for her and allow her to keep her beloved acres. Do I think she could run it? Yes, if she put her mind to it.”
“Most likely. When I first got there and she asked how everyone was, I told her you were engaged to be married. I thought she was going to fall apart before my eyes and her father didn’t act much better.”
“So, he would rather sell it off to someone else than let us buy it?”
With a quick nod, he replied, “Pretty much.”
An idea hit me as I smiled. “What if we put an offer in on it, but he didn’t know it was us. Go in under another name.”
Trying to hide his smile, he answered, “That’s deceitful.”
“How? He’s being a dick about it when he knows damn well that ranch would thrive under our control. We could even work it into the deal that they would retain a certain amount of land, for Destiny. Word it differently though.”
Leaning back in his chair, he rested his chin on his index fingers. “It could work.”
“Then I say we give it a try, but only if he doesn’t come around.”
With a firm nod of his head, he dropped his hands. “All right. Let’s give him some time to come to his senses, then we take this approach.”
My cell rang in my back pocket with Ava’s ring tone. With a smile, I reached for it and excused myself as I walked out of my father’s office.
“Hello?”
“Ugh.”
“I’m glad to know my voice turns you on so much.”
“I told them. It didn’t go very well.”
Swallowing hard, I felt my stomach drop. “How bad?”
“Well, considering I tried to kind of throw it into the conversation at dinner, it could have gone worse. My father is currently debating if he wants to fly up there and kick your ass.”
“What?”
With a chuckle, she sighed. “Oh man … not really. But they both think we’re rushing.”
“Do you? Do you think we’re moving too fast?”
The silence scared me until she blew out a deep breath. “I called my manager at the boutique and told her I wouldn’t be coming back. It’s kind of a good thing you asked me to marry you, because she really loves my replacement.”
With a chuckle, I breathed a sigh of relief. “Tomorrow I’m going to see if Liza will take me in to Austin. I’ll need to pack up my apartment and all of that.”
My cheeks were beginning to ache from the huge smile I had on my face. “I still have to go back and take care of my place. We can do it together.”
“I like the sound of that. I don’t think it will be too hard to sublease my apartment. I have the ideal location for downtown Austin.”
“What about Maurice?” I asked while my mother motioned for me to help her with getting the dishes on the table.
“That’s not a problem. I can work anywhere for him.”
The sound of her voice stirred the craziest emotions in me. I longed to see her and this feeling of missing someone was totally new.
“I can’t wait to see you, Ava.”
“You have no idea how much I want to cut my visit short and come back to you.” She paused for a few moments and said, “Um … Ryder this is something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”
My heart stopped while I held my breath. “Oh?”