To Meadow, he was the safest man alive.
He lifted his head at the sound of her voice, squinting in her direction like the sun was too bright and she was too precious to look at directly.
“Well looka here,” he said, wiping his hands on an old, tattered rag. “My early bird is up.”
Meadow walked toward him, her heart warming just from watching him stand there.
Raymond wasn’t perfect…he was opinionated, set in his ways, and too generous for his own good, but he was hers.
And all her life, he’d been the one constant thing she could lean on.
This land was his dream.
She was his joy.
And Meadow had spent her whole life trying to honor both.
He had raised her on routine and love, on hard work and laughter, on the belief that a Black girl could master a golf course even if the world didn’t expect her to.
Raymond taught her how to mend engines and avoid broken hearts.
He taught her soil, wind, patience, and pride.
He taught her how to be strong on days she wanted to fall apart.
Everything she knew lived in his hands.
“Whatchu smiling at?” he asked, raising a brow at her.
“You,” she simply admitted.
Raymond chuckled, shaking his head. “Go on now before you make me tear up. I’m too old to be crying this early in the morning… Surprised your giggly ass got up like you ‘pose to.”
“I wasn’t giggly.”
“You was.” He pointed a wrench at her. “Like yo’ mama used to get when I took her to the juke joint.”
Meadow rolled her eyes and walked over. “Stop reminiscing. Everything fixed over here?”
“Almost.” He wiped his hands on a rag. “You check the lines?”
“Yep.”
“The pump?”
“Yep.”
“The—”
“Daddy,” she warned. “I run this place. I know the checklist.”
He smirked, the left side of his mouth always lifting higher. “I know. I just like askin’ so you don’t forget who taught you.”
“Please.” She bumped his shoulder with hers. “I been raising this land since before you let me play with dolls.”
Raymond chuckled and tossed the rag onto the cart. His eyes softened in a way only fathers with daughters could manage. “You goin’ to get the guest house ready?”
“Yep.”
