Chapter 15
Tristan
“Sadie?” I call out as I come around the chicken coop area.
I haven’t seen her all day, which is thanks to the sale that came through late yesterday. I had to deliver the horses about two hours away, so I left before she was awake.
However, after I got back, Sadie didn’t come to find me, and I miss her.
“In here, Dad!”
I smile and walk over to find her in the coop, putting up…wallpaper?
“What the hell is that?” I ask, already knowing but wondering whether I’m seeing it correctly.
Her bright smile and blue eyes meet mine. “Wallpaper for the girls!”
“The girls? As in the damn chickens?”
“Yup!”
I stare at her in disbelief. “You’re kidding me, right?”
She shakes her head. “I’m doing some upgrades and Grandad is going to help.”
“I told him to help you, but I didn’t think you’d be putting up wallpaper. Sadie, it’s a chicken coop. They just crap on the walls.”
“I know, but now they can crap on pretty walls. Plus, it’s easier to clean.”
I close my eyes, praying for deliverance. Being a girl dad is a very strange thing. “Where did you even get wallpaper?”
“Online.”
“And how did you buy it?”
She grins. “Grandad said I could use his card for anything I wanted to upgrade the coop.”
Oh, this is so incredibly bad. “And what else did you get?”
“Well, we’re going to build out the coop a little, paint it pink on the bottom, put a new floor in—he said it was gross.
I also got curtains for the nesting boxes, some toys, a xylophone, a swing so they can get some exercise.
” I cover my face with my hand. “Also, Grandad said the chickens needed a light, you know, like Lark has.”
Of course she wants to make the chicken coop like Lark’s.
“You realize this is absolutely ridiculous, right?”
She shrugs. “I’m also putting up photos, and we’re going to have a hen of the month.”
“Because that’s necessary?”
“I think so. It encourages egg production.”
I have no words. At least none that I’m going to say to my twelve-year-old. I will say them to my father, though.
“Of course it does.”
“I’m glad you agree. Anyway, we’re going to start working on things after I get the wallpaper up. Grandad said it’ll be easier.”
“Yes, well, he would know how to make things easier.” Since the man doesn’t make a single moment of my life easier. “How was school today?”
She glares at me. “Terrible. Like always, but since someone won’t let me be homeschooled, I have to suffer.”
“I know all about suffering,” I mutter under my breath. “Summer break is coming up in two days. You’ll be fine.”
“Say that to me when I’m in therapy in my twenties from my childhood trauma,” Sadie huffs. “I’m going to have so much to say.”
“Yes, you have it so rough that you’re wallpapering a chicken coop.”
She smiles and shrugs again. “Whatever, Daddy.”
Yeah, whatever is right. “I’m going to check on the new foals. Do you want to come?”
“I wish I could, but I’m very busy with this project. Can we maybe go see Cloud later?”
Sadie has been going to check on Cloud every day. She never goes into the stall—she just sits outside, usually against his door, and reads to him.
My sister told me about it a few months ago and begged me to let her at least have that. Veronica promised that she doesn’t go in, and the agreement she struck up with Sadie is that one of my sisters will tell me if she pushes her luck.
The fact that she’s asking me is a step in the right direction. “Sure, maybe we can go after dinner or when you’re done girlifying the chicken coop?”
Her smile is so bright, so warm, that I know I made the right choice. “Really, Daddy?”
“Yes, we can go see him. Not ride, but see him,” I clarify.
“Okay. After dinner.”
“Tristan!” Fallon yells from the office’s back porch.
“What?”
“The cops are here again!”
I groan. “Stay here and finish up. I’ll come back once Uncle Jimmy is gone.”
Sadie sighs heavily. “Sure thing, Dad.”
I head to the house and, sure enough, Jimmy, his partner, Beau Martinsdale, and Ryan Gatlin are there.
“What now, Jimmy?”
“It’s Officer Langston when I’m in uniform, Mr. Stone. We’re here, as you can guess, because something else has happened at the Gatlin farm.”
I stare right into Ryan’s eyes. “We are not responsible for whatever the hell is happening at your farm.”
His jaw tightens. “The hell you aren’t!”
Jimmy steps between us. “Tristan, someone flooded their barn, which forced them to cut the water supply off to get it to stop. They also had to clean out the entire barn, relocate the animals, and are dealing with minor property damage.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but it wasn’t us.”
Ryan shakes his head. “We know it was someone from this farm.”
“How?”
“Who the hell else would it be?”
I look to Jimmy. “I’m not going to put up with this harassment anymore. Is there any evidence that anyone in my family did it?”
Jimmy turns to Ryan. “Do you have proof it was Tristan or any member of the Stone family?”
“Yes.”
It’s bullshit. There’s no way they have proof, because we didn’t do it.
“What proof do you have?” Jimmy asks.
“We have a witness who came forward.”
“Who?” I ask. “A member of your family who would love nothing more than to see my family get locked up? No.”
“No.” Ryan’s smug smile makes me want to punch him. “They’re not related to us, at all. It’s Jeremy Lewis. He was on the farm and saw Tristan as he was exiting the barn.”
That makes no sense. Why would her ex even be on their farm? Lark told me about how she ended it with him. It’s why she got shit-faced in celebration with her friends.
Also, it’s literally impossible, since I wasn’t there.
“Bullshit,” I say on a laugh. “I never set foot on your farm! I was gone for the last six hours delivering six horses. When I got back, I had to put everything up. I checked in with Harper, Veronica, and then with Sadie.”
“So the only people who can verify your whereabouts are people you’re related to?” Ryan questions.
“No, I have other employees who can also attest to this.” I turn to Jimmy, not wanting to talk to that asshole. “You can talk to anyone here or the buyers I was with today. As I said, I’ve been busy or gone all day. When exactly do you think I had the time to do whatever was done to their barn?”
Jimmy writes this down. “What time did you return to the farm?”
“Maybe two o’clock. Harper and Fallon can verify that.
I’ve been working on repairs to the corral where we had two broken rails, and then doing my rounds and checking on the horses.
Just now I was out with Sadie. There’s no way I could’ve gotten to their barn and ruined anything. Jeremy is either lying or confused.”
“All right, I’m going to keep investigating, and if I find any evidence you were there, I’m going to charge you. You understand?”
“Yes, and there is no evidence, because it’s just not true.”
Ryan steps forward. “Arrest him now.”
Jimmy turns to Ryan. “I’m going to verify the story, and if it doesn’t check out, I’ll do what I have to.”
Ryan puffs his chest out, pointing his finger at me. “You stay off our fucking land, Stone, or I swear to God.”
“All right, all right.” Jimmy puts one hand on Ryan’s chest and the other on mine. “Enough. The goal is to figure out what’s going on, not a pissing match between you two. Ryan, you go back to your place. I’m going to interview everyone here, and then I’ll let you know what I find.”
Ryan clearly doesn’t like this decision, but he steps back, glaring at me as he gets in his truck.
Once he’s gone, Jimmy sighs. “I don’t think you’re doing this, but when he said they had a witness, my hands were tied.”
“It’s a lie. This is retribution for the other night.”
“What about the other night?”
I fill Jimmy in on the drive home with Lark, how her father saw me holding her up after she was drunk. I do not tell him how we almost kissed. I also leave out the two we did share on the ridge. None of that is pertinent to this situation.
He sighs, shaking his head. “You know someone posted the photo of you both.”
“What photo?”
“Dude, do you live under a rock?”
“No, I just work,” I counter.
Jimmy pulls out his phone and shows me the picture of us at the bakery, and then he slides it to one of me helping her in my truck.
“Fuck.”
He laughs. “Yeah, it’s going around. And the one of you guys dancing.”
I bet that’s why Jeremy was there.
“It’s nothing, you know that.”
“Yeah, I do, but you and I both know that the people in this town aren’t going to let it go.” He taps my chest. “I’m going to do my job now and clear your name. Do me a favor? Keep away from the damn Gatlins.”
If he only knew…
“All right, you ready?” I ask Sadie after we’re finished cleaning up from dinner. Harper cooked, and the rule in this house is that whoever eats helps clear dishes.
It was my turn to wash, and Sadie helped dry.
Dad took a nap because he’s apparently too old and feeble to do housework. Never mind we found him working in the coop with Sadie all afternoon, building a damn shelf for the chickens to shit on.
Feeble my ass.
She beams up at me. “You mean it?”
“A promise is a promise, isn’t it?”
“It is, and a Stone promise is hard as a rock.”
I grin. “That is true.”
Sadie and I walk out to the barn where Cloud is kept. I push the large doors open and watch as she makes her way to his stall. Immediately, my body tenses, but instead of rearing back or getting agitated, Cloud almost settles as Sadie approaches him.
“Hi, boy,” Sadie says, holding out an apple. “Here, I brought you a treat.”
The horse starts to shift a little, and I step forward, but Sadie looks back at me, shaking her head.
Every protective instinct in me is screaming. Demanding I go to my daughter, rip her away from the animal that almost killed her, but I stand still.
“Sadie,” I warn.
“Don’t be upset, Cloud. Daddy isn’t going to come close. It’s just us.”
I watch her soothing him with her voice. She continues to talk to him, telling him about her day, how she stood up for herself at school, and how proud he’d be. She talks about nonsense. What she ate, her choice of outfit, and, of course, the damn chickens.
Apparently she ordered some misting system so the chickens can cool themselves during the day.
I have no words.
I sit on the bench, giving her the time she needs, smiling at some anecdote she tells him, and I remember the day I gave her Cloud.
She was so happy. Her big blue eyes lit up, and she screamed and threw her arms around me and thanked me over and over. What a different time for us both.
After a few more minutes, she pets his nose, says good night, and comes over.
“I’m done.”
I nod once, pushing to my feet. “Feel better?”
She smiles. “I’m glad you came with me.”
“I am too.”
It was good to see.
“Can I tell you something, and do you promise not to get mad at me?” Sadie asks, studying me.
“I can promise I will try to not get mad.”
She sighs heavily. “I guess that’s a start.
” Her pause is long, and then finally she says her statement as one giant run-on without taking a breath.
“I’ve been coming out to see Cloud every day for months and months, and I don’t want you to get mad because I love him, and I don’t think he wanted to kill me. ”
I wait for her to peek up at me. “You just talk to him?”
“Yes.”
“Have you gone in the stall?”
“No. I promise.”
“Well, I’m not mad. I just wish you’d told me.”
Sadie huffs. “You are never calm, Dad. You’re always so mad at Cloud.”
“I’m not mad at the horse.” Her eyes tell me she’s not buying it. “Fine. I’m not always mad at the horse, but sometimes I am. I’m not mad at you.”
I feel like that should stand for something.
“Daddy, do you miss riding with me?” she asks as we step outside and push closed the barn doors.
For a moment my lungs don’t work as well as they had before. Her question literally knocks the breath out of me.
I let the answer settle inside of me before I give it.
I do miss riding with her. It was something we both loved to do, and it meant the world to me.
To share a love we both had for horses. At the same time, I worry if I answer her, telling her that part, she’ll use it as a way to get me to let her ride again.
As much as I want that, as much as I know it’s the right thing to do, my overwhelming fear of losing her crushes those wants.
And the only thing I can think to do is protect her the only way I know how.
I clear my throat and decide that the only thing I can ever do is tell her the truth. “I miss it, but I would miss you so much more if I lost you. You think that I’m doing it because I’m scared, and you’re right, Cupcake. I’m absolutely terrified.”
I squat in front of her as she stares down at me with her mother’s eyes. I lift my hand and rest it on her cheek. “You’re the world to me. You’re my everything, and when you were lying there, your eyes closed, looking like you were broken, well, I about died that day.”
“But…I’m fine.”
I smile. “Yeah, you’re fine right now, but you weren’t for a long time.”
I think back to the rehab, the pain, the way she fought so hard and the countless nights where she sobbed because she ached.
It killed me.
To watch her suffer. To know that something I gave her hurt her so much. The guilt was eating me alive.
It still does.
“I am now,” Sadie says. “Just think about it, Dad. I want to ride again. I want to ride with you again.”
Her soft smile tears at my heartstrings. “I’ll think about it.”
That’s all I can promise right now.
“All right. How about tomorrow you let me stay home from school, and I can help with the chores?”
I chuckle. “Nice try.”
“Hey, can’t blame a girl for wanting to get out of her version of hell.”
I ruffle her hair, which causes her to swat at me and duck to get away. “I guess I can’t.”
“I’ll forgive you this time.”
I raise a brow. “You will, huh?”
“Yeah, but only if you take me for ice cream.”
Considering how bad this entire night could’ve gone, that’s the least I can do.
“You got it, kid. Let’s go get ice cream.”