“You rode today?”
“No.”
She studied him.
“You’re scared of it.”
“No.”
“You are.”
He sighed.
“Not bike.”
“What then?”
“Meaning.”
Hannah leaned back.
“Okay.”
That was one thing he loved.
She did not immediately demand explanation.
They drove.
Ten minutes later she asked:
“Now?”
Noah laughed.
“Now.”
He told her about Ridgeway.
The offer.
The name.
The design rights.
The motorcycle.
Hannah listened.
Then asked:
“What do you want?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know at least one thing.”
“I don’t want motorcycle in showroom.”
“Good.”
“What else?”
“I don’t want a corporation printing Dad and Jack on hoodies forever.”
“Good.”
“What else?”
“I don’t want Rachel to lose opportunity because I’m sentimental.”
“Also good.”
Noah glanced.
“You’re not helping.”
“I’m organizing.”
He gripped wheel.
Hannah continued:
“What did Jack want?”
“Shop working.”
“People paid.”
“Bike ridden.”
“Drawing kept.”
“Anything about ownership forever?”
“No.”
“Anything about name?”
“He never cared.”
“Then maybe you’re protecting something he wasn’t.”
Noah frowned.
“That sounds like Rachel.”
“Rachel is usually terrifyingly right.”
“Don’t encourage.”
Hannah smiled.
Then looked back at motorcycle.
“What if you separate things?”
“How?”
“Sell building.”
“Keep brand?”
“License manufacturing?”
“Employee buyout?”
“Conversion to cooperative?”
“Do not treat sale as one yes-or-no package.”
Noah stared.
“You do this for living.”
“Buildings.”
“People are worse.”
He smiled.
At shop, Rachel hugged Hannah.
Then immediately recruited her.
“Good, another adult.”
Noah said:
“I’m adult.”
Both women ignored him.
The ownership meeting happened Saturday.
Twenty-three employees.
Rachel.
Noah.
Mara on video call.
Accountant.
Attorney.
Ridgeway representatives were not present.
This meeting belonged to owners.
Some employees wanted sale.
Not greed.
Freedom.
One machinist named Luis had worked there twenty-seven years.
He was sixty-one.
His wife had health issues.
Sale could let him retire now.
“I love Jack,” he said.
“But Jack is dead.”
The room went still.
Luis continued.
“He would say same.”
Rachel nodded.
A younger fabricator, Kayla, disagreed.
“I came because this wasn’t a chain.”
“My last job got bought.”
“Within eighteen months they cut custom work.”
“We became installers.”
Ridgeway promised no layoffs for two years.
Kayla snorted.
“That’s two years.”
A parts manager named Dev said:
“They have online system we could never build.”
Another employee said:
“They’ll move office.”