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to help you? How the hell would I have known that?” The impatience in his voice was only too clear.  Of course he was right, but his tone only served to irritate me, making me respond in kind.
    “I don’t know what you know,” I snapped back.  “Why the hell did you suggest I go to Cooper’s then? Am I supposed to believe that was just coincidence?”
    “Uh, considering it’s the only garage in Cheyenne, yeah, I think that’s a reasonable assumption,” he retorted, his tone mocking.  
    God, he was infuriating.  I fumed for a moment, not finding anything withering to shoot back, and then tried another subject.  “So, how long have you been VP?”
    “About a year and a half.”
    “What happened to Scully?”
    “Killed in a gun battle.”
    That brought me up short.  Scully had always been really kind to me.  “Oh,” I murmured, my eyes pricking a little bit.  “That’s terrible.”
    “Yeah,” he agreed.  “Now shut up and let me drive.”
     I rolled my eyes and shot him a look of disgust, but his gaze remained fixed on the road and he didn’t notice. After a few minutes, we turned onto the small street my house was on. Ryker slowed up to the shake shingled house and pulled into the driveway.  Before I knew it, he was out of the cab and collecting my bags.  I leaped out of the cab and slammed the door. “I can get...,” I began.
    “Leave it.”  He grabbed my duffel and my day pack and turned toward the house.  I jogged after him and watched him open the front door, noting with interest that he had a key.  The screen door slammed shut behind him, and I rolled my eyes again as I opened it and stepped inside.
    The living room was almost completely different from how I remembered it.  The walls were painted a light sage green now, and the furniture was all new, probably chosen by Randi.  To the back, the dining room table was the same, but the chairs had been replaced.  A large, cumbersome chandelier was gone, and in its place was more modern track lighting.  The effect was disconcerting, but I had to admit, it looked better than the worn, antiquated look that the space had when I lived there.
    While I was taking stock of all the changes, Ryker had gone to my room and dumped my stuff.  I continued down the hall after him and found him standing in the center of it, next to a queen-sized bed with a patterned comforter that was also new.  I looked around my former room. All of the marks of my teenaged self had been removed.  There were no more posters of boy bands, no more pictures of adolescent me with friends, no more stuffed animals.  A wave of sadness washed over me.  “It all looks so different,” I said in a small voice.
    For the first time, Ryker’s tone seemed to soften. “Yeah, I imagine it must be strange being back and seeing things change.” His eyes flicked away, as if acknowledging that he was one of the changes.
    “It really is. Seven years... is a long time, I guess.  I don’t know what I expected,” I admitted.  “It’s all just a little... overwhelming.”
    “You really haven’t been back here at all in seven years?” Ryker mused.  He turned and looked at me curiously. I shook my head.  “Why not?” His voice was inquisitive, but not harsh.
    I considered trying to explain, but the thought just made me tired.  “Long story,” I said.  “The short version is, Dad sent me away because he didn’t think the club was a good place for a teenage girl. And I was so mad that he sent me away to live with my aunt, that I decided to punish him for it.”
    “Until now,” Ryker added.
    “Until now,” I agreed.
    “And you really didn’t know he and Randi had gotten married.” It was a statement rather than a question.
    “No.  I really didn’t.”
    “I’m sorry,” he said softly.
    “Don’t be,” I replied.  “It’s not your fault.  And it’s not so much that he’s remarried... It’s just...” I shrugged.  “I don’t know.”
    “One