Page 16 of Shadow

“Son, you were six. He was an adult and he put you in harm’s way. Listen to me...you are not responsible for what happened. We’ve never blamed you. And to be honest, sure we were angry in the beginning but we never blamed your father either. Because even the best horses can have bad days. What happened to Annie was an accident. No one could have predicted it.” Neville pulls out his handkerchief and dabs his eyes. “Annie died doing what she loved and she wouldn’t want you sitting here feeling sorry about it.”

“But she pulled me off of that horse and if she had just let me fall…”

“Then an innocent child would have gotten hurt and she wouldn’t have been able to live with that,” William tells me, matter of factly. “And since we’re all coming clean today, Neville wasn’t exactly honest when he said thatwedidn’t know who you were at sixteen.”

Neville grunts. “What the hell did you do William?”

William chuckles and shrugs. “I had a pretty strong hunch that your father was involved in some shady things after that incident. I kept tabs on you and when I heard the local vo-tech school had a program for future farmers, I put in the request. Made contact with your Uncle and arranged to bring you here. At the time, your Uncle seemed to think it was a good idea not to bring up the accident since you’d been doing so well. And to be honest with you, it never crossed my mind again. But Garrett, we meant what we said - we didn’t bring you here because you owed us anything. I wanted you here so that I knew you were taken care of and away from whatever it was your father was into.”

“I’m not really sure what to say,” I admit. I want to believe what William’s just said but I’ve been blaming myself for twenty-six years, that’s a hard thing to just turn off.

“You don’t have to say a thing. Go on up to the house and get yourself a bite to eat if you want then take the day for yourself. Christ knows you’ve earned it.” Neville tells me.

“I can’t do that. We do need to talk about my paycheck for this week though. See, someone’s been doing some of my work and she needs to be paid for it.” Instead of worrying about me, I change the subject to Lindsey.

“You think I don’t already know that? There’s not much that happens around here that I don’t know about,” Neville chuckles. “She’s earning a paycheck too, and no I’m not docking yours. Don’t think I haven’t noticed all the other stuff you’ve been doing around here with the few extra minutes Lindsey’s mucking stalls has afforded you.”

“Speaking of Lindsey,” William nudges me. “Was there something else you wanted to tell us? Maybe about those donations you made to her sponsorship.”

“We all donated,” I quickly defend.

“Yeah, everyone did. That’s not what I’m asking though.”

I look between the two men and contemplate my next sentence.

“Oh for fuck sake,” Kevin pulls open the office door and waltzes in. “Put the damn man out of his misery already. Garrett, they already know about you and Lindsey. They’re not the least bit surprised either. Are you?” He looks at his father and grandfather.

Neville and William both burst into laughter.

“I swear I planned to talk with both of you. I wanted to tell you both straight up how I felt for her and I was going to vow to stay away from her if you didn’t approve, though since we’re all being honest - I don’t know that I can. I’m in love with her.”

“I knew it!” Neville whoops.

William smirks. “Son, you just cost me $20.”

“What is it with you people? Y’all took a bet on me?” I shake my head in disbelief.

“We all knew Lindsey had feelings for you, and then you went and looked at her like she hung the moon. We just wondered how long it would take you to come to us. How far she’d push you before you gave in.” William says through his laughter.

“Meanwhile, I was worried you two would kill me,” I grumble.

“Treat her right and don’t give us a reason to,” Nevile adds.

“Christ the three of you are all the same.” I look at Kevin who shrugs back at me.

Neville stands and taps on the desk. “What do you say we go see what the ladies have cooked up this morning?”

“I should have taken that vacation day.”

“Too late now, Garrett. You’ve got work to do,” William claps me on the back.

“From here on out, you tell us if you need something. No more bullshit. Christ knows I can’t take Harriett being pissed at me for being an insensitive jerk.” Neville says before shaking my hand. “And Goddamnit, don’t you dare call me, Sir.”

ChapterNine

Lindsey

“Do you believe me now?” I ask Garrett while resting my head on his chest.

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