I sigh. “It was a farm. An apple farm. It was down in the valley. It was demolished a long time before I came back.”

“And building this is healing?” Fisher asks.

“A members-only resort is a really good business idea,” I say, my voice a little guarded.

“Right,” Worth says. “And you could have done it anywhere in the US. But you bought back the land your father gambled away and have built your kingdom in exactly the same spot.”

I let his words settle.

“So sue me,” I say. I don’t understand why this is a problem for any of them.

“I’m asking whether or not it’s helped. I’m your friend, Byron. It’s not a criticism. I want to know if you feel better. If you’ve laid ghosts to rest. If you’re ready for your future.”

I lower my defenses. Worth isn’t trying to hurt me. I know he isn’t. But he’s telling me truths I’ve been avoiding. I could have built the Colorado Club anywhere. But I settled on Star Falls.

“I think it’s only now that I’m righting some of the wrongs in my brain,” I say. “I avoided going into town for a long time. Last time I was here, my father’s gambling habit was the center of all the gossip, and I hated the place for it. Now I see it a little differently.”

“Differently how?” Jack asks.

“I think the people of Star Falls care about each other. I think they must have been horrified when the farm was repossessed. They weren’t being malicious. Not most of them anyway. I labelled myself as Mack Miller’s son as much as they did. I was running from something I couldn’t get away from. I’m always going to be his son.”

Fisher pats me on the back in a silent show of support. “So a place you’ve been running from has welcomed you back with open arms.”

“And I’m back older and wiser.”

“Are you back for good?” Jack asks.

I shake my head. “I don’t know,” I confess. All I can think about is what Rosey’s plans are. Where does she see herself this time next year? Is she going to want to spend her life at the Colorado Club? We’ve never talked about her future. Only about her past. But I want to know. I want to know everything about her. At first I thought I had to resist her, but now I’m craving more and more of her. She’s not a woman I want to resist anymore.

Since I’m not ready to get into all of that with the guys—at least not yet—I tell them, “I’ll always need to spend chunks of the year here unless I sell the place.”

The guys exchange looks.