Page 2 of Rope Me, Cowboys

It struck me that I should have been the one to say that, but I thought it as if from a distance. My brain seemed to be short-circuiting as my mother smiled wanly and described their ‘charming little wedding among the villagers.’

She’d gotten married. And not only hadn’t she invited me to be a bridesmaid, she hadn’t invited me at all. Hell, she hadn’t even told me!

“I think I’m going to need that Irishness after all,” I said, picking up my glass and lowering it beside my chair. I wasn’t about to call Mom out for forgetting me. It wasn’t like I’d wanted to go to her stupid wedding anyway.

If I said something to her, she’d tell me I was being silly and selfish. And I was. I knew I was overreacting. I wanted my mom to be happy.

“I can’t believe she didn’t tell you,” Haley said, her big brown eyes widening. “What a selfish bitch.”

I could have kissed her for saying that. Instead, I took a gulp of the whiskey, which burned like fire going down. “You’re a life saver,” I said, squeezing her arm. We’d saved each other from a lot through the years—bad dates, absentee parents, mean girls, creepy teachers, boring dinners…and parties. If there was one thing we’d learned in high school, it was how to party.

“Come on,” I said, liquid courage warming my veins. “There’s a band playing. Let’s dance.”

“That’s the Amber I know and love,” Mark said, though he’d never make a fool of himself by dancing in a restaurant to the string band that was playing. But I needed something to take the edge off my hurt, and it wasn’t like I’d get arrested for dancing to elevator music.

2

Amber

Now

I squirmed in my airplane seat, trying to get comfortable, but it was impossible. Giving up, I laid my head back and closed my eyes, trying to ignore the kid beside me who was flying a tiny toy airplane around in circles and making vrooming noises. My life was officially ruined. Instead of flying off on a whirlwind adventure with my best friend, I was being shipped off to babysit three spoiled stepbrothers I’d never met.

“Hey,” the boy said loudly, pushing my arm off the armrest. I leaned against the window as he used the armrest for a runway for his toy plane.

I knew nothing about Senator Westling’s kids except that they didn’t live with him, so I was assuming they lived with their mother. I was going to have to be their nanny and “bond” with them, far away from reporters for Page Six and other gossip columns. Apparently, they’d had fun taking pictures of me running around town misbehaving the night of the announcement. Mom said a senator’s daughter should be volunteering for community service, not showing everyone in a bar that I could put my leg behind my head.

Okay, so maybe she had a point.

Giving up on sleeping, I scrolled through my phone, tearing up through my laughter when I saw all the pictures of me and Haley having fun over the summer. I couldn’t believe how fast our plans had fallen apart. Granted, I had made some questionable decisions on the night of my mother’s wedding announcement. So I really couldn’t blame her for wanting to hide me away in the middle of nowhere. Or Wyoming, to be exact.

The kid beside me shoved his finger so far up his nose I was afraid he was going to give himself brain damage. Wincing, I turned away and tried to ignore him.

I went back to my pictures. Over the past few days, I’d meticulously combed through my phone, erasing every picture of Charlie. If only I could erase him from my mind.

That was part of why I’d agreed to this three-month hiatus from real life. I didn’t want to be around anything that reminded me of Charlie. I could have said no to my mom, moved out, and gotten my own apartment. I was eighteen, after all. But in truth, I felt like shit for embarrassing her in the media, and I wanted to make it up to her. If she loved this Westling guy, and these kids were going to be my brothers, then I might as well get to know them. They couldn’t be worse than my seatmate, and I’d survived him for a good three hours now.

There was another reason I’d agreed to this trip. If I kept my head down, stayed out of trouble, and worked hard, Mom was going to fund my trip abroad in the spring. I’d promised Haley I’d do whatever it took. We would have those memories to look back on for the rest of our lives, and I would be across the world from Charlie, forgetting his shit-eating grin ever existed. I was determined to make that happen. If babysitting three nose-pickers would convince my mother I could be a responsible human being, then I’d do it. It was only three months. How bad could it be?

3

Amber

One Week Before

“I can’t believe your mom kicked us out.” Haley howled with laughter as we strutted down the street. She clung to my arm, though we were both stumbling a bit by that point.

“Um, I can,” I said. “We were moshing to a string quartet.”

“Oh, man, you’re right,” Haley said, wiping away tears of laughter. “So what now, baby-girl? We gotta celebrate you getting a new daddy.”

“Do not call him that,” I said, bumping her so hard we nearly toppled into the street.

“You want to hit the clubs?” Haley asked. “I got my ID.”

Our IDs were, of course, fake. A friend of Mark’s had made a killing selling them to all the kids at our school. I had to admit, they were top quality.

“I don’t feel like it,” I said. “Can we just go to your house and binge-watch Game of Thrones?”