by Rachel Magee
“It’s a great day for doing business, boys,” Jacob Merrick said as he leaned back in the wide leather chair in the boardroom at his neighborhood’s club house.
“Indeed, it is.” Aiden unzipped his backpack-style briefcase and pulled out five folders. Ones that did not have the Cedar Break logo on them. Energy, the positive kind that he hadn’t experienced in a while, charged through him as he set one folder in front of each investor. He dropped the final one in front of Jacob.
This wasn’t the presentation Jacob was expecting. The printed pages inside those folders did not hold the contracts they were supposed to. Aiden was well aware that Jacob didn’t like surprises, but he did like money. And as long as everything went the way he thought it would over the next hour, there would be plenty of that.
Aiden strode around to the front of the table and hit the remote in his pocket that controlled the PowerPoint. The first slide appeared on all three flat-screen TVs mounted around the room.
“The investment you’re making is not in a restaurant. It’s in an experience, a lifestyle, a place where people belong. But what if that experience can last longer than a simple meal?”
From the corner of his eye, Aiden caught Jacob tense. His brows furrowed and he froze in his chair. But Aiden didn’t let his dark gaze stop him. He flipped to the next slide.
“What if that experience could be prolonged into a more than just a place to eat? What if we could build that experience into a place where memories were made? A place so precious that it became a tradition. Part of a legacy.”
By the content looks on their faces, he could tell he had the investors’ attention. Aiden wasn’t surprised. Over the course of the weekend he’d talked about oceanfront real estate and boutique hotels with all four of them. It was something their firm seemed interested in, even if they weren’t verbally expressing it yet. All he had to do was convince them that this was the property they wanted to start with.
He studied Jacob’s expression as he flipped to the next slide.
“What if you didn’t buy Cedar Break, but rather, invested that money in an oceanfront boutique hotel with a five-star restaurant that will create an experience friends and families will come back to season after season, holiday after holiday, year after year?”
Every muscle in Jacob’s neck tensed. Aiden knew he wasn’t happy, but he didn’t care. Last night, as he drove away from Paige, he decided he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t walk away from everything he loved on the same weekend. Being free was overrated. He was ready to be part of something.
Cedar Break was his baby from the beginning. It had become like his home. The staff had become like his family. This time, he wasn’t willing to walk away from it because someone told him the price was right.
The first investor leaned forward and studied the picture on the screen. “A hotel, huh? Interesting.”
“Not just a hotel. A vacation experience.”
“And what kind of investment would this require?” another investor asked.
“If you open your folders, you will find all of the financial information on page two. Proposed investments, detailed budgets and estimated returns.”
The sound of papers turning filled the room and everyone got quiet. Aiden forced himself to stand still and look comfortable, even though this was the most uncomfortable he’d ever been during a pitch. There was always a healthy dose of nervousness that went along with any big meeting, but normally it was the kind of nervous excitement that energized him. This morning, however, it felt different, as if he had more riding on this presentation than he ever had before.
“And you already have a piece of property in mind?” One of the investors asked.
Aiden flipped to the next slide. It was a beauty shot of the property Aiden had first seen on one of his morning jogs.
“I do. It’s an oceanfront gem not too far down the beach from where we are now. I spoke with a realtor this morning. The owners are eager to sell and available for a quick close. You’ll find the spec of the property along with a proposed construction timeline in your dossiers.”
More pages rustled. The ringleader tapped his pen against the heavy wooden table as he read the pages in front of him. Seconds ticked by.
Aiden shoved his hands in his pockets to keep himself from fidgeting. He actively avoided eye contact with Jacob. A lot was riding on this decision. If it went south, there was a good chance their partnership would too. There was a decent chance he could walk away from this meeting with nothing. But that was a risk he was willing to take.
Finally, the ringleader stopped tapping and looked at the investor at the end of the table, the one who had been the quietest all weekend. “Davis, what do you think?”
All eyes turned to Davis. He scribbled something in his folder, studied it, then stroked his jaw. “It’s intriguing.”
Intriguing was good, although Aiden had a pretty good idea that they would be intrigued. This proposal wasn’t just some random plan he threw together in the middle of the night. Over the weekend, the investors had done a lot of talking and most of the subjects revolved, in some way, around themselves. That meant Aiden had done a lot of listening. Bits and pieces of this idea had slowly formed with each new conversation until he had a plan for a new business that excited him.
But the idea was rough. He hadn’t had time to bounce the concept off anyone else to find and iron out any possible issues. Shoot, he hadn’t even had enough time to bounce it off himself. The numbers were raw and the timelines were an estimate at best, but he knew it would be intriguing. And what was even better was that it intrigued him, which was more than he could say about any other start-up idea he’d had in the past three years.
But he needed the investors to be more than intrigued. He needed them to be interested. To pull this off and to get them to walk away from Cedar Break, he needed them to be all in.
The ringleader looked at Jacob. “I like this guy.” He turned back to Aiden. “I’m interested. Tell us more.”
After what had to be one of the most awkward ten-hour car rides ever, Paige pushed open the door into her dark house and tossed her keys into the bowl. Her cat met her in the entry way.
“Hello, Lavender. I hope you’ve had a far more relaxing weekend than I did.” She reached down to scratch the cat behind her ears before she struggled to pull the rest of her luggage inside and closed the door. The cat purred and rubbed against her legs.
“So, you want an update on Operation Wedding Weekend?” She left her bags in the dark entryway and wandered into the kitchen with the cat trotting along after her. “The Get-Brody-Back section was a complete failure.”
Her stomach rumbled as she opened the refrigerator door. After she outlined all the reasons they shouldn’t be together, Brody seemed anxious to get home. They only stopped once to get gas. Not that she blamed him. She was pretty anxious to get out of that car as well. Maybe she should’ve thought through her plan of having that conversation at the beginning of a road trip a little better.
“It seems I wasn’t really in love with him after all,” Paige reported to the cat. “I was so worried thinking about how perfect our life could be I missed how perfectly wrong we were for each other.”
She heaved out a sigh as she examined the contents in her fridge. Nothing but orange juice and half a stick of butter. It looked as empty and depressed as she felt. She closed the door before she had anymore time to think about it and went for the freezer instead. Given the circumstances, a pint of Strawberries and Cream ice cream seemed like a reasonable choice for dinner. Grabbing a spoon from the drawer, she plopped herself down on a stool at her island and dove right in. Lavender jumped up on the counter and sat next to her.
“The thing is, I’m not even upset about that part because, as it turns out, I’m in love with someone else.” The thought of Aiden fluttered through her leaving and warm, tingling trail followed by
a dull ache. She didn’t want to be in love with him. He didn’t check off any of the boxes on her perfect husband list, the biggest problem being that he didn’t do commitments. Long term wasn’t his thing, so a future with him was out of the question.
But none of that mattered to her heart.
“Perhaps some things were never meant to be.” Like finding the end of a rainbow. Pulling off the perfect wedding. Spending forever with the one your heart desires.
The cat nudged her hand with her head. Paige scratched her ears while she spooned another large bite of ice cream into her mouth. After eating the outstanding custom berry and basil ice cream with Aiden, this store-bought stuff seemed flavorless. The vanilla base was boring and the strawberries were bland at best. Great. The weekend had even ruined what she’d previously considered to be her favorite kind of ice cream. She took another drab bite while she reminisced about some of the most impressive flavors—and moments—of the weekend. Experiencing perfection was exhilarating, but it made everything else seem mundane by comparison.
So maybe Aiden didn’t love her back. Maybe a future with him was out of the question, but they were still friends. She could still hang out with him, still enjoy his company.
“It’s not romantic, not the relationship that I want, but it’s something.” She wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince herself or the cat.
True, it was something, and for now she was willing to settle for it. But how long could she stare at the one thing she could never have before the temptation got too great and she had to walk away?
“Later,” she answered herself out loud. “We’ll worry about that later.”
She let out a defeated sigh and scooped up another large bite of bland ice cream. Her house was so quiet the hum of the refrigerator seemed deafening. Back to being alone. She put the bite in her mouth and chewed slowly.
She’d had the perfect plan to get her perfect future back on track. And, all things considered, she’d even executed it almost flawlessly. But none of it mattered because it wasn’t what she really wanted.
Lavender pawed the ice cream container, tipping it over. Paige caught it just before it spilled on the counter. She took one more quick bite, then scooped a tiny amount onto the end of the spoon and held it up for the cat as she replaced the lid on the carton. “At least one of us should get what we want.”
Chapter Eighteen
Friday night Aiden headed to his parents’ house for a family dinner. Every so often, Lottie Pierce would declare that her family had not sat down around the same table in way too long, and all four siblings were summoned. And as long as she was cooking for that many people, she usually invited a few others, too. By the end, there were so many people it always required more than one table, which, perhaps, defeated the purpose.
“Who wants some pie?” Aiden called as he stepped through the front door. He had to stop short to keep from tripping over his three-year-old niece who was running through the entry way into the room next to it. Close on her heels were the neighbor’s little girl and the dog. Sounds of talking and laughing came from all over the house. Yep. Sounded like a family dinner.
Aiden found his mom in the kitchen along with his oldest sister and a family friend. “Hello, Mama.” He kissed her on the cheek. “I brought you a pie.”
“Is that peach?”
Aiden set them on the counter. “Absolutely. One for you and one for the rest of us to share.”
“You know my love language.” She beamed and kept chopping.
Aiden snagged one of the carrots off her cutting board. “I’m going to say a quick round of hellos and I’ll be back to help.”
His first stop was the small living area off the back of the house that had been dubbed “Gram’s Den.” As usual, Gram was in her favorite chair in front of the TV.
“Hey, beautiful.” He kissed her cheek and took a seat in the chair next to her.
“You’re just in time for the new episode.” She patted his knee and turned up the volume on the TV to a nearly deafening level as the theme music filled the room. “We’re about to find out if Larissa’s baby is Greystone’s or Jordan’s.”
“Greystone is still in the picture?” Over the years that Aiden had watched this show with his grandmother, the characters and the storyline had changed surprisingly little. It wasn’t hard to go weeks or even months without watching an episode and still be able to pick up on what was going on.
“How was your business thing? Did you sell your restaurant?” Gram asked, her eyes still glued to the TV.
“No.” He settled back in the chair and crossed his ankle over his knee. “I’m selling them a different idea instead.”
It was the best of both worlds; he got to keep his restaurant and he got to start a new business that excited him. The future, his professional future at least, gleamed.
“And how about the girl? Did you get her?”
Gram’s question caught him off guard. “The girl?”
“That Paige girl. She’s precious. You know, I’ve always liked her.”
Disappointment panged a deep place he didn’t want to talk about. “Paige is with someone else, Gram, remember?”
“She’s still with the doofus? Good heavens, that girl is as clueless as you are.”
Aiden studied his grandmother. Perhaps her memory wasn’t as good as it used to be. “You told her to fight for him, remember?”
She shook her head. “No. I told her to fight for love. Anyone with eyes could see she wasn’t in love with the doofus. She’s been mooning over someone else for ages.” She turned the TV’s volume up another two notches. “If you didn’t see that, you’re a slow as Jordan.”
“It’s not nice to call people names, Gram.”
She waved off the comment. “I’m eighty-five years old. Rules don’t apply to me anymore.”
The show started again and Gram concentrated on the action—if you could call it action—on the TV. Aiden stared at the screen, too, trying his hardest to not think about the girl his grandmother thought was precious. The one he was in love with.
After two minutes, Gram looked over at him, her brows furrowed. “Why are you still here?”
“I’m waiting to see whose baby it is.” That’s why they were watching this show, right?
She studied him. “Maybe you’re the doofus.”
He started to ignore her words as the crazy ramblings of an old lady, but they struck a nerve. “Gram, we’re—”
She cut him off. “You don’t need to tell me something we both know isn’t true. Your empty words aren’t doing anyone any favors in this room.”
Empty words? Favors? Didn’t Gram understand that watching Paige choose some other guy wasn’t his choice? He was doing the noble thing by letting her walk away. Wasn’t he?
As if reading his mind, Gram wrapped her warm, withered hand around his. “She’s never going to know how you feel unless you tell her. You have to fight for love. This is your shot, kiddo. Take it.”
Aiden let the sage words simmer in him until they ignited a fire inside that launched him out of his chair. “I gotta go.” Excitement buzzed through him. Maybe he’d missed his shot before. Maybe fear and disappointment had caused him to pass on opportunities he should’ve taken, but not anymore. He loved Paige.
“Now you got it,” Gram said, returning her attention to the screen. “Tell that sweet girl I said hello.”
“Will do. Thanks, Gram.” He kissed her on the cheek and then bolted for the door. He’d never felt this good in his life, and he had the bounce in his step to prove it.
He almost ran into Ciera on his way out.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” she asked.
“To tell Paige I love her.” The thrill of saying it out loud made him want to break into a dance or belt a song at the top of his lungs.
Ciera studied him for a
second. “Huh, Hadley said she thought that was the case.”
“Has been for a long time,” Gram called from her chair. “He’s a little slow on the uptake.”
“Well, I’m saying it now.” He pushed open the exterior door that led to the side of the house and announced his revelation to the world. “I love Paige!” And now he was on his way to tell her.
It wasn’t until the heat from outside kissed his face that he paused and looked back at his sister. “Any idea where she might be today?”
Ciera shook her head and took the seat next to Gram in front of the TV.
“I think she has a wedding tonight. She’s probably at the resort.”
The resort. This was perfect. A plan started to form in his mind. It was a rough plan, but it didn’t matter. Some of his most successful ventures had started as rough ideas. He stepped out of the house onto the long concrete driveway, wondering if the exploding anticipation inside him was what Neil Armstrong felt the first time he stepped on the moon. It was only a small step, but everything from here on out was about to be different.
“Tell Mom sorry I couldn’t stay for dinner,” he called over his shoulder as he broke into a jog for his car.
As always, Paige waited until the glowing bride on her father’s arm was halfway down the aisle before she started to close the doors. So far, there had not been one hiccup in this storybook wedding, but tonight perfection didn’t excite her the way it usually did. In fact, the wedding itself left her feeling a little flat. True, Friday weddings were generally more subdued than weekend weddings and this bride was more casual than most. But the main thing dragging her down was her disillusioned view on love after last weekend.
Instead of focusing on her couple’s happiness, she allowed her mind to wander to mundane places like laundry and what errands she could run on her way home as she closed the second of the double doors, muting the romantic melody of the guitar solo processional. In fact, since she didn’t care to gaze at the romantic moment when the happy couple promised their forevers to each other like she normally did, now would be the perfect time to make a grocery list. She’d just pulled up the app on her tablet when she was distracted by the footsteps echoing across the room.
