Ryder
She needed space to think, and I understood that better than any of the others probably did, given how much of my own life had been shaped by learning to sit with hard decisions alone before I trusted myself enough to act on them. So I didn't push, didn't hover, just let three days pass with the same steady presence I always tried to offer, patrols and quiet check-ins on Micah, nothing different on the surface even though everything underneath felt like it was holding its breath.
I found her on the third evening sitting alone by the pool, feet dangling in the water, staring up at a sky just beginning to darken into evening. I almost turned back, not wanting to intrude on whatever she was working through, but she caught sight of me before I could retreat and waved me over.
"You don
