“Davis?” Goose noticed.
“Maybe.”
“‘He could almost beat me. Just almost, Tater,’ Uncle Garret would say.”
“He called you Tater?” Rip looked about ready to burst into tears.
“He called me Tater.” Tate smiled. “‘Maybe I shoulda let him win just once,’ he said one time. It was almost…wistful, I guess.”
“Wistful,” Shelby repeated.
“Uncle Garret never let me win. He was never in a relationship, either, not that I know of. Never married. It’s sad if he…My pop, Uncle Garret’s brother, he’s not exactly accepting of that lifestyle, that orientation.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks, Patrick. Much of the family, Pop’s generation and one back, too, they’re not. Uncle Garret might have had a tough time. In hindsight, maybe my father knew. Maybe they were estranged because of it, several of the siblings a
