A chilly reception…

Paul Pavlik's flight from Mannington, Australia, was right on schedule despite the weather. Ellis arrived a few minutes early and was waiting when Paul landed. The confrontation with Brenda and the subsequent meeting with Jolene were still on his mind—Brenda wasn't going to like the direction he'd given Jolene regarding Ryder. In fact she wasn't going to like a lot of things he'd put into motion in the last few days. He was beginning to think this retreat was going to go south before it officially started.

He packed up the Aussie and his things as quickly as possible and started back to the Lodge. He wasn't in the mood for small talk but made an attempt to at least be civil. The guy seemed nice enough and it wasn't his fault the day was going from bad to worse…