Letting Go (Mitchell Family #1)(11)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I reached my hand over and placed it on her arm. “Hey, they will come around.”

She just nodded and I could see that she was starting to cry again.

I needed to change the subject.

“Savanna, I think Sam and I are going to go fishin’ later. You think you might want to come with us?” I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders but never looked up at me. “You don’t have to babysit me Colt. I think I am being enough of a burden on you. I will probably just go out and spend time with Daisy.”

I had almost forgotten about her horse. “We could bring her with us. I was only going out to the hole. I can ride Thunder and Sam can get some exercise.”

She shrugged again.

“Tell ya what. I am going to make us something to eat and you can decide if you want to come with us, or stay here. Just so you know, you are never a burden. Did you ever think I might enjoy the company?” I asked while heading out of the bedroom. I didn’t give her a chance to reply.

Chapter 7

Savanna

Sam was a dog.

I shook my head and lay back down in the bedroom. My body was still achy, but being with Daisy and at the hole seemed like it would be a good time. I didn’t want to be in public, but the hole was at the back of the property on the farm and I knew that we would be the only two people there. Nobody would be there to bother or judge me. Besides, Daisy would really like the ride. She was cooped up during the week and I hated it.

I climbed off of the bed and located my shorts. There was no use trying to salvage the top I wore last night, so I just left Colt’s t-shirt on. I looked down at it and saw that it was just a white t-shirt with a beer bottle on the right breast. I was sure the back had some saying or logo, but I never bothered to look. I found my boots near the bathroom door and made my way out into the kitchen.

“Can I still tag along?” I asked.

“Hell yeah. Hey, I got you something at the store.” He said not answering my question. He reached into the bag and handed me a small bag. Inside I found a toothbrush, a hairbrush, and a pack of hair bands.

I looked up at him curiously. “How did you know I was going to stay here for sure?”

“I didn’t, but I wanted you to have some things in case you did. Now as far as a new bra and panties, well I wasn’t about to buy that.” He joked.

I shook my head and walked into the bathroom with the bag. After I looked in the mirror I realized how horrible my hair looked. I had to wet the brush to get out all of the knots. I needed a shower, but since we were going out to ride the horses and fish, it was kind of a waste. After throwing my hair up into a ponytail, I managed to brush my teeth. My lips were sore and the toothpaste stung when it entered into the cuts. I looked horrible and couldn’t understand how Colt was keeping a straight face. He hadn’t even said a word about it.

When I walked out of the bathroom, Colt was nowhere to be found. The bag of food that he had made was also gone, so I hurried out toward the barn. It was a surprise to see Daisy all saddled up waiting for me just outside. Colt was coming out of the barn with Thunder and Sam was jumping and running around like crazy.

“You ready to ride?” He asked.

I started to get up on Daisy, but the pain was so bad that I couldn’t get my legs up into the stirrup. Colt saw my dilemma and hopped down off of Thunder. “Hold up Savanna. Let me just help you with that.”

I put my hand on his shoulder and let him pick me up so that I could get my foot hooked in the stirrup. His hand was on my butt as he helped get me onto the horse. It was nothing to get excited about, but for some reason I had noticed and it made me smile.

“Thanks Colt. I didn’t realize how sore my legs were.” I admitted.

He hopped back up on Thunder and lightly gave her a kick. “Yah.” He said as they took off in front of me. I followed suit and soon we were away from the farm and making our way through the woods.

I hadn’t been out here in a few weeks, but I knew these trails like the back of my hand. Daisy and I explored every inch of these woods and the hole was our favorite spot to relax. There was a large patch of grass just a few feet away from the pond, so that Daisy could graze while we fished or sometimes swam. Going here with Colt made me think about being here with Ty. I am sure that he didn’t intend for it to bring up sad memories, but there was little in my life that didn’t remind me of Ty.

When we got to the opening in the woods, I spotted the pond. It was funny how as we were approaching I could see the turtles and frogs jumping in the water when they heard us coming. The pond itself was pretty big and years ago Ty’s family had anchored a floating dock in the center. We would get a bunch of people out here and sunbathe for hours out there. Just seeing the dock reminded me of last summer being here with Ty.

We had come out for a swim, but ended up having wild sex on that dock. When we heard his father calling, we jumped in the water and hid under the dock until he finally left. The worst part was that our clothes were laying on the grass at the water’s edge. He either noticed and was embarrassed or never even saw them there, because he never mentioned it to either of us.

Colt had already jumped down from Thunder and was tying his line to a tree near a patch of shade and grass. The horse immediately started ripping out large chunks of the fresh green grass. Colt was standing there waiting to help me off of my horse. Once again, I felt funny about him touching me but I knew it was necessary. I got Daisy hooked to a tree close to him, but not close to where they would get tangled up.

Last year Ty’s dad had bought one of those giant plastic sheds and put it at the edge of the pier so that we didn’t have to carry all of the rods and floats back to the barn. Colt knew exactly where to go, and I wondered when the last time he visited was. Obviously he had been here and I didn’t know.

“How did you know we had the rods here?” I asked.

“Well, I looked for them in the barn and when I didn’t find them I asked Harvey.” He explained.

Harvey was the farm hand that lived in a trailer on the property. I was pretty sure he didn’t have legal papers to be in the country. Most of his family was still in Columbia and Ty had mentioned that he sent most of what he made to them.

“Oh, I was thinking that you visited and didn’t say hi.” I confessed.

Colt just laughed and shook his head.

He picked out two good poles and handed one to me. “Here this one is pretty good. Do you need me to bait it for you?” He asked.

“Hell no! I can do this with my eyes closed.” I said confidently.