Ocean Eyes

Family Forever

La Push, Washington would never get old to Ryder Kane. The lush vegetation, the cool breezes, the rolling ocean... she loved it. Growing up she had lived in cramped city apartments full of rot and drugs. The air there seemed to suffocate her.

Ryder took a deep breath. The air in La Push made her feel alive.

"You headed out, Ryder?" Jim called out to her. He was well into his sixties, a stocky figure with a nose to big for his face. Crows feet danced around his eyes and wrinkles stemmed from his constant smile. His long gray hair was pulled back into a pony tail and he wore the standard Quileute outfit of a flannel and jeans. Ryder's lips twitched upwards. She couldn't say much- she was clothed in the exact same thing. One would think it was the dressing code for employees of Quillayute Hardware and Hunting, named after the wide river that snaked through La Push, but it was simply pure coincidence.

"Yeah, is that okay?" Ryder wouldn't normally be so kind to someone, but Jim had worked his way into her heart in the few short weeks she'd been working. His friendship with her uncle had been the only reason she had even talked to him in the first place, but it was his genuinely loving personality that kept her. "She's watching the kids and I don't want to have to keep her."

"Of course it is!" Jim chuckled, leaving the lumber section so he didn't have to yell across the store to talk to her. "You don't even have to ask, Ryder."

"Thanks, Jim." She meant it. The older man had taken her under his wing, offering her a job in his store and a way to provide for her family.

"No problem. I know you don't like it when I do this but.." Jim trailed off, reaching behind the counter for a shoddily wrapped package. "Sarah wanted me to give you this."

"Jim-"

"No buts about it, young lady." He smiled kindly at her, pushing the package into her hands. "It's her special corn bread. And a few sweets for the children." Ryder shook her head but couldn't keep the smile off of her face. She hated it when people gave her family sympathy but she knew that's not where Sarah and Jim were coming from. They knew of the Kane's struggles but their help only came from pure goodness of heart, not pity.

"Thanks, Jim." She smiled softly at him before pulling off her saw dust covered apron and dropping her name tag on the counter. "Violet and Jackson are going to love this."

"Get on out of here! They must be driving poor Sue insane!" Him laughed, shooing her outside. With final goodbyes exchanged between the two, Ryder braved the drizzling rain of the Olympic Peninsula. She didn't mind the almost constant blanket of rain on the sleepy town. She loved the rain and everything that came with it.

Her car, a rusty old truck probably older than her grandparents christened by Jackson as 'Mongo', sat glistening in the afternoon shower. Dropping the package on the seat next to her,Ryder hopped in. The seats were stained and ripped, half of the dashboard lights didn't work but Ryder loved Mongo none the less. He had been a constant for the last few weeks and that was pretty new to her.

With the Clash's 'should I stay or should I go' blaring through the grainy speakers, Ryder drove home. The road winded through colossal pine trees and scenic vistas of the ocean. She let out a happy sigh. La Push was her favorite place in the world. She'd lived all over, from New York City to Tijuana, yet this shoddy reservation was the place she would always come back to.

She'd barley parked the car when the front door to her small house flew open. It wasn't much, a tiny blue cottage off of the Clearwaters property. There were holes in the porch and several leaks, but it was home. With a frown, she noted that another shingle had fallen off the roof. Shingle roofs were supposed to be repaired every ten years and Ryder was sure this house was past its prime.