Half a Patch, Whole Regret

I helped found the Blue Cascades MC. I was its first VP. I put my own hands on the table we built. Then Roarke brought a tattoo artist into the clubhouse and made her his old lady without a vote, and the brothers chose him. They always choose him. I resigned my seat. I moved to Portland. I learned to sleep through sirens. Three years later, wildfire season puts us on the same dispatch line for forty-one hours. He's out in the Cascades with a crew. I'm in a headset in a windowless room. We talk logistics. We talk evacuation routes. He tells me Siobhan left two years ago. I tell him to watch his sector. In October I drive to Bend to see the school supply drive I started run without me. He asks me to sit on the board. I say yes to the board. I say no to him. Twice. The third time is going to have to be on my terms.