Page 131 of Worth the Fall
I looked at him, a blank stare on my face. “Yes?”
“Do you mind if we talk for a minute?”
Alan, Dean, and Jimmy all shared a look before practically speed-walking to the trailers.
Colton glanced between his parents, and Jo held up her hand. He nodded and kissed the top of my head. “Meet yainside.”
I didn’t respond; my gaze stuck on Dennis.
“Let’s take a walk,” he suggested, gesturing toward the lake.
Despite my internal interjections, I followed him like a dog as he started walking.
The sun had just settled below the horizon, but the air was heavy and humid as stars began darting across the sky.
“Allegra,” he started, but I held up my hand, my professional side slowly coming up.
“Dennis, may I?” I asked as we stopped a few feet in front of the water.
He didn’t respond.
I stared out across the water, so still you could mistake it for a piece of glass. “Why couldn’t you have told me you knew my dad?”
I could feel him tense up beside me, but he let out a long breath. “Allegra, I wanted to-I tried! I swear.”
I faced him, disappointment smeared across my face. “You tried?” I barely croaked out.
His eyebrows knit together in sympathy as he nodded.
“I did.”
I felt like I had been slapped as the memories poured into my mind.
In Oklahoma, in the Nash house, after my run, Dennis had the same look on his face that he had now. He had wanted to tell me something, but we were interrupted when Colton walked into the room.
Just a few days ago, standing by the pasture when Colton woke up in pain, Dennis had been dying to tell me something. He had opened and closed his mouth so many times, and yet not a single sound had escaped his lips before I asked for his advice.
He hadwantedto tell me that he knew my dad, but he just never had the perfect time.
I ignored the tear spilling down my cheek and prayed he would too.
No such luck.
He lifted his hand and wiped it away with a thumb. “Your dad was a great man.”
It was like a dam had been broken open.
I closed my eyes as more tears spilled.
“He would do anythin’ for anyone. He remembered even the little details about your life. He would’ve given you the shirt off his back if you asked,” he went on. “When he died, I felt like I lost a best friend.”
I opened my eyes, wanting to hear more.
“I thought about you and your mom all the time. I knew I should’ve kept better track of you, come to check if you were okay, heck, would it have killed me to go to the funeral?” He said, mostly to himself. He was beating himself up for trying to forget about the wife and little girl Clay Ford had left behind.
I didn’t respond, but I needed him to go on.
“I don’t want this to sound like an excuse, butknowin’ that he died in a rodeo made the reality of what we do too real.” Dennis ran a hand through his hair. “I wanted to pretend I was indestructible, that the rodeo wasn’t as dangerous as it was. Your dad’s death was like a wake-up call I ignored.”
