Page 78 of Love Off-Limits
“Of course I have. Well, sort of. He saw my business proposal before he got sick.”
“That’s not really the same thing, is it?” Tyler took a step toward me. “Olivia, your strength is your passion. It’s what convinced me the restaurant was a good idea, and I don’t know the first thing about farm-to-table anything. I don’t think your dad will truly understand your vision if he’s trying to pick it up from numbers on paper. But the way you talk about it? The way your eyes light up when you explain all the ways you could make it work? That’s the magic of the idea. Your dad needs to see that.”
Tyler made it seem so easy. And I wanted to believe it would be. But my fear was deep and visceral and hard to ignore. “What happens if I show him, and he still says no? Then what?”
He shrugged. “I know a little something about stepping into the dark without a safety net. You’ll find another way. Or a different way altogether. Maybe even a different dream.”
Somehow our conversation had morphed from me not wanting to risk a relationship with Tyler to not wanting to talk to my dad about his reasons for putting Perry in charge. Was it really just the restaurant idea? Or was there more to it?
But I wasn’t so deluded not to recognize how intrinsically tied together those two issues were. It was my fear of the conversation that had made me feel like I had to change in the first place—to settle in and do my job without rocking the boat.
“I just need some time, okay?” I eventually said.
There were too many things I needed to work out inside my own head. And that was work I needed to do alone.
“I understand,” he said, running a hand across his face. “I don’t like it, but I understand.”
I offered him a tentative smile. “Listen, when you showed up to talk, I was ready to delete your number from my phone and send you back to Charleston.”
“Let’s not be rash,” he said with a chuckle. He reached out and squeezed my hand. “I have a lot of faith in what this is, Liv. For me? It’s big. It’s... everything.”
I looked at him for a long moment. At the way his hair curled the tiniest bit at the nape of his neck. At his t-shirt stretched across his chest and hugging his shoulders, his sunglasses hooked at the collar. At the genuine concern and warmth emanating from his dark eyes.
I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t give up on me, okay?”
I left him standing at the edge of the water and headed back the way we’d come.
It wasn’t much for him to go on.
But I had to hope it was enough.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tyler
I sat next to the water a long time.
My pride was stung over Olivia pushing me away, but a bigger part of me just hurt that she was hurting. I wished there was something I could do. Some way to help her find her place at Stonebrook. I thought of all the filming I’d been doing, the snatches of farm life I’d compiled, and an idea sprouted in the back of my brain.
Maybe I could help.
The afternoon pushed toward dusk, and the mosquitos came out, giving me a good reason to finally leave the forest and head back to the bunkhouse.
I didn’t see another soul as I climbed the steps and dropped into one of the worn rocking chairs that graced the bunkhouse porch. It would probably be a couple more hours before everyone else started to show up.
Taking advantage of the solitude, I pulled out my phone and called Isaac.
Nerves pulsed in my gut while I waited for him to answer. We hadn’t talked or texted since I’d left.
He answered the phone with his characteristic enthusiasm. “Tyler!” he yelled. “How are you?”
“Hey, Isaac. What’s up?”
“Man,it is good to hear your voice. We saw Darcy the other night. Did she tell you?”
“Yeah, she mentioned it.”
“Have you been hiking? Please tell me you’ve been hiking. Hey, Ro, it’s Tyler!” he yelled, his voice distant like he was holding the phone away from his face.
