Chapter 32
RYDER
“Any luck with Ellie yet?” Jeff asked as I dismounted from Susie, patting her withers gently.
She jolted from the touch, then reared back when a mouse ran across the barn just feet from her.
“Whoa, girl!” I said, grabbing the reins gently, shushing her as I ran my hand over her mane. “It’s okay, girl. It’s just a mouse.”
She snorted in disgust, backing up from where the mouse had been.
“I told you she’s an interesting horse.”
“Interesting is one way to describe it,” I muttered, earning myself a grunt of displeasure from Susie.
“You never answered my question.”
Leading Susie over to the wall, I started unbuckling her saddle, ignoring Jeff.
“So, does that mean you haven’t gotten back on her good side yet?”
“I’m not discussing this.”
“Why? You know you were wrong. Just tell her.”
“I’m not sure I was wrong,” I sighed.
“Seriously? All you do is stare at that girl. You’ve been doing everything possible to spend time with her for the past two weeks!”
“And every time, she finds a way to make it perfectly clear that she’s not interested.”
“Well, yeah, if you don’t tell her you’re in love with her, she’s not going to—”
“Wait,” I snapped, interrupting what I was sure would be some long, drawn-out speech on love. “Who said I’m in love with her?”
He snorted in amusement, taking the saddle from my hands and setting it down. “Um, pretty much the whole town.” He grabbed a brush, tossing it to me. “Hey, if you come down to the restaurant, we have a little backroom wager going on.”
“About what?”
“How long it will take you to confess your true feelings for her. Personally, I have another week. I’d really like it if you could do me a solid and make that happen. There’s a lot of money riding on this.”
“Don’t you have anything better to do than make stupid bets?”
“Not really. Although I do have this idea,” he said as I started to walk away. “It would be a great investment!”
“Not interested.”
He rushed past me, turning to walk backward to keep my attention. “You haven’t even heard it yet!”
“Because I’m not interested.”
“But how do you know you’re not interested if you don’t know what it is that you might not be interested about?”
I actually stopped in my tracks, trying to put that together in my head, which was the wrong move, because he seemed to think that was a sign or something that I wanted to hear his idea.
“Okay, picture this! We open a theme park on the outskirts of town, right past the mountain rescue.”
My brows pinched in confusion as I stared at him. “You want to build a theme park.”
“Right, but not with rollercoasters and stuff. This would be an authentic Western theme park. You know, we could have horse riding lessons, and stagecoach rides, a saloon where you can dress up and reenact living in the wild west!”
“We already have two bars in town. I think that’s enough.”
I moved past him, but he scrambled back in front of me, pressing his hand to my chest. “Now, hold up just a minute. This town can’t survive and thrive unless we do something about it.
Did you know that twenty people moved away last year?
And that doesn’t include the number of kids who graduated and went off to college.
What’s the likelihood they’ll come home after they graduate? ”
“Jeff, this is something to take up with the city council.”
“Right, but I need credible backing.”
“Don’t you own like three restaurants in town with Krista?”
“Yeah, but…well, we’re Parkers.”
“And that holds weight in this town.”
He shrugged sheepishly. “All my finances are tied up in those restaurants and the ranch. I don’t have the capital to back another project right now. The restaurants are too new.”
“Then maybe you should wait for those to turn a profit.”
“Oh, they are. Trust me, they’re doing well, but I gotta pay myself. I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and still not getting paid. I have to wait for things to really settle in before I think of drawing any money from the businesses.”
It wasn’t a terrible idea. In fact, one of the things that was a quick sell to tourists was anything to do with the old West. But the investment would be more than I could afford on my own, especially now that I had agreed to sponsor the Highland games.
Geezus, we were going to turn the town into a walking contradiction. Were we the wild West or Scottish?
“I’ll think about it. There are a few things I need to look into first.”
He jumped up, hugging me as he bounced around like an idiot. “I knew it! Ryder Lawson, you are my hero.”
“Yeah, yeah, just remember that you have to plan everything. If I help, it’s only financially.”
“You got it! You won’t be disappointed!”
Somehow, I doubted that.
Sore from my ride, I went back to my cabin, a little depressed when I walked into the silence. The place was beautiful, but it was nothing without Ellie, and she hadn’t even stayed out here before.
I snatched my phone off the table to check my messages, and that’s when I saw the dreaded number I’d been ignoring for weeks now.
It felt like a death sentence as I slid my finger across the screen to listen to the voicemail.
“Ryder, it’s me.”
Her voice was like a punch to the gut. How had I not seen who she really was?
“Listen, I know you don’t want to talk to me, but…
well, I’ve decided to move back to England.
And since you’re not here, I’ve had to let go of Marianna.
I just couldn’t afford to keep paying your maid when you’re not here.
Anyway, the building manager wants to know if the apartment is going to stay vacant or if you’re coming home.
He has a few people interested in purchasing your unit if you’re not coming home. ”
There was a moment of pause, and I thought maybe she had hung up, but then I heard her soft sigh.
“This wasn’t the way I wanted things to go, Ryder. I wish you had given me a chance to explain. I’ll be here until Monday if you want to talk.”
Hanging up, I practically crushed the phone in my grip, angry that I was letting her get to me. After everything she had done, what she expected me to do…and she was upset that I didn’t let her explain.
I laughed as I tossed the phone on the couch. What I needed was a drink. I was done morphing myself into someone else for a woman. And as I grabbed the whiskey bottle, it hit me that Ellie had never once asked me to change for her.
Not that any of that mattered since she didn’t want to speak to me.
I poured a drink and sat down at my computer, but the first thing I found myself doing was looking up flight information.
It looked like I was going back to New York.
Stepping onto the sidewalk in front of my apartment was like a shot to the chest, reminding me of things I’d rather leave behind. The skyrise in front of me didn’t give me the same excited feelings when I first bought my apartment here.
Those days were like a distant memory, back when I was still young and ambitious, willing to do nearly anything to work my way up the ladder at the law firm I was so eager to join.
But all those years of working so hard were flushed down the drain with just a single order.
One I couldn’t allow myself to follow.
Sighing, I shrugged my bag onto my shoulder and nodded at the new doorman, waving at the receptionist I flirted with when I first moved in. I’d never seen a front desk in an apartment building before. I still remember being awestruck at how fancy this place was. That was when I knew I’d made it.
“Mr. Lawson, I see you got our message,” she said, pushing up from her seat.
Discretion was key in a place like that, so it didn’t surprise me at all when she lowered her voice.
“I heard about your breakup with Ms. Davenport. We weren’t sure if you wanted her removed from the building—”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll discuss things with her. Is she in?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
She nodded succinctly, then went back to work. So, Bianca was in and hadn’t bothered to find a new place yet. Well, that wasn’t entirely surprising. She did say she was moving back to London.
I hit the button for the twentieth floor, watching the lights blink as we climbed higher. There was once a time when I thought this stuffy elevator was taking me places. Now, all I could think about was getting back to my office with my things and my terrified secretary.
New York didn’t hold the same thrill it once did, and when the doors opened and I stepped out, I never felt so uncomfortable in my own skin. Was this really what I valued at one time in my life? How did I ever think that leaving Montana would get me what I wanted?
My father still hated me. My mother still stood up for him. But that was home, and coming out here had only proven to me that the world was much nastier than I ever realized.
Keys jingling in my hand, I tried to squash the screaming in my head, telling me to run as far away from this place as possible. I needed to get rid of this apartment and close the door on my relationship with Bianca once and for all.
But as I opened the door, that day came rushing back to me.