Chapter 6 - daniel had spent too long treating tyler like a boy
Daniel’s greatest mistake was not loving his son too much.
It was confusing youth with harmlessness long after Tyler was old enough to understand consequences.
Tyler was funny.
Athletic.
Popular with clients.
Good with difficult horses when he chose to be.
Daniel saw himself in him.
That mattered more than he wanted to admit.
At twenty, Daniel had also been reckless.
He broke rules.
Rode horses he had been told not to ride.
Crashed a truck into a fence after drinking beer.
His father made him work off every dollar.
Daniel grew up.
So when Margaret complained about Tyler, Daniel kept seeing his own younger self.
“He’ll settle down.”
“He needs responsibility.”
“You treated me the same way.”
Margaret finally answered:
“I corrected you. I didn’t pretend you were harmless.”
Daniel had ignored the distinction.
His son’s charm made it easy.
If an employee complained, Tyler called it misunderstanding.
If Margaret objected, Tyler said she hated losing control after the wheelchair.
When Megan mentioned Willow, Tyler told Daniel she had a crush on him and was angry because he rejected her.
Daniel hated himself for believing even part of that.
Megan later told him:
“I stopped talking because every time I said something, Tyler already had a story about why I said it.”
That sentence stayed with Daniel.
Tyler did not only break rules.
He preemptively discredited whoever might report him.
And Daniel, without meaning to, helped.
After the garden incident, Daniel did not defend himself by saying Tyler manipulated him.
He told Margaret:
“You were right about him.”
She answered:
“That isn’t the part you need to understand.”
Daniel looked at her.
“The part you need to understand is why I had to become this humiliated before you stopped asking whether I was being unfair.”
He had no answer.
Margaret sat in the guest bathroom while a nurse helped clean mud from her face and arms.
Daniel stood outside.
“I’m sorry.”
She did not respond immediately.
Then:
“For today?”
“For a lot longer than today.”
That was closer to what she needed.
Because Tyler’s shove had lasted seconds.
May you like
Daniel’s minimization had lasted years.
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