Chapter 4 Ryder
RYDER
Isit at one of the lacquered wooden tables that are arranged in rows through the dining room at my grandmother’s senior community.
Gam’s running late, as she has been for at least the past thirty years, so I take the opportunity to make a call that’s been running through my mind on repeat ever since Eve Harper let me know my apartments apparently have a reputation.
I normally don’t let things like that bother me, but… I’ve always prided myself on not being that kind of guy. The one who puts profits over people without taking a second to consider that I might be taking advantage of someone.
And what she said has me questioning what might be going on in my apartments that I don’t know about, whether it’s shoddy construction materials or mismanagement.
I leave the day-to-day stuff to my wonderful business manager, a woman named Sana who started as my assistant many years ago and is now… something.
I should probably give her a new title. I’ve given her plenty more money over the years, but we never bothered updating her actual job. She’s not really a business manager. Or an assistant. Something more than either one of those jobs but she does them, too.
I dial her as I wait for Gam to make her appearance.
“What’s up, Ryder?” she asks.
Sana likes getting straight to the point.
“I was talking to the woman who owns the sunflower farm. Says we have a reputation for poor-quality apartments. Sounded like bugs, plumbing issues, the works.”
She hums. “Well, it’s not like building managers are coming to me to rat themselves out. From what I can tell, all our properties have the occasional issue but they’re pretty promptly taken care of.”
“Can you take a look at any outliers? Any that report an exorbitant number of charges and any that have too few?”
“Sure thing.” She pauses for a moment, the clicks of her keyboard filling in the background. “Any follow-ups or do you want me to just let you know what I find?”
“Just let me know what you find. I don’t have a plan of action yet.”
“You got it,” she says, her signature end-of-phone-call sign-off that’s as good as a three-second warning if you want to get in any other requests before she hangs up on you.
“How’s the office?” I ask quickly, because even though I know Sana has everything under control—far more than I ever did—I feel like I should check in every once in a while.
“Same as it was the last time you were here,” she says.
“So, no one knows whether to fear you or love you because you have the fiercest resting bitch face I’ve ever seen but you regularly steal my credit card to provide breakfast to the staff?”
She’s quiet for a moment. “You know about that?”
“Of course I do.” When she says nothing in response, I continue, “Though to be fair, I only knew because Jamie from accounting flagged the first one as a suspicious charge and let me know.”
“You’ve known this whole time but didn’t tell me?”
I shrug even though she can’t see me. “I thought it was kind of a fun thing. You know, like the parent who takes a kid out for a sneaky ice cream and tells the kid not to say anything. I thought it was nice of you. Build up a little camaraderie in the office. I’m happy to be the parent in that situation. ”
She sighs. “And all this time, I’ve been hiding it.”
“Makes it more fun that way.”
“For you, maybe.”
“Well, yes.”
I can only imagine her eye roll. “Do you need anything else, Ryder?”
“No, Sana. Thank you for your help.”
“You got it.”
This time she doesn’t wait her full three seconds, and when I hang up the phone, I send her a quick text to thank her for taking care of things while I’m gone.
And then I begin doomscrolling while I wait for Gam to grace me with her presence.
All around me, friends and families dine together in luxury.
My grandmother, who is never one to accept less than the best possible option, picked the most expensive place she could find.
Probably because she knew it was all coming out of a fund my father set up for her, and throwing away his money gives her the same warm, fuzzy feeling I get whenever I put his name on a building that actually does some good for the world.
I disagreed with most of the decisions he made in life, but he did get a few right in death.
The sentiment has me thinking about the apartments I’ll eventually build across the street.
The troublemaker in me wants to draw up plans and get them approved so the damn construction goes away and then back out of the deal, but something tells me Mayor Reed will find some other way to be a nuisance.
I just hope Gam's park visits are worth it, because this project is shaping up to be a hell of a lot more complicated than I thought it would be.
And that’s before I even factor in Evelyn Harper.
The thought of her has me navigating to her Instagram.
I sent her a gift basket earlier today that included all her favorite snacks. While I would normally do flowers or an Edible Arrangements sort of deal, something told me Evelyn Harper would be harder to crack than that.
And when I saw that picture on her Instagram, I couldn’t help the grin from spreading across my face. That would get me in her good graces.
But… she hasn’t reached out to thank me yet. I know she has my card.
Or maybe she burned it the second I left.
When I get to her page, I see she’s posted a new photo. Another picture of the sunflower fields.
I mean, they’re cool and everything, but can we get over the sunflowers already?
Having spent the majority of my adult life in Manhattan showed me that this town’s obsession with sunflowers borders on psychotic.
And the fact that she owns the sunflower farm and still seems just as obsessed with them as everyone else?
There must be something in the water around here.
I click into the picture, noting that my property is almost perfectly framed from that vantage point.
And then I see the caption.
Nice try, but a little bit of chocolate isn’t going to make things easier for you.
I purse my lips as I read it again. And again. And once more after that.
So she did receive my basket, but suffice it to say, she’s not impressed.
And I guess I gave myself away a little bit, getting the exact snacks she had on her page.
I let out a long breath, pressing the little heart on the picture because if she already knows I’m looking, what does it hurt? She’s not going to scare me off by telling me she knows how I figured out her favorite snacks.
The reality is, I need something from her, and she knows it, but I’m not going to give her the opportunity to say no and dig her heels in before I think there’s a chance she might be okay with it.
And while I truly intend to forge a healthy working relationship with her, I’m not opposed to fighting a little dirty if I have to.
I already know she’s renting out the barn illegally, which is a nice little chip to have in my back pocket, but I’m sure there’s something worse she’s hiding.
Not that I think she’s a bad person or anything.
It’s just… I know from experience that as one person running an empire—whatever size that empire might be—it’s impossible to know everything. And while I have lawyers on retainer to help me, she has nothing but farmhands, gift shop girls, and tenuous-at-best relations with the local government.
Not exactly a recipe for success.
It is, however, a great recipe for getting her to agree to an easement. If it comes to that.
I really hope it won’t.
I scroll through her Instagram, taking in one sunflower picture after another.
And then… a picture of her in front of the sunflowers. Dark blue dress with flimsy, see-through sleeves. It flares out mid-thigh over long, muscular legs capped with tiny, strappy heels. Her hair is down, in pretty waves that fall over her shoulder as her head tips back mid-laugh.
The picture captures her chaotic energy. She’s not posing or putting on an air for the camera, and though anyone could look at this picture and tell that she’s dressed up for something, it’s not the pretty dress or the perfectly done hair I notice.
It’s just… her.
My brow crinkles. I’m not one to get caught up on pictures of pretty girls.
She is attractive, yes, but there are many attractive people in the world.
And the whole point of looking at her feed is to figure out her personality so we can be friendly enough with each other that she eventually agrees to the easement.
That’s the only reason I’m looking at her Instagram. The only reason.
I continue scrolling. Sunflowers, sunflowers, and more sunflowers.
Until I hit another one of her.
And so help me god, she is wet.
I glance around the restaurant, making sure no one is going to see my phone over my shoulder. And seeing that the coast is clear, I return my attention to her picture.
Late afternoon sun, with a rainbow in the sky over the sunflowers.
It looks to be actively raining, if the pock marks in the mud underneath her are any indication.
She has her arms spread as if to highlight the rainbow, the widest grin on her face even as her hair clings to her forehead, her legs glistening underneath a pair of jean shorts.
And her white T-shirt clings to her chest in a way that has my heart thumping.
She is truly beautiful.
“Well, I’ll be damned. If it isn’t Olivia Harper.”
Gam’s voice over my shoulder has me throwing my phone into the air in surprise. I barely manage to catch it before it goes clattering down to the floor.
“Christ, Gam,” I swear, as I stand to give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
She’s small and seems to shrink a bit every time I come to see her, but she’s still got a beast of a personality and a hearty laugh.
I’ve never once seen her without a smear of bright red lipstick across her mouth, and I make a mental note to wipe it off my cheek when she’s not paying attention.
She grins, taking a seat across from me. “That must be her granddaughter.”
I lock my phone, letting out a long breath as I leave it face down on the table. “I take it you knew Olivia?”
She nods. “Oh, we were good friends in high school. Drifted apart after that but she was always a kind woman. I meant to get in touch with her again, but… well, I take it you know she died.” She shrugs. “Guess I’ll just have to wait a few more years then.”
“Gam,” I scold, rolling my eyes as the waiter stops by our table to get us started. One of the many perks of this place is a clubhouse that functions like a restaurant. We place our orders quickly before I turn back to her. “Don’t say stuff like that.”
“What?” she asks, leaning back and throwing her hands out in front of her. “I don’t think I’m ready to go just yet, but I’m certainly not getting any younger.”
I shake my head. “We’ll just keep replacing parts as they fail. You’ve got two new hips, what’s next?”
“Could probably use a new brain.”
“Gam!”
“What? I’m just saying, it doesn’t work like it used to anymore either.”
“Do you need more puzzle books? I wish you’d let me put some games on your phone—they’re endless.”
She waves me off as the waiter drops off two waters for us. “If you run across one of those extra hard sudoku books, I’ll take one. But don’t go out specifically for that, okay? And you know I’m not into all those phone games. I like my puzzles on paper, as they’re supposed to be.”
“Your brain must not be having too much trouble because you’re just as stubborn as ever.”
She gives me another big grin. “Thank you, Ryder. You’ve always had such a way with words.
” She unwraps her straw and sticks it in her water, taking a long sip and leaving a bright red mark on the straw when she’s done.
“So tell me why you have Olivia’s granddaughter on your phone. Are you seeing her?”
I shake my head. “No, not seeing her. She took over the farm a few years ago when her grandmother passed, and in order to get a development plan approved by the town council, I need her to agree to an easement. I might be able to ask the town council to force it, but my gut tells me the fallout from her won’t be worth it.
But if I want a two-lane entryway—which will be a necessity, for how many units there will be—I either need to grade the hell out of that land or get her permission for just a few yards of asphalt on her land so we can pave a switch. ”
Gam nods, thinking this over. “So naturally, the best course of action is to stare at her white T-shirt contest pictures.”
I thought I had avoided any embarrassment, but my cheeks quickly heat. “I was just trying to figure out what makes her tick. If I know more about her, I can craft a deal that makes both of us happy.”
She nods, pursing her lips. “You know, Ryder, you don’t have to go through all of this for me. I’ve been going to the gym and walking through the courtyard. I already feel bad that you put out so much money for the land. Maybe it’s time to move on.”
I give her a flat look. “Gam, this is my job. Sure, I might not have chosen that land specifically to build on, but my only choice otherwise is to go find some other land to buy and build on. Besides, it’s nice to give myself a change of pace every once in a while.
I’ve been doing the same thing over and over again in different places. It’ll be fun to do something new.”
She raises her eyebrows. “You’re sure?”
I nod. “I’m sure, Gam. Don’t worry about it.
Not to mention, it’s kind of nice thinking that this one is for more than just money.
Even though Mayor Reed is a royal jerk with a stick up his ass and an ego the size of a continent, I’m okay making a deal like this.
The road work is probably only the tip of the iceberg with him, and if I show him I’m game to play ball as long as I get something out of it too, that’s a good relationship to have. ”
Gam shrugs noncommittally and says a quick “thank you” as the waiter drops off a basket of rolls.
She grabs one, quickly tearing a piece off and throwing it in her mouth.
“Well, don’t stress yourself out over it.
That’s all. And I wouldn’t use that sort of negotiation logic with Olivia’s granddaughter, if the two are anything alike. ”
It didn’t occur to me that my grandmother might have known hers—and now I’m realizing Gam might really be able to help me.
Of course, I would never assume that they’re the same person, but they very obviously have similar interests. A lot of love between the two. And if I had to bet, I’d say Eve Harper looked up to her grandmother as her idol.
And that can influence you long after that person is gone.
I nod, taking another bite of my bread, and eye my grandmother. “So what was Olivia like?”