Page 93 of Love Off-Limits
My heart lurched. Is that what he’d been worried about all this time?
“Dad—”
“No, Livie. Your gift is the joy you bring to the people around you. You light up a room just like your mother. You make people feel good. If you start worrying about the numbers...” He shook his head. “I just don’t want you to lose that light.” He nodded as if warming to the topic. “I also want you to have a family. To be a m-m...” He paused and started again. I squeezed his hand. He hadn’t talked this much since before his stroke. “Amother,” he finally managed.
I leaned back in my chair. How could I help him see?
“I want those things too, Dad. And you’re right. I do have a lot of Mom in me. But the thing is, I also have a lot of you. I don’t want to open a restaurant on Stonebrook because I love the numbers, though I promise I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think the numbers were good. I want to do itbecauseof how much I like to make people happy. Because I recognize how magical Stonebrook is, and I want to share it with as many people as possible. You turned this place into what it is because you had incredible vision. And you gave that vision to me, Dad. I reallyseethis place. And I can see people driving out here for dinner. I can see them staying for an anniversary weekend. Visiting the goats, hiking through the orchards to get here, where they can see an incredible view of the farm and the mountains. I can see Lennox in the kitchen, creating beautiful meals out of the food we grow right here on the farm. I can see him charming everyone with his easy smiles. I can see it all.” I leaned forward, wanting to make sure he heard how sincere I was. “The numbers matter. Because the numbers are what put food on the table for all of our employees. But they aren’t what motivate me. I’m motivated by the people. Just like you.”
He huffed and shook his head, but a smile played at the corner of his lips. “That does sound a lot like me.”
The thrill of victory sparked in my chest, but I tamped it down. I couldn’t get ahead of myself. And there was one more thing weighing on my mind.
“All this time, I thought the reason you chose Perry was because you didn’t trust me.”
His face softened. “Perry has a good head for numbers, but sometimes he can’t see past the report in front of him.” He looked me right in the eye. “He doesn’t have your vision. Now, the two of you together?” He held up a finger and nodded sagely. “That might be exactly what this place needs.”
“That would make me really happy, Daddy.”
He smiled and leaned his head back against the canvas camp chair. We looked out at the view together, nothing but the chattering of the birds and rustle of the breeze blowing through the trees breaking the silence.
“The man I met, and then...was with you in the barn. Tyler.”
I nodded. “What about him?”
“Is he special?”
I bit my lip. “Yeah, he is. But I’m not sure it matters. He’s got a job in Charlotte now.”
Dad’s forehead wrinkled as he frowned. “He left? Why?”
I shrugged. “It was just.. . bad timing, I guess. I was distracted by things here at home and then he got this amazing job opportunity, and now, I guess I feel like I can’t take that away from him, you know?”
Dad shook his head—a large sweeping motion twice that of a normal negative response. “No, no, no, no. If you love him,” he said, his words really slurring now, “and he loves you...” He took a deep breath.
“It’s okay,” I said, reaching over and squeezing Dad’s arm. “We don’t have to talk anymore. I can tell you’re tired.”
He nodded, relaxing back into his chair. After a few more minutes of silence, he turned to face me. “Olivia, respect him enough to be honest about your feelings and let him choose what to do about the job.” He held up that same pointer finger and shook it at me. It trembled now, and I clenched my hands into fists to keep from reaching out to steady it for him. “I assumed I knew what your mother wanted, and it nearly ended our marriage. She told me how she felt, and it saved us. It allowed me to act. To change. If you love him, you be honest with him.”
A few minutes later, Perry emerged from the woods behind us. “Did you save an orange roll for me?” he asked as he approached.
I handed him the container and he helped himself before dropping onto a boulder on the other side of the small clearing. “What’s up?” he asked, looking between Dad and me.
Dad grunted. “I’m tired, that’s what.” He looked at me. “And Livie’s going to get her restaurant.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Tyler
I rubbed my hands down the front of my pants and gave them a good shake. I shouldn’t be nervous. My friends didn’t love me based on how nice my apartment was or how put together they believed my life to be.
Still, I wanted them to be proud of me. To see that I’d managed to accomplish something entirely on my own.
Well, almost entirely. I’d used the equipment Isaac had loaned me. And the connection Olivia had provided for me. But creating the wedding video—that had been all me. And I’d done a good job on it, too.
The Ethans had set me up in an executive apartment on the same block as their third-floor office in downtown Charlotte. The rent was relatively inexpensive, and it was fully furnished, which was perfect because the furniture I had back in Charleston wouldn’t fill more than a master bedroom. It came with a parking space in the garage across the street, but I’d only used my Jeep a few times since officially moving in. I could walk to work, walk to the grocery store a few blocks away. Walk to... nowhere else since my social life was nonexistent. But I wasn’t about to complain.
I had a real job.
