Scooting to the edge of my bleacher seat, I lean forward to make sure I can see the whole arena clearly and lick at my lips. My feet bounce and my fingernails dig into the flesh of my palms.
“All right, ladies and gentlemen,” the MC announces proudly from the center of the arena, swinging an arm toward the metal gates at the end. “If you’ll all turn your attention to the chutes, our first mutton buster is none other than Josephine Jameson herself, and she’s ready to give us a show.”
The crowd cheers and I whoop, my nerves so alive I actually bound upward with the sound. “Come on, Joey!” I yell like a woman possessed.
Rhett chuckles and leans forward to look around me as the first gate on the left opens and a sheep with a little girl decked out in pink gear atop it shoots out like a rocket.
“Wooo! Joeyyyy!” I scream as the sheep runs full steam toward us, its body rocking Josephine around like she’s a doll. Thankfully, her hold looks secure, her feet locked to the back and her hands entwined thickly in the sheep’s shoulder wool.
The buzzer sounds loudly, and I lose all semblance of control, jumping straight up in the air and shouting like a banshee. “Woo-Hoo! You go, girl! You killed it! Hell yeah, Jo-Jo!”
The crowd of people around me laughs and claps, Rhett included, but as she dislodges herself, tucks and rolls, and comes to a standing position in the dusty arena right in front of us, he climbs down and gives her a high five through the fence. Seeing her face beaming inside the cage of her helmet, I’m suddenly ready to drive her around town, looking for all the sheep we can find.
“See, darlin’,” Rhett says as he takes his seat beside me again. “I told you she’d be fine.”
“She’s more than fine,” I say automatically, looking at her pigtail braids that she had me redo this morning. “She’s magnificent.”
July 3rd, Saturday Late Night
Rhett
She’s magnificent.
Along with three full hours of an unexpectedly bloodthirsty spectator approach from Leah throughout the events of the exhibition rodeo, those two words have been all I can think about since the moment they came out of the good doctor’s mouth.
Both in the context she used them—to describe my reason for living and the center of my world, my daughter—and for a different one entirely. I, as it happens, can’t seem to stop myself from applying those same words to her.
It’s been a month since she showed up on my doorstep with more makeup and attitude than I was prepared to handle, but it might as well have been a year for all the things that have changed.
When she got here, we were enemies, pitted against each other as we both fought to win in the war of I’ve got something to prove. But now, Leah’s relaxed and open and, as she showed this afternoon with Clay, ready and willing to defend me when my character is attacked.
She’s fun to be around and a stable, dependable influence in my daughter’s life, and the more time I spend with her, the more I start to feel like I don’t know how it’s going to be without her when she leaves.
With the fireworks getting ready to start, Leah, Joey, and I set up on the grassy knoll just on the south side of the arena. It’s one of the best spots for watching the fireworks in that it’s got a good view, but it’s also decidedly distant from the bulk of the crowd down by the pond.
I had thought we’d be watching the show as a threesome, until Tiny showed up and offered to take Joey to the best viewing spot in the place.
Joey looks up at me with her big blue eyes and pleads, “Please, Daddy? Please can I go up on the roof with Tiny?”
Tiny smiles his goofy, crooked-toothed smile. “Promise to watch her every second, Rhett. Ain’t got anything to worry about.”
I sigh heavily, but eventually, I nod. I remember the wonder of this fireworks show I used to feel as a kid and know all too well that Joey could use a little more of that feeling in her life. Between her mother wantin’ nothin’ to do with her and my well-intentioned shortcomings, she’s not exactly won the damn lottery when it comes to her upbringing. I just hope one day she’ll be able to see how much I tried, even when I failed.
Plus, I don’t actually hate the idea of being alone with Leah, as strange as that thought sounds even to my own mind.
“All right, darlin’. Go ahead. But you be careful, and I want you back here right after they’re over, okay?”
She nods excitedly, reaching up and putting her hand in Tiny’s with a smile.