He wondered if she would be interested in sitting down with him and advising him on the restaurant he planned on putting in the resort.
Stepping up beside him, his mother glanced at the screen. “Who’s that? She’s very pretty.”
Ryder had to agree, but he kept it to himself. “That’s Peyton Bishop. She owns the café where I got tonight’s dinner.”
“Are they open in the morning? Maybe we can all go there for breakfast,” she suggested.
“They open at eight,” he read when he clicked on the website. “But unfortunately, I have a meeting at that time so I won’t be able to join you.”
“Oh, Ryder, you work too hard,” she said as she gently patted his arm. “The world won’t fall apart if you skip a meeting or work a little less. Maybe ask out a pretty girl…”
Good Lord…
“Mom, I already had to skip two meetings today. I can’t skip another one in the morning.”
“And the pretty girl?” she prompted, taking the phone from his hand and looking over the café’s site.
“I ask out plenty of beautiful women,” he assured her.
“Hmm…” After a moment, she handed his phone back to him. “All I’m saying is that it’s okay to take a little time for yourself. Life is too short and you should take the time to enjoy it instead of working all the time.”
He was about to ask her what exactly she meant and if that had anything to do with his father’s decision to retire when she wished him a good night and walked away.
Scrubbing a hand over his face, Ryder decided he might as well call it a night, too. It wasn’t particularly late, but he knew he’d sit in bed with his laptop and work for a while before actually going to sleep. After walking around and turning off all the lights, he went into his bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him. Within minutes, he was down to his boxer briefs and in bed, looking over several financial statements. But his attention span was short tonight and his mind was wandering to other things.
Specifically, Peyton Bishop.
He thought about how she stood her ground with him and how at first he’d been offended. Annoyed.
Then he’d been mildly impressed.
And after tasting her food, he was downright dazzled.
He thought of the look on her face as she walked away from him and smiled. She might be young, but she was certainly unafraid to speak her mind.
Young. That kept playing over and over in his mind, and now he was curious about just how young she was and how she managed to own her own business already. Ryder knew he could simply ask Austin the next time they spoke, but he wasn’t sure he could explain why he was so curious.
So he decided to do his own sleuthing to find out what he could–searching the usual social media sites. There were tons of pictures of her–always smiling, always laughing–and he found himself drawn to her smile. She was beautiful in a wholesome, girl-next-door way and not the kind of woman he ever gave much thought to, but as he continued to scroll through her posts, there was no denying he was attracted to her.
It felt wrong, not only because of the age difference, but because of his friendship with Austin. He knew they were only cousins, but it still felt like he was breaking some kind of unwritten rule.
And yet he still kept reading her posts–some about the café, some about local events–but nothing told him much about her personally.
Until he spotted a recent post titled “My 25th Birthday” and Ryder suddenly felt like a total jerk for searching like this. She was eleven years younger than him and it felt like he was some seriously creepy old guy stalking her and immediately left the site.
And shut his laptop.
It wasn’t until the lights were out that he allowed himself to think about the events of the day after meeting Peyton Bishop.
Primarily tonight’s family dinner.
First, his father was retiring–out of the blue–and he was certain there was more to that story. Second, he had a feeling his mother had something to do with it, but he was more focused on her comment about him dating a pretty girl. It was the closest she’d ever come to nudging him toward meeting someone and settling down–or even any interest in his personal life. It wasn’t something he normally thought about–primarily because he was busy running his businesses and traveling and making money. All those things were very fulfilling and satisfying.
But…were they?
For some reason, he was beginning to feel like they weren’t. Maybe that’s why he was pushing so hard to right all the wrongs he found here in Magnolia Sound. There were only a few parcels of land that were zoned for commercial use, and he planned on buying them and making sure the town had everything it could possibly need. Besides the resort, he planned on building another restaurant–something a little more upscale than The Sand Bar or The Mystic Magnolia–then he’d like to see a bookstore, a coffee shop, and one of those old-fashioned candy shops. At least…that was his vision right now. It was so close to being perfect, and once it was, he knew this was where he’d make his permanent home.
Maybe ask out a pretty girl…
Peyton Bishop’s face came to mind again. He’d seen her at several Coleman family events, he realized that now, and he had to wonder how it was that they’d never been introduced. But now that they had? Ryder knew he’d be seeking her out again.
And not only for her catering skills.
It had been a long time since he’d pursued a woman–too long. So many projects were going on right now, but for the foreseeable future, he was going to be in Magnolia Sound. They were in the final planning stages for his new resort and other than some occasional trips out of town to deal with a few of his other investments, this was where he was going to spend the bulk of his time. Why not fill up his free time with a beautiful woman?
There was Peyton’s face again and he couldn’t imagine any reason why the two of them couldn’t go out to dinner sometime–regardless of the age difference.
Although…if he allowed himself to think a little deeper, he realized that Peyton was still a small-town girl–the kind who maybe didn’t do casual relationships. Up until now, that was the only kind Ryder did.
But maybe it’s time to change that, he thought.
Maybe ask out a pretty girl…
Rolling onto his side, he got more comfortable and thought of the best way to approach Peyton again. He hoped by ordering such a large dinner tonight she’d see he wasn’t such a bad guy. Now he’d give her a day or two before he reached out to her again with a gesture that had nothing to do with food and was perhaps just verging on a hint of romantic.
It was a pleasant final thought before he fell asleep.
2
My compliments to your chef. The food was amazing. Thank you for such an enjoyable dinner. Ryder.
Peyton stared at the card in her hands and then the gorgeous bouquet of flowers it came with in stunned silence. She’d never received flowers from a customer because of her food and it was kind of an awesome compliment.
Even more so because of who they came from and how their awkward encounter had gone two days ago. Still…it was nice to be appreciated.
It had been a long time since a man sent her flowers, and for just the shortest of moments she pretended they meant something more.