Ryder
I drove out to the coast alone a few days after the groundbreaking, something I'd been putting off since this whole ordeal began, needing to see my father in person rather than settle for another brief phone call about old contracts and buried history.
He greeted me at his door with the same weathered warmth he always had, retirement having softened some of the hard edges that had defined him during his years running the club, though his eyes remained as sharp as ever, studying me carefully as I stepped inside.
"You look different," he said, settling into his usual chair on the porch overlooking the water. "Lighter, somehow."
"A lot's happened since we last talked," I said, taking the seat across from him.
I told him everything, start to finish. The fire, the debt, Zoe walking i
