“Okay, I need to apologize for my behavior,” Peyton stated. “And not just tonight. I was rude to you at the café, and then again at Austin’s office. So…I’m sorry. I swear I’m not usually like that and I promise to be more professional moving forward.”
Putting his plate down, he gave her a sympathetic smile. “To be fair, I was a bit of a condescending jackass at the café. Looking back, I realize I must have sounded like an entitled snob.”
Her head turned away, but he heard the soft snicker before she composed herself. “Just a little.”
“I’d like to say I’m not usually like that, but I have a feeling I am without even realizing it. So, like you, I promise to be more professional and less condescending moving forward.”
That made her visibly relax. “Okay then! Where should we start? The resort?”
Nodding, he picked up his pizza and took a bite before he began to explain to her his vision for The Ashford. The property he’d purchased from Austin’s father wasn’t oceanfront–hell, it wasn’t even on the sound or in a prime location–but it had a lot of potential.
He'd make sure of it.
Because Magnolia Sound was small enough and narrow enough that it was only a block or two in either direction to get to water, Ryder knew he could play up on the views and proximity to the water.
Something he planned to do.
“Okay,” he said, wiping his hands. “The Ashford. I envision it being…”
“I’m sorry,” Peyton interrupted softly. “The Ashford?”
Nodding, he explained, “The resort. That’s what I’m naming it.”
“Seriously?”
“You don’t like it?”
“It’s a little…narcissistic, don’t you think? Naming it after yourself.”
“That was the point,” he replied, and immediately realized how that sounded. “Not that I wanted to come off as being a narcissist, but this is my first step into the hospitality industry and the thought of using my family name felt right.”
With a small shrug, she murmured, “Oh.”
It would have been easy to move on, but for some reason, her reaction annoyed him. Shifting in his seat, he twisted to fully face her. “I thought the name sounded better than the overuse of the word Magnolia on everything here in town. I’m going for originality.”
Another shrug. “It’s your resort, Ryder. You’re allowed to name it whatever you want.”
And while that was true, now she had him wondering if other people in town would have a negative reaction to the name, dammit.
“I know I can name it whatever I want,” he replied with a small huff or irritation. “And I was fine with it until your little reaction.”
“My reaction? All I said was oh.”
“Exactly!”
Her gaze narrowed. “You’re not making any sense and the name of the resort really isn’t the issue here. Tell me about your plans for the resort itself. What is the theme? The style? What kind of clientele are you hoping to attract? What amenities are you planning to offer?”
The smart thing to do was move on and answer her questions, but Ryder knew himself well enough to know he was going to obsess about the name from here on out.
But he’d do it when he was alone.
With a bit of a renewed focus, he decided to give her his entire project pitch and focus on the details. He hoped she’d be able to envision it all with him while not obsessing over her reaction. Of course, this would have been easier if he had brought his laptop with him and showed her the PowerPoint presentation, but for tonight he was going to simply have to rely on doing things the old-fashioned way.
“As you know,” he began, “the property we’re building on isn’t waterfront, and it is right on the border of Magnolia Sound and the town of Laurel Bay. However, my goal is to give the illusion of being right on the water. Imagine a boutique hotel, if you will. The buildings will all be crisp and bright and done with a high level of coastal décor. Spacious guest rooms, spa services, a pool with cabanas around it, a sophisticated and elegant restaurant along with a poolside café, and everyone will have concierge service.”
“So this is definitely a high-end resort,” Peyton commented.
“Exactly. Like a gated country-club resort–white-glove service all the way,” he went on and then stopped when she got that look on her face again. The one that showed she was completely unimpressed. “Now what?”
“What?”
“I can tell I’ve lost you already. What’s wrong with my plans?”
She let out a long sigh and looked mildly uncomfortable. “It’s nothing. Really. Go on.”
He’d shared his plans with investors who all loved it. He’d shared his plans with several friends who all thought it was great. Why was he letting the fact that Peyton wasn’t the least bit impressed with any of it bother him so much?
“Peyton,” he began evenly. “If we’re going to be working together, then you need to be honest with me. If there’s a flaw in the plans–even though I don’t believe there is–then you need to tell me about it.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think of your plans,” she countered. “I’m only going to be consulting on the restaurant. The rest of it doesn’t have anything to do with me.”
It was the perfect and politically correct response and yet…
Resting his arm along the back of the sofa, his annoyance came to the surface.
“The restaurant is part of the resort–an important part of the resort–and as such, you need to have an understanding of the property as a whole. So if there is something you find undesirable about any aspect of it, then you need to share it.”
“Need to?”
“Yes. Need to.”
In the blink of an eye, her mood seemed to match his.
“Okay, Ryder, here’s what I think,” she said with a bit of snap to her soft voice. “You’ve come around here enough to know what kind of town Magnolia is. It’s a small, sleepy, coastal town. We’re not big on commercial investors coming in changing things. That’s not the vision my great-grandfather or any of the founding families had in mind. What you’re proposing sounds like a perfectly lovely resort for a city that is much bigger and caters to your snooty clientele.”
“Snooty? I never said…”
“And on top of that, your location isn’t conducive to what you want to do. Granted, the north end of town has undergone a bit of a revitalization in the last few years, but it’s certainly not the gateway to some upscale, snobby resort!”
“Now it’s snobby? If you’d just…”
“You’re going to exclude the locals, don’t you get that? The average person who lives here won’t be able to afford a stay at The Ashford,” she went on with a serious eye roll, “and the type of guests you’ll be courting aren’t going to leave the resort property to shop around town because they’ll consider it beneath them. Everyone will get their hopes up that this is going to bring revenue to the town, but it’s not. Not in the long-term. Have you even thought about that?”