,” I muttered, stepping forward. Something slid under my foot and I shrieked, sure it was a rattlesnake. But no. It was one of the grey pancakes. The upper crust of it had slid off when I stepped on it, and my heel was now an inch deep in brownish-green cow dung. I didn’t have to look up a picture to know what it was. It smelled like…well, like shit.

“Craptastic,” I said. I spent a minute wiping my heel on any spots of grass I could find, though now I could see millions of the dung-patties, some of them still brown but most grey. I could hardly find any grass, and most of what I did find was brown.

At last, I took a few pictures for Haley, though they weren’t as close as I’d have liked. I wanted a close-up of a cow’s soulful eyes and shiny wet nose. But they weren’t giving me their good side today. Maybe they’d come around once I’d been here a few months.

Before I went home, I vowed to take a picture of the prodigious poopers. Then I headed back, not wanting any of the boys to come along and laugh at me for being grossed out by cow dung or not being able to get up close. They probably threw their legs over the cows and rode them all over the farm. I laughed to myself at the image of giant Holden sitting on a cow. It would probably collapse under his weight. I wondered how he’d even manage with a girl. He’d probably crush her with his weight, too.

Giggling a little, I made it back to the fence. Pulled my gloves back on, since I’d had to take them off to take pictures. Checked my zipper. Checked that I was still unobserved. Made sure my phone was still in my pocket. And went in.

Halfway through the wires, I felt a sharp tug on the back of my neck.

Craptastic! I’d forgotten to put up the hood. And now it was caught on the wires. I reached back, but I didn’t dare untangle it, since I couldn’t see behind me. With my luck, I’d definitely touch the electrocution lines. Apparently, electricity was not conveyed through wanna-be camel-colored canvas jackets, though, so I’d gotten lucky with that. I didn’t want to push my luck much further. But just as I started to ease through, the hood pulled me off balance, and I had to put my hand down on the wire. With a yelp, I jerked it back and dove through.

This time, I ended up twisted around and flat on my back, hanging halfway upright by the hood of the jacket. Even with the giant yank from my weight hanging on it, it hadn’t broken free. I scrambled around, trying in vain to break free. But after five minutes, it was clear I was never going to get loose. I couldn’t even rip the jacket. I’d tried.

I pulled out my phone, ready to call the boys, when I realized I didn’t have their numbers. Fuming that my mother had handed me a post-it with one of the numbers scrawled on it instead of sending me a text like a normal person, I scrolled through and hit her number. Not her office phone, where her secretary would pretend she didn’t know me, and then put me on hold forever like I was a random citizen calling to complain about the homeless guy sleeping on the corner, and then tell me my mother was in a meeting.

No, this called for her personal number, which I was under strict orders not to call unless it was an emergency. Which this clearly was. I could probably lie out here all day before anyone noticed I was gone. From the way they’d both been talking last night, I knew their father didn’t like or approve of me and had passed on the gossip about my partying ways and subsequent arrest. The boys would think I ran off to party, and they’d go check all the local bars, leaving me out here to freeze to death and be eaten by coyotes.

“Mom?” I squeaked when she answered on the last ring. I could already picture her pushing her glasses up and pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and finger. I could imagine the long-suffering voice she’d use when I asked for Sawyer’s number. But I was so relieved that she’d actually answered that I just blurted it out. “Mom, I’m stuck on a cow fence and I can’t get off.”

11

Amber

One Week Earlier

“Do you have any idea how humiliated I am right now?” my mother asked.

“Probably not as humiliated as me,” I muttered.

“I had a meeting today, and needless to say, I had to cancel it. If I’d had to cancel my flight this evening…”

“Already?” I asked. “I’ve barely seen you since you got home.”

“You’re not a child,” Mom snapped. “It’s time you started acting your age.”

“Can’t an adult still want to spend time with her parents?” I asked.

“You’re making this very difficult, Amber,” Senator Westling said.

“I don’t even know what this is,” I snapped. “Why am I here? What happened?”