AllFreeNovel
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Hey Jake, I’m so sorry to do this, but I completely forgot I have a charity golf thing today with my dad.
Oh, no problem. What time? Maybe we can meet up after?
The tee off is at 3, and there’s a dinner after. I don’t think I’ll be able to. Could we meet up tomorrow? Oktoberfest is all weekend
Ethan and Olivia are already excited to head down today, I can’t push them off to tomorrow. And 2 days of festival is a bit much
I understand. Maybe we could do something else?
Maybe. Olivia has asked about the horses
Great! I can schedule another trail ride for us tomorrow, my treat
Ok, sounds good. We’ll see you tomorrow
Ok, have fun! Get a pretzel for me!
You got it.
“… Well?”Tessa had watched me texting furiously, but now she was out of mimosa and clearly overly curious.
“We’re going to take the kids on a trail ride tomorrow instead. Just a sec.” I shot off a text to the stable master, Rachel, and reserved three horses. “Okay, that’s done.”
“So, how’d he take it?”
I shrugged. “Good. He didn’t seem super upset.”
“It’s hard to read emotion over text.”
“Well, he didn’t say he was upset.”
“Do people normallysaythose sorts of things?”
A flicker of worry wormed through my chest. “He said he understood, and that the kids were excited. But he said Olivia brought up the horses, so I think they’ll be happy about that.”
“Yeah, it was a good save. Kids love horses.”
“See? Nothing to worry about.”
* * *
Dad pickedme up for the charity event at two, and the entire drive to Snowshoe he reminisced about the years I dated Zach, how he was looking forward to seeing him. Guilt unfurled like a flower in my chest, each comment from my dad like a petal that pressed against my lungs and made it harder for me to breathe.
It was clear that—despite all of my assurances we were done—he still expected Zach and me to eventually get back together. I’d never told him about Zach’s goals to absorb Aspen Ridge under the Snowshoe Ridge Resort(s) banner—he would have felt completely betrayed. I figured as long as it never came to pass, it wasn’t worth mentioning. Zach and I went our separate ways and Dad would forget all about it, no problem.
We hadn’t talked about it much lately, with all the focus on the coaching me to take over. So I didn’t quite realize he was still holding this candle for our former relationship until now.
“It’s been ages since we’ve seen Zachary,” he repeated for the fifth time as we turned off the highway. “You should bring him around more often, Izzy. He hasn’t seen all the improvements we’ve made since last season.”
“We’re not dating anymore, Dad,” I reminded him with a bit of an edge to my tone. I’d already said it several times in the twenty-minute drive.
“I know, honey, but I know how you two are. You separate but you always come back to each other. You’ve been like that since high school.”
“It’s been over a decade since high school. Aside from events like this, I haven’t seen Zach in a year.”
“Well, unlikesomepeople, Zach keeps in touch.” He pulled into a reserved spot in front of the golf club and opened his door. “Perhaps you’re just not giving him a chance to explain.”
I hopped out of the Yukon and followed him around to the back. “Dad, there’s nothing to explain. We’ve grown up, we’re different people who want different things. It’s nothing terrible, it just didn’t work out.”
