My words seemed of little consolation, but I didn’t really know what else I could say. I was sorry. I wouldn’t do it again and I certainly appreciated all that he had risked to have me at his home and keep me safe while I waited to testify at the trial. My eyes looked down at the grown to avoid the deep gaze of Sid. I knew I had disappointed him and it felt just as bad as when I had disappointed my own father when I was younger.
“Sid, I don’t know what else to say. Sarah invited me to go with her to get a saddle and I said yes. I wasn’t thinking.”
I decided to leave out the part where I wanted to kiss her. I also didn’t mention that I totally knew I shouldn’t have been leaving the ranch and I just wanted more alone time with Sarah. The idea had seemed very harmless and our trip had been totally uneventful, I hoped that Sid would be able to forgive me.
“No, you weren’t thinking and you just put yourself and my daughter at risk. I don’t know who it is that you are testifying against, but they certainly could have followed you to Montana. You don’t think that the FBI is all that careful in their planning and dropping off of witnesses, do you? The only thing that was keeping you safe was that no one else in the state of Montana had seen your face because you were here on my ranch. Now you have risked your own safety and put my family at risk. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep you here any longer.”
His words cut through me like a dagger. I didn’t want to leave. I was comfortable on the ranch; I felt safe there. I had made the mistake and it was my consequences to live with; but I didn’t want to leave the ranch. As panic washed through my body, I had to think of some sort of plan that would convince Sid to let me stay on the ranch. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anything except to give him a sincere apology and hope for the best.
“Sid, I’m sorry. I promise it won’t happen again. Please let me stay here. The trial has got to be getting closer and I’ll be gone then, but I like it here. I want to stay.”
Sid looked perplexed at the situation as he tried to decide if he was going to let me stay there or not. My odds weren’t looking all that great until Mrs. Miller poked her head into the office and offered her advice on the situation. Up until that very moment, I would have put all my money on the idea that Sid was going to get rid of me, but when Meredith looked in the door, she had a bright smile on her face, and I knew it was going to be all right.
“Sid, let the poor boy get back to work,” she said with a smile and then closed the door.
I smiled back at her and something in her eyes told me that she knew what was going on. Perhaps Sid had filled her in on who I was when he couldn’t find me and Sarah. Perhaps Meredith Miller had known who I was the whole time? But either way, her comment seemed to be enough to push Sid in the direction that favored me staying on at the ranch.
Sid loved his wife and he respected her opinion. It was clear that because she told him to let me stay on the ranch, Sid was going to cut me some slack.
“One more chance, kid. This is it; if there are any other incidents, I won’t wait around for an expl
anation. You’ll be shipped back to the FBI and they can find you another place to hide out until the trial.”
“I understand.”
“And help Sarah with that damn horse. I need to ride it out to the river next week a few times and none of the other horses are up for that long of a trek.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll do my best. But the animals don’t seem to like me all that much.”
“Stop letting them be in charge. In whatever you did before you got here, would you have let some kid off the street boss you around and bite you?”
I laughed at his analogy. Of course, I wouldn’t have; I was a strong, tough CEO.
“No, I wouldn’t have.”
“Then show the animals that you’re a strong leader. If you show weakness, they’ll bite you,” he said as he motioned for me to get out of his office. “And don’t ever worry me like that again.”
Chapter Six
Sarah
Garrett kept his distance from me after my father yelled at him. I didn’t really understand why my father had been so angry though. Certainly, he had taken a ranch hand into town before, so it wasn’t that big of a deal for me to do the same. But sometimes there was no reasoning with my father; he just got it in his head that something wasn’t right and he went with it. My mother, on the other hand, she was much more reasonable.
“He’s a good guy, mom, I can tell by talking to him. Is father really afraid that I’ll get mixed up with a ranch hand? I thought he liked Garrett?”
“Your father doesn’t care who you like or don’t like as long as you’re safe.”
I waited for her to continue on and explain to me what it was about Garrett that made me unsafe. He was a hard-working guy; he actually worked harder than many of the men. But as the weeks went on and he avoided me more and more, I started to realize my father must have threatened him that he would lose his job if he was flirting with me or something. I really didn’t know what my father had said to him on that day when we returned from the store, I only knew that Garrett and I barely flashed smiles at each other when we passed throughout the day.
I had finally had enough and went to my mother to discuss the situation. I had to know what it was that my father knew about Garrett and why Garrett was then avoiding me. Just when I had finally come around to considering talking to him, Garrett was pulling away from me and not interested in talking to me.
“So what about Garrett makes me unsafe? Explain it to me, because I don’t get it.”
“Sarah, not everything in this world needs an explanation.”
“Well this does. Garrett’s been here a few months now, there’s only a half dozen men who have been here longer. Sure, he sucked at caring for the animals at first, but he’s gotten a lot better. So much better that Forest has him working as his second-hand man.”
“Sarah, I’m not going into this. Just stay away from the man if that’s what your father wants.”