But why did it have to hurt so badly?
“Shake it off, Ryder,” he muttered as he made his way across town.
Dealing with the bank took a little longer than he wanted, but he simply reasoned it was because they were dealing with such a large amount of money. Once he was done there and back in his car, he nearly jumped when his phone rang. His heart hammered in his chest as he prayed it was Peyton, but…it wasn’t. With a muttered curse, he answered. “Hey, Austin. What’s up?”
“Hey,” he began slowly, and Ryder knew he wasn’t calling with good news.
“The plans didn’t get approved again, did they?”
“I’m afraid not.”
Part of him wanted to rail and carry on and demand to know what their problem was, but…he didn’t.
“We can go back to the drawing board and modify your plans again, Ry,” Austin explained. “It seems part of the issue is…”
But he didn’t want to hear it. It didn’t matter. “Don’t worry about it, Austin. I appreciate the call. Let’s just call this done.”
“Done? Ryder, come on. You can’t be serious!”
“I am,” he replied solemnly. “Listen, I appreciate everything you’ve done, but I know it’s time to pull the plug. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
“O-kay…so what are you going to do with the property? I’m sure you already have alternate plans.”
“Yeah. I’m going to sell it.”
“What?!” Austin cried with disbelief. “Why? Why would you do that? You were so psyched to utilize the property! Just because this one design didn’t work doesn’t mean something else won’t! Why don’t we meet for lunch and talk about it?”
“I can’t, Austin. My day is booked. I’ll be in touch, though. Thanks.” And he hung up before his friend could say anything else. It was just one more thing he couldn’t deal with right now.
Within minutes, he was in front of the café but didn’t see Peyton’s car. Maybe she was out running an errand, but he could easily wait for her inside. Maybe he could have something to eat to pass the time.
When he walked in, Dana greeted him. “Hey, Ryder! What can I do for you?”
“Hey, Dana. I’m here to see Peyton. Is she around?”
She looked at him funny, like she was mildly confused. “Um…I’m sorry, but…she’s not here. She decided to take a few days off.”
“Oh, okay. Thanks. Have a good day,” he said as he forced a smile. Walking out of the café, he felt incredibly foolish and wondered if the entire staff would now be talking about how there was obviously trouble between him and Peyton that he didn’t even know where she was.
But he immediately pushed that train of thought aside and drove over to Peyton’s.
She wasn’t there.
Now he wasn’t sure what else he could do but wait.
Which wasn’t his strong point.
He considered going to her parents’ place or simply driving around town in hopes of spotting her out and about, but that seemed a little stalkerish. With nothing else to do, he began to drive home.
But at the last minute, he turned around and drove to the Coleman Construction offices. He knew Austin was working there today and walked in as if he owned the place. When he spotted his friend, he said, “I need Parker’s number.”
“Why? We were just on the phone like ten minutes ago. What’s going on?”
“I can’t reach Peyton and…”
“Dammit, I told you I didn’t want to be in the middle of this!”
“Then just give me her number and I’ll be on my way.”
“No. Absolutely not. I’m done with this whole situation so…no.” His phone rang and the man practically dove for it. “I have to take this. You know the way out.”
It was pointless to argue, and Ryder knew he could simply search for himself for Parker’s number. He just thought this would be quicker.
Back to square one, he was walking back to his car when he spotted Mallory Summerford–Jake’s wife and Peyton’s cousin.
And said a silent prayer that she had no idea about what went down yesterday.
“Hey, Ryder!” Mallory approached him with a smile. “How are you?”
“Good,” he replied easily. “Good. Where are the kids?”
“Oh, they’re with my mom so Jake and I can have lunch together,” she told him. “It’s easier to sneak out during the day than to go out for dinner. Bedtime is rough when Jake and I aren’t there.”
He nodded because he had no clue about kids, so he had to take her word for it. “I was just in with Austin but he had to hop on a call but I was looking for Parker’s number. Do you happen to have it handy?”
She eyed him curiously. “Why not just ask Peyton?”
Waving her off with an easy laugh, he said, “Well, I’m hoping to surprise Peyton with something and if I ask her for Parker’s number, she’ll get suspicious.”
That seemed to relax her. “Aren’t you sweet?” She pulled out her phone and gave him the number. “When you talk to her, please tell her I said hi.” Then, taking a step around him, she said, “I really need to get inside. Jake’s only got an hour before he needs to be back on the jobsite and I don’t want to be late. It was good to see you, Ryder!”
“You too, Mallory!” With a smile and wave, he made a hasty retreat just in case Jake or Austin decided to fill her in on his relationship drama.
He dialed and Parker’s phone was ringing as he pulled away from the Coleman Construction offices. Honestly, he had no idea what Parker did for a living other than housesit for friends down in Florida, and he hoped she was available to talk.
“Hey, it’s Parker! Leave a message and I’ll call you back! Thanks!” the recording said and with a muttered curse, Ryder hung up.
Now what? He wondered. He didn’t want to leave a message; he wanted to talk to her. No, he wanted to talk to Peyton, but clearly that wasn’t happening any time soon either, so…where did that leave him?
Going home held little appeal, but…all the people he knew here in town were related to Peyton, and it didn’t seem like a good idea to go and reach out to any of them. He thought about all the plans he had for this town and for his future, and it didn’t seem possible that it was all just going to go away.
Turning the car around one more time, he drove to the northernmost part of town, to the property that would never house The Ashford. All of his dreams were supposed to go into this project and it died before it ever got off the ground. It was depressing as hell, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. The town wasn’t on board with it and he should have listened to Peyton on that from the beginning. She had been the only one brave enough to tell him that his plan was flawed, and looking back, he should have listened.
Hindsight and all that crap…
The drive didn’t take long, and after parking on the edge of the property, he climbed out and stared at the expanse of cleared land. It was nothing but plowed dirt with some random markers for where the buildings were supposed to go, but in his mind, Ryder saw so much more. He saw the white buildings, the lush greenery, and the fountain out front. Maybe at some other point in life he’d get another opportunity to make this happen.