Then he tried one and…
The combination shouldn’t have worked, but it did and it was spectacular. Flavors burst on his tongue and he actually moaned with the pure delight of it. Fortunately, so was everyone else at the table and that had him reaching to try something else and seeing if it was just this one particular dish or if the chefs at Café Magnolia were truly that good.
Crab cakes? Fried to perfection.
Seaside egg rolls? Inspired and delicious.
The catfish? Savory and positively superb.
Honestly, he was more interested in the meal than the reason for it. But then again, it seemed his family felt the same way because they were all raving about the food and that was the topic throughout the meal. When they were done, he and Patrick handled the cleanup–which was fairly quick and painless thanks to the disposable containers–and once everything was in its place, Ryder braced himself for whatever this visit was about.
“You know, Ryder, don’t you find living in a house like this to be a little…beneath you?” his father asked. “What on earth are you doing in this tiny little town?”
Here we go…
“I happen to like it here, Dad,” he said evenly. “When I came to check out the town, I found that I enjoyed living on the water. Most of the houses–as I’m sure you noticed when you drove in–are like this. Besides, this is just temporary. I purchased it and plan on renting it out once I’m done. It’s an investment. My other place is much bigger.”
“That’s right,” his mother chimed in as she sat herself down on one of the sofas. “I thought your place was finished. Why aren’t you living there?”
“I wasn’t prepared to use it full-time and I had some friends who needed a place to live while their house is being built.” Honestly, he didn’t mind renting the house to Austin and Mia, but he couldn’t wait until he could finally move in himself. This house was fine temporarily, but it was definitely not his style. After designing the other house so meticulously, he was getting antsy to actually be able to live in it.
“Then why not just let them live here and you live in your own house?” she asked, interrupting his thoughts.
“It’s not really a big deal,” he said before sitting on the opposite sofa. “So why don’t you tell me what brings you here? Patrick and I are curious.” His brother sat beside him as his father took his place beside his mother.
“I’m retiring.”
“Seriously?” Patrick asked with a small, nervous laugh. “I thought you were going to give it another five years or so.”
Waving him off, their father explained. “We talked about it and I could still do it, but we’ve decided that we wanted to move it up so we can spend some time traveling to all the places we always said we were going to go to but never did.”
Patrick started rattling off a ton of questions, but Ryder simply sat back and observed.
The Ashfords came from old money. There were many stories about where their wealth originated, but Ryder had never quite believed some of the theories. Either way, his father had made a fortune in the financial business whereas Ryder had opted to take a different approach and went with industrial conglomerates and, more recently, real estate.
The topic of retirement had always been pointless because his father vowed he’d work until he died because he loved what he did. So what changed? And besides that, why bother telling him and Patrick about it? They never discussed their decisions before. Most of the time they made big, life-altering decisions and didn’t consult with anyone. When he and Patrick were growing up, they rarely saw their parents. So why share the news now?
Sitting across from him, he watched as his mother stared lovingly at his father, but she seemed a little… restless.
Which was completely out of character for her.
Something was going on and it had nothing to do with traveling for pleasure, but he wasn’t going to get to the bottom of it tonight. For now, he’d bide his time and figure it out.
“So where do you plan on going first?” Patrick asked.
“Alaska,” his mother replied. “I’ve always wanted to go. We’re going to do one of those cruises.” She smiled at Ryder. “We’re going to go whale watching.”
Thrilling…
For the better part of an hour, he listened to their proposed travel itinerary, and what stuck out to him the most was that they had no plans to spend time with either of their sons. Not that he was surprised, but… it definitely irked him a bit.
But he brushed it off like he always did.
“How about some dessert?” he suggested as he stood and stretched. “Dad, I got a pecan pie. I know that’s one of your favorites. And Mom, I got a sweet tea cake. It sounded interesting and I thought you might enjoy it.”
“That’s very considerate of you, Ryder. Thank you,” she said as she walked into the kitchen. “Do you happen to have any decaf coffee?”
“Of course.” And following her, he brewed her a cup. “What about you, Dad? Decaf?”
“Sure, why not? You didn’t order it from the café, too, did you? Hopefully we won’t have to drink out of Styrofoam cups.”
Ryder chose to ignore the comment and made them all coffee before sitting back down at the table for dessert. Fortunately, the topic of travel had been exhausted and Patrick decided to talk about what was going on in his life.
His brother had no interest in finance or business, but he was making a decent living as a civil engineer. He was living up in Virginia and seemed happy enough. Honestly, Ryder had no idea how he did it–working at one job day in and day out. It would make him crazy. Instead, Ryder spent years investing in different businesses and trying his hand in a multitude of things. His newest venture was the resort he was planning on building here in Magnolia, and he couldn’t wait to get the ball rolling. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the additions he was making to the town would benefit everyone, and it wouldn’t be long until it was literally the perfect place to live.
And that was his end game–settling in one perfect place that he chose rather than constantly being told where he should live based on his last name. The choice was his and no one was going to dictate that to him ever again.
The remainder of the evening was relatively boring and uneventful. His father went to bed, Patrick said he had work to do, and it was down to just Ryder and his mother to clean up dessert.
“Everything was wonderful tonight,” she said as she loaded the dishwasher. “Wherever you got the food from, it was delicious. I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn’t mind seeing if they can pack up some of those dishes for us to take home with us.”
With a soft laugh, Ryder wiped down the table. “What time are you flying back tomorrow?”
“I believe we decided on after lunch, so maybe we can order something and pick it up on the way to the airport. What do you think?”
“I don’t know if they’re open early enough for that to happen…” But then again, he wasn’t sure. “Hang on and I’ll check.” Picking up his phone, he searched online for Café Magnolia and found himself smiling when a picture of the building came up right next to a picture of Peyton Bishop. She really didn’t look old enough to own the business, but it was obvious now that she did and that she knew what she was doing.