Letting Go (Mitchell Family #1)(58)
Author: Jennifer Foor

He started crying.

After I tried to grab him again, he got out of the car and leaned against it as he just let go. I gave him a couple minutes before I climbed out. He tried to wipe away the tears as I approached. I didn’t hesitate as I reached both of my arms around his and put my head against his chest. I didn’t say a word. There was nothing I could say. I couldn’t change anything for him and I wasn’t going to lie and give him false hope. We were over. He lost his ability and was in trouble with the law. He made those choices himself. I couldn’t fix him.

When he finally put his arms around me, I knew he was at least calming down. He kissed the top of my head. “I am never going to find someone as good as you. I f**ked up so bad.”

I looked up at him. “There is someone out there for you Ty. When you find her, you will know. You won’t want to imagine your life without her and you won’t ever want to be with anyone else.”

“I already felt that way, but I let her go.” He said sadly.

Our faces were about six inches apart. I could feel him breathing. His hands cupped the side of my face. I couldn’t look at him so I closed my eyes.

As I felt our noses come in contact, I refused to open my eyes and see him crying. “Ty please don’t do this.” I whispered.

His lips brushed against mine. “One last kiss. Say good bye to me Van.”

I felt his hands running though my hair and knew at any moment he would pull my lips against his. “I love him. I can’t kiss you.”

He didn’t let go. He pressed his forehead on mine. “It was worth a try.”

When I opened my eyes, I saw the tears on his cheek. I took my fingers and wiped them off. His beautiful brown eyes and long eyelashes stared at me. “You have to let go of me.”

“I don’t want to let go.” He answered by pulling me closer to him.

“I mean you have to let go of me in general. I need to know you are going to be fine if I decide to move here.”

He rested his head on my shoulder. “What if I can’t let go? What if I refuse to?”

“Please Ty. I need the chance to be happy. It isn’t like you will never see me again. The distance may repair our friendship.”

He pulled away from me, finally letting me take a step back. “Do you really want to still be my friend. I think I have proved that I am a piece of crap liar on several occasions.”

“I couldn’t bare not being your friend Ty. We have been friends since elementary school. I can’t just let you go like that.” I grabbed his hand and got him to look at me again. “A part of me will always love you, it just isn’t how you want to be loved. I’m not trying to punish you. I just want you to know how I feel honestly.”

“I know.” Finally, his demeanor changed. “We better get back on the road if we want to make it by dinner time.”

Without saying another word about our conversation or embrace, we both got back in the car and started driving again.

I trusted that Ty knew exactly where we were driving, but as we pulled up to an extremely large ranch, I was a bit confused.

“Are we stopping here for directions or something?” I asked.

Ty just laughed and shook his head. “You don’t know do you?”

“Don’t know what?”

“Van, this is Colt’s parents place. From the look on your face I would say you had no idea.”

I looked around as I was driving up the paved lane. White fencing surrounded both sides that led up to a huge two story white house. Behind the house were four giant silos, and five tremendous buildings. Cattle were in every pasture. In all the time that Ty and I had been together, he never mentioned this place or how much money they had.

“They own all of this?” I asked while driving up the long lane.

Just as I said it, I noticed the large sign stating it was the “Mitchell Ranch”.

“Before you get your panties in a bunch, you need to realize that Colt doesn’t care about the money. He went to college and got his business degree. I think he does the finances for quite a few farms if I’m not mistaken. This is all his dad’s. Colt had always been independent. I don’t think he was deliberately keeping it from you, I just think he doesn’t want to be known for it.”

“He said he built a cabin on the property somewhere. Can we see it from here?” I asked.

Ty started laughing. “Van they own like five thousand acres. You have to drive to his place.”

I felt like I didn’t know Colt. It probably wasn’t the big deal I was making it out to be, but I felt like this was something he should have told me. Obviously, asking me to move here, I would have found out.

After telling me where to go, we pulled up at the front of the house. Ty hobbled out of the car and I followed behind him.

Chapter 32

Colt

When I got the call about my father, I knew I had to get the first flight out. Through the years, my father and I had grown closer. As a kid, I didn’t have a lot of respect for the man. He let the money and his success dictate our lives.

I never cared about the money. I never wanted new cars from him, or to be sent to some elite schools. I hated that my friends knew me as the rich guy, so when I went to college, I tried to reinvent myself and be independent. My father had a fit. He said I was ashamed of the dynasty he had created for our family. He didn’t understand I wanted different things for my future.

It never occurred to me that something could happen to him. We had such animosity between us that I couldn’t stay away and not let him know how much he meant to me. Money or not, he was my father and I loved him. He may be hard around the edges, but he was the only one I had.

Savanna and I hadn’t left things on good terms. I wanted to keep callin’ her, but she wasn’t returnin’ my calls as it was. I needed to talk to her, to tell her that I would wait for her as long as it took. Being at the hospital didn’t make it any easier. I couldn’t have my phone in the room and it killed me not to go outside and check for my messages.

My dad wasn’t doing well. I didn’t get the exact details of the fall, but apparently he was on a ladder out in one of the barns when somethin’ caused the ladder to fall. He had ruptured his spleen. Now, I didn’t know too much about that part of the body, but my mother said it was serious and that he could die.

He had been in surgery since I arrived and all I could do was stay by my mother’s side and support her. She had loved my father since she was a teenager. I had been an accidental pregnancy that created a twenty five year marriage. I don’t think either of my parents regretted being together. They still held hands and wanted to always be around each other. My mother was a wreck. Finally, I contacted their primary care doctor and he prescribed something to help with her nerves. She was reluctant to take it, but he assured her she would still feel normal with no crazy side effects.