Page 55 of Unyielding
Josh didn’t know what had happened yet. I cringed but kept my face neutral. “I, uh, I’m hoping to catch up with her now. Do you know where she is?”
“Tack room, I think. I heard her coming in from a ride.”
It was unlike Shannon to ride so early in the day, which meant that she wasreallyupset. I couldn’t blame her.
“Hey, congrats.” Josh said as he crested the porch. “You actually had your own slide in her presentation. She gave you a lot of credit for the changes, and I’m guessing you’re the reason she was open to trying AI.”
It was a punch to my gut. I’dreallyfucked up this time.
“Okay, gonna head down there now. See ya later.”
I rehearsed what I was going to say to Shannon, my stomach twisting as I hoped she’d understand. When I peered into the tack room, her back was toward me, so I took a few seconds to collect myself before clearing my throat.
She jumped and turned quickly. Her eyes narrowed when she saw it was me.
“I don’t want to talk to you right now.” Shannon turned around and went back to reorganizing the saddles, which looked to me like busywork. “You should leave.”
“Just give me a minute to explain what happened. It’s not what you think.”
She faced me with venom in her eyes. “Fine. Explain.”
I walked in and closed the door behind me. I didn’t want any interruptions, or—if she started yelling—any witnesses.
“I know you’re upset about what happened with Becca and Sunshine. Trust me, I am too. Ineverimagined she’d go buy her. She doesn’t work with warmbloods.”
“Then why did you tell her?” Shannon asked. Her face looked blotchy. I knew that she’d been crying—and that it was my fault.
I sighed. “It was the end of my appointment with her, and she kept pinging me with questions about you, and about us, and I was tired. She wore me down, and I figured if she needed a little gossip, telling her about you buying the horse was no big deal. Sunshine wasn’t the kind of horse she’d ever have any reason to buy. Plus, you told me that the sale was as good as done. I figured it was better to mention that than some of the other big stuff you’ve been up to, you know?”
Shannon didn’t say anything.
“I just want you to know that I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She sniffled loudly and I could tell that she was fighting hard to keep from crying again in front of me.
“You do realize thateverythingthat I’ve been working toward involved that mare, right?”
I nodded and bowed my head.
“And that because of youandBecca, everything is blown to bits.”
“Yeah, and I feel awful about it. But I was thinking that with my connections I could help you?—”
“Stop.” She held up her hand to silence me. “You knew that Becca and I didn’t get along. I told you how she treated me in school and that it’d continued ever since, and you still told her about Sunshine. Of all of the people you could’ve told, you toldher. The one person in the whole county who’d go out of her way to screw me over. And you gave her the tools to do exactly that. Sunshine was the key to growing my business.EverythingI’d planned was tied to that particular horse. What am I supposed to do now? Because starting over to find another mare isn’t really an option right now.”
Her pained voice echoed in the room.
“Look, I fucked myself by telling her about it too. At this point none of the ranchers trust me. Thanks to what you told them, they think I can’t keep secrets.”
“Oh, hold on there, Declan. Walter and some of the others overheard Becca bragging about the purchase. She threw all the credit on you for telling her, and when Walter asked for confirmation, what was I supposed to do? Lie? And now, you thinkIneed to be sad foryou? BecauseIconfirmed what he heard Becca just say? Oh no, no, no. You need to rethink that, Declan. If you’re in trouble, it’s because of what youdid, not what I said.”
“I didn’t think it was a big deal, okay?” I finally exploded. “You said the deal was as good as done and that Harmony Hill knew you were going to buy Sunshine! Maybe you should direct your anger at them for going back on your verbal agreement?”
“Don’t try to get out of it, Declan. Itwouldhave been a done deal if you hadn’t told Becca and her deep pockets! She told me she made them a cash offer over the asking price. I can’t compete with that!” she shot back at me. “To make it worse, that was the night you basically stood me up to go be with her.”
“I wasworking,” I exclaimed. “Shit, Shannon, I thought we were past this!”
The room went quiet while we each tried to look everywhere but at one another, until I couldn’t take it.
