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He nods, “That bad. But I think that you can help him.”
“Neil,” I smile. “Is that some hint?
Neil chuckles, “Well, you know that old saying, ‘if the shoe fits, wear it.’ He’s going to move back to the ranch for a while. I was hoping you would help me keep him busy when he’s here so he doesn’t feel the need to drink so much.”
“Neil!”
“No, no I don’t mean anything improper. Just go riding with him. Get him using the swimming pool again. Maybe get him to teach you to shoot pool.”
“Of course, Neil I’ll love to do that. The truth is I get sort of lonely here on the ranch. I always end up doing everything alone when you’re out with your friends.”
“I noticed that. Are they still treating you as if we’re an item?”
I nod my head.
Neil starts to slowly eat his chicken and says, “Well maybe it’s better if you move to the cottage at the back of the house. I just hated coming home to an empty home before, but since I’ve started being a bit sociable. I don’t mind it so much. Especially if Neil moves in.”
“Why should we make changes so that people don’t talk?”
He sighs, “Because we live in a small town. As much as we can say that they should mind their own business. I don’t want you to be lonely and unhappy anymore. I want you to have a social life and friends other than Autumn and me.”
“And Isaac?” I chime in.
“Yes, that’s all I ask. Just be his friend, he could do with one.”
I nod and change the subject, “Isaac doesn’t know what a great meal he’s missing especially the chicken sauce.”
It’s as though Neil has become my surrogate father. I enjoy meals with him. He’s always so calm and pleasant. The memories of my father at the dinner table are not so pleasant.
“Oh, I forgot to ask how Autumn is doing?”
“Neil, she is the love of my life since you gave her to me. I love riding her around the ranch.”
“When Isaac comes back then maybe you guys could go out for rides. He loves riding Buckskin.’
“Sounds good, I can’t wait for him to move in.”
He abruptly stops eating and says “Sorry, I can’t eat another bite, Olivia. I’ve had an emotional day. I’m going to head up for a bit and read, then take a nap. Thanks for keeping an old man company at lunch.”
“You don’t have to thank me. It’s my pleasure.”
Isaac’s a hottie. I bet he doesn’t have problems attracting beautiful women in Houston. I look forward to spending some time with him.
“Expect nothing, and you’ll never get hurt,” Mom used to say to me. I’ll take her words to heart when it comes to Neil. I’ll try to keep him distracted if that’s what Neil wants and besides it’s the least I can do for him. He’s given me a home and a job. Besides I could do with some company, even if it just happens to be a hottie like Isaac.
Chapter 3
Isaac
I wake up with a killer hangover. I must have got up at least three times during the night to pee. Every time I kept thinking about the old man and what he wanted me to do. Fucking, marry some girl that I don’t even know. What?
So, that she’ll either kill herself or even worse just end up dying of some disease. That’s the trait in our family, which is why it’s only granddad and I left. The rest are all gone and buried, which is why I drowned myself in work. That was the only way to get rid of the pain. Not thinking or feeling anything, just working until that day. The time that nothing could take away that pain, that’s when I found my relief. The one thing that helped me make it through the day and that was to get drunk.
There’s a knock on my bedroom door. I’m in my room in darkness. Just the way I like it, because I just need to be alone.
“What?”
I blurt out thinking that it can’t be my cleaner or my maid. I told both of them to take the week off. I thought that somehow the old man would see things my way and I’ll be at the office all week. The last thing I expected him to do was move me in for three months with some girl that he has working on the ranch.
