Pete sighed.
“Ray hired some roofing friends. He’s spent weeks working on it.”
“Without permission.”
“He thinks of this place as family land.”
“Eso no lo hace suyo”.
Pete looked toward the lake.
Then he said something I never expected.
“I was there that day.”
I turned.
“What day?”
“When your father left you beside the road.”
My chest tightened.
Pete explained that he’d been riding in the back of Dad’s extended-cab truck.
Ray had told him he intended to teach me a lesson.
Pete assumed he meant grounding me or yelling at me.
He never imagined Ray would abandon me.
“Pero lo hizo”, le dije.
Pete nodded.
“And you didn’t stop him.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“No. I didn’t.”
I looked at him.
“Eighteen years, Pete. You had eighteen years to tell someone the truth.”
He couldn’t answer.
Before leaving, I told him that Diane’s rights would be protected.
