All the cuts and bruises from a lifetime there have been brought back by my conversation with Marion. My body aches. I feel the bruises on my soul. But this Colorado air is helping them heal.

Maybe helping Marion will help me too. I might have gotten out of Oregon, but there are some things I need to face before I can truly escape.

The first is transferring the trailer back into Frank’s name. I just don’t know how to start the process.

Probably with a call to Frank.

It feels like I’ve kept Oregon at bay for as long as possible, and now it’s seeping in at the sides. I need to face it—clean up the mess I left. Be the adult I’ve been waiting to become.

TWENTY-FIVE

Byron

I’m not often nervous, but showing my three best friends around the Colorado Club is as close as it gets.

“Now that’s what I call a money shot,” Fisher says as we come down the stairs into Blossom. “You’re just above the trees.”

“Right,” I say. “That was the plan. So we get the view into the valley.”

“It’s really beautiful, Byron,” Worth says.

I push my hands into my pockets.

“Not so much the mountain-man look,” Fisher says, nodding at my jeans and flannel shirt. “Are those… steel-toed boots?”

I shrug. “You want me to put on a Tom Ford suit?”

None of us are in suits. Worth, Fisher, and Jack are wearing what they’d normally wear on the weekend in New York. We’re not dressed so differently.

“I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore,” Jack says. “This is Star Falls, Colorado.”

“I’m impressed you remembered,” I say. “I didn’t think your brain would retain anything outside the 212 area code.”

“Oh don’t worry,” he says. “As soon as I reach thirty thousand feet, I will have forgotten all about this trip.”

I chuckle. “Should we eat? You can give me your honest opinion on the food.”

We slide into one of the pink booths overlooking the valley, and a sense of pride rushes through me. I like showing my friends what I’ve built here. It’s so different from when I was growing up. The farm wasn’t a place I brought my friends. It was a place to work. A place that felt like home until it wasn’t.

“I’m guessing it’s not going to be as good as the wings we had at Grizzly’s.”

“They were heaven on a plate,” Jack says. “Almost worth living outside of Manhattan for.”

“We can try all the restaurants. This one is fine dining.”

“As long as we can go back to Grizzly’s tonight,” Fisher says. “I wonder if we can take some wings back to New York with us.”

“What about you?” Worth says from opposite me. “You think you’ll come back with us?”