The Way the Story Goes Read online

Unfortunately, he had no choice but to agree. “Sure, the more the merrier, right?”

  The three of them looked at him oddly and he realized how that probably wasn’t the most intelligent remark to make.

  Ugh…

  “It’s a bit dirty over there with a lot of debris and materials around, so everyone needs to be careful,” he cautioned as everyone began to follow him out of Mia’s house. He was surprised when Mia didn’t move to come with them and he looked at her and silently pled for her not to leave him alone with these people.

  He knew the moment she resigned herself to going along.

  And he wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  Either way, he walked beside Ryder and talked about the fixtures he picked up today while the Kingsley family followed behind them.

  “Gracious, across the sand?” Mrs. Kingsley murmured, and Austin laughed to himself.

  “It’s the easiest way, Mom. You should kick off your shoes and get your toes in the sand. It feels wonderful!”

  Austin didn’t have to turn around to know that wasn’t going to happen.

  Once they were in the house, Austin focused on talking to Ryder. He wasn’t a damn tour guide and his only interest should be on talking with his client. He figured Mia would show her folks around and then they’d leave so he and Ryder could talk, but it took almost an hour for them to start heading for the door.

  “Ryder,” Mr. Kingsley began, “we really would love it if you would join us for dinner. I know you need to finish talking to Mr. Goldman…”

  “It’s Coleman,” Austin interjected through clenched teeth.

  “Sorry. Mr. Coleman,” Arvin corrected. “But please let us buy you dinner. I’d love to hear more about what you’re going to invest in next.”

  Ryder’s phone rang and he excused himself, and Austin hoped the Kingsleys would take that as their cue to leave.

  “Mom, Dad,” Mia said softly, “why don’t you head over to the house and freshen up? I’ll talk to Ryder and see what his plans are, okay?”

  Luckily they agreed and after a rather stiff goodbye, they were gone.

  Except for Mia.

  Once her parents were out of sight, she turned and looked at him apologetically. “I am so, so sorry for that, Austin. I don’t even think they realize how rude they were.”

  “You could have pointed it out to them.”

  She hung her head and nodded. “You’re right. I should have.” When she looked up at him, he saw how miserable she looked and he almost felt bad for having an attitude, but she needed to understand just how much she hurt him and how much her actions were like theirs.

  But then again, should he really be surprised?

  The bottom line was that they were her parents and she was an only child. It was only natural for her to be like them, so…as much as he hated that this was how things were going to end, it was probably for the best.

  Raking a hand through his hair, he sighed loudly and noticed Ryder had gone into the master bedroom and shut the door. “Look, he may be awhile, but…I’ll encourage him to go with you and your family to dinner.”

  “What?” Her beautiful eyes went wide with shock.

  “Um…yeah. I was gone much longer than I planned so I’m behind here and won’t have time to go have dinner with him so…you know…no worries. I’m not going to stop you from going out with him. It’s obvious he fits in much better with you and your world than I do, so…go for it.”

  “Excuse me?” her voice shook as her eyes narrowed at him.

  “I mean…look, contrary to popular belief, I’m not an idiot, Mia. I stood out on your deck and listened to the four of you talking and it was blazingly obvious that Ryder is the kind of guy your parents want you with and I can see why you were too embarrassed to introduce me to them. After all, I realize now that I was just a distraction to you while you were away—a fling or maybe a way to rebel against your parents. Either way, it feels a little like you were…” And as much as he hated to ever quote his aunt Georgia, the words were out before he could stop them. “You know, slumming it.”

  The sound of her hand cracking against his cheek echoed throughout the house. “You son of a bitch,” she hissed and then tears instantly filled her eyes. Mia took a step back and he saw a myriad of emotions cross her face—horror, sadness, and regret. “How could you…?” She stopped herself as she took another step back.

  It took every ounce of strength he had not to go to her and wrap her in his arms and beg for forgiveness. This wasn’t who he was—he wasn’t spiteful and he certainly didn’t want to hurt her like this. He was lashing out and…dammit, he shouldn’t be doing this sort of thing anymore.

  “Mia, I…”

  “Oh, Mia, good. You’re still here,” Ryder said as he walked back into the room. “Please send your parents my regrets, but I already have plans for tonight.” He reached for her hand and gently shook it. “It was wonderful to meet you and thank you for your hospitality.”

  She nodded. “I need to go,” she said softly, and with one last sad look at Austin, she turned and walked away.

  And Austin stared out the door long after she was gone.

  “That was a little harsh, don’t you think?” Ryder asked.

  Looking over his shoulder, Austin frowned. “Excuse me?”

  With an easy grin, Ryder slid his hands into his trouser pockets and walked over to him. “You were a little harsh toward Mia,” he clarified.

  “Yeah, well…you don’t know the whole story,” he muttered and walked away. “I’m going to go grab those fixtures out of my truck, so…”

  “They can wait,” Ryder said, his tone firm and definitely no-nonsense. When Austin turned to look at him, he saw a fierce look on his face. “You and I have known each other for a long time, Austin, and I know you have some anger issues which is why you’re here working alone on my house instead of at your job back in Baltimore, but hearing the way you just spoke to Mia makes me want to shake some sense into you before I fire you.”

  Shit…when am I going to learn?!

  Shoulders sagging, he walked back into the living room and sat down on one of the step ladders. “Mia and I were…seeing each other.”

  “O-kay…”

  “Then she gets a call from her folks saying they were coming to stay for a night and…”

  “She didn’t want you to meet them,” Ryder finished for him as he leaned against the fireplace mantle. “Well, shit. That’s terrible.”

  With a nod, he replied, “Tell me about it. And then I show up and they’re all gushing over you and…I don’t know…it bothered me. A lot.” He let out a snort of disgust. “Like that’s anything new.”

  They were both quiet for several minutes before Ryder pushed away from the wall. “Come on. Let’s get out of here for a bit. Dinner’s on me.”

  “Dude, I’m not dressed to go anywhere with you.” He motioned to Ryder’s crisp, expensive suit.

  “That’s easily rectified.” And with a grin, Ryder stripped off his jacket and tie and tossed them on top of a box. “I was planning on crashing here tonight so I’ve got a change of clothes in the car. Give me fifteen minutes and we’ll go.”

  Like Austin had a choice.

  Although, going out was better than staying here working with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company.

  In exactly fifteen minutes, they were in Ryder’s car and driving into town. “I’m looking to try something with a real local feel to it. Casual. Where should we go?”

  “Well, there are two places that would work—The Sand Bar or The Mystic Magnolia. Personally, I would choose…”

  “Oh, we have to go to the Mystic Magnolia,” Ryder said with a small laugh. “A place with a name like that has got to be steeped in local history.”

  “It is, but it recently got a big makeover to bring it up to date. My cousin Peyton helped out with it. The owner is an older guy and he built the place. After a fire, he needed some help to get things back on track. So my cousin Maso
n invested in it, and Peyton helped with the menu and kitchen. It’s a huge improvement to what it was when I was growing up.” Austin gave him the directions and within minutes they were seated at the restaurant.

  Ryder studied the menu thoughtfully. “If your cousin did this menu, I’d like to talk to her. I’m thinking of investing in some restaurants next.”

  “Really? You’d want to do something casual like this?”

  He shrugged. “Sure. Why not? Hell, maybe I’ll look into buying some property here in Magnolia and setting up camp for a while.”

  “Oh, um…”

  “It would be a year or so down the road, but I’m definitely going to drive around a bit tomorrow on my way out and see if anything catches my attention.” He paused before saying, “And I am going to try a crab cake sandwich with peach mango salsa. Sound interesting.”

  When the server came to take their order, Austin decided to just get the same thing as Ryder so they could get on with the lecture he knew was coming. And the moment the waitress walked away, there it was.

  “Why are trying to sabotage your life?” Ryder asked point-blank.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me. And you know what? You’re getting too old for this shit, Austin. You’re a brilliant architect, an amazing craftsman, and on top of that, you’re a nice guy when you’re not busy being such a dick. When are you going to grow up?”

  Considering they were sitting in the middle of a restaurant, it wasn’t like he could start a fight so…he didn’t. “I screwed up.”

  “No kidding. What are you going to do about it?”

  “Honestly? Nothing.”

  The look of shock on Ryder’s face was almost comical. “Why?”

  “What’s the point? You were there. You saw the way her parents talked to me. Why would I pursue anything with Mia? And besides, she doesn’t live here. In another month or so, she’s heading back to Boston. This was never going to be…you know…something permanent.”

  “Not with that attitude it isn’t,” he murmured.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? For once, my attitude has nothing to do with it. Logistically, this wasn’t going to work anyway.”

  “So you’re going back to Baltimore?”

  He shrugged. “Eventually. I guess.”

  “Why not stay here? I’m sure there are plenty of opportunities here for you.”

  And that’s when he told Ryder about his offer from Jake.

  “Austin, that’s incredible! You’re going to take it, right?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  Ryder’s first response was to groan. Loudly. “And we’re back to sabotage.”

  “It’s not like that! I want to be hired because I’m good at what I do, not because I happen to be related to the man who started the business.”

  “Is that why Jake wants to hire you?”

  “He said it’s not, but…he probably feels obligated and I’m a convenient candidate.”

  Leaning back in his seat, Ryder stared at him—hard.

  “What? Now what?”

  “You know what? Normally you are a cocky bastard. Confident. It’s the main reason I hired you to do this job.” Now he leaned forward again. “But now you sound like a whiney child.”

  “Hey!”

  This time when Ryder leaned in even closer, he looked almost menacing. “Do you know why I’m successful?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “It’s because I know when to take a chance and have confidence in my decisions. Is Coleman Construction successful?”

  “Well, yeah…”

  “Okay then. The decision to take a chance there is a no-brainer, Austin. You’d be heading up the architectural division of the company and starting out with a sweet project.” He paused. “I may have to reach out and see if I can get in on that. Resorts are fantastic investments.” He grinned. “And as for Mia…”

  “Don’t,” Austin quickly interrupted. “Just…don’t. You just met her and you have no idea…”

  “I saw the way she looked at you before she left,” Ryder said, his voice solemn. “That wasn’t the look of someone who only thought of you as a fling and she sure as shit wasn’t looking at you as someone she was just ‘slumming it’ with. Her folks are uptight snobs. I knew that within five minutes of meeting them and Mia is nothing like them.” He leaned back again. “And you should know that.”

  “Yeah, but she didn’t want me to…”

  “Did you ever think she was doing it to protect you? That it wasn’t about being ashamed of you but more like she was ashamed of them?”

  Shit…

  “Think on that, man, and then get your head out of your ass and do something about it.” Then Ryder relaxed back in his chair again. “Now let’s talk about maybe tearing down the deck and expanding it!”

  11

  The next morning, Mia waved goodbye to her parents and waited for them to drive away before closing the door and sliding to the floor against it.

  Holy crap, they were exhausting! Why haven’t I ever noticed that before?

  Last night it had taken everything in her not to run screaming from the house. All through dinner they had talked about how she should have done more to make Ryder join them and how he was exactly the kind of man she should be dating.

  That was her cue to say she was dating someone.

  But she didn’t.

  When they got back to the house, her father wanted to go back over to Ryder’s to talk to him some more, and she practically had to tie him to a chair to stop him. By the time they went to bed, she heard Ryder’s name no less than a hundred times and her head felt ready to split in two.

  There was no way she was interested in dating Ryder or anyone like him ever again. While her parents were right to think she’d want to—after all, that was the type she normally dated—but after Austin, she knew that kind of man would never make her happy.

  Not like Austin had.

  Her head rested against the front door as she sighed. If she had simply put her foot down and told them they couldn’t come, her life would be so much easier.

  Happier.

  And because she was too much of a wimp to stand up to her parents, she’d ruined a relationship with the one man she really felt comfortable with. Free with. Happy with.

  In love with.

  With a groan, her eyes slid shut because it was painful to admit that she had fallen in love with Austin in such a short amount of time and the only reason he wasn’t here with her was because of her own actions.

  The last thing she ever wanted to do was hurt him, and she did just that.

  And was paying the price for it.

  She allowed herself several minutes to sit and have a pity party for one before getting up and going to work. “Those edits aren’t going to do themselves,” she murmured and really wished that they would.

  Walking over to her desk, she sat down and let out a long breath as she mentally prepared to do the work she was dreading. It had to be done and no matter how much procrastinating she did, it still had to be done…might as well get to it.

  For two hours she read and re-read passages and made the changes she and Jillian had discussed and made it halfway through everything that needed to be done. Fortunately, the second half of the book required a lot less work. It was a great time to take a break, and as she stood and stretched, she spotted Austin and Ryder out on their deck.

  Ryder, she thought miserably, was a butt-kissing jerk. Just thinking about how he had hit it off so well with her parents made her wonder how he and Austin could possibly be friends.

  “Ugh…I can’t even look at him,” she muttered and turned to go to the kitchen to make herself some lunch.

  And kept her back to the window so she wouldn’t be tempted to keep looking out.

  Lunch was simply a salad with some tuna and totally uninspired, but she knew she needed to eat something. Afterward, she couldn’t focus any more attention on the remaining edits, so Mia decided to pull up Deadly Renovation
and play around with it some more.

  Especially since she was now more than ready to kill Austin again.

  Getting comfortable, she pulled up the document and read over the last few paragraphs before she dug back in.

  Detective Morgan walked around the room making eye contact with the six of them. There wasn’t a doubt in Melanie’s mind that he already knew who the killer was. She was careful not to look directly at anyone else in the room. She didn’t want to know their secrets, and she certainly didn’t want them to know hers.

  Austin was dead.

  Bludgeoned with his own hammer.

  Her heart ached because she had seen a small hint of good in him. Hell, she even thought she had misjudged him all this time. She had gone from wanting to kill him, to wanting to kiss him, to wanting to keep him. But a black heart was a black heart, and no amount of silly secret rendezvous or stolen romantic moments could change that.

  Damn him.

  Everyone here was a suspect and everyone had threatened Austin, but he chose to laugh them off.

  Janet St. John threatened him because he was blackmailing her over an affair she’d had with her gardener.

  Mitchell Webber threatened him over work he’d paid for that Austin refused to finish.

  Will and David Gabbert threatened to kill him because Austin was the one who discovered that they were cheating their accounting clients out of thousands of dollars.

  Crystal Bennett vowed to see him dead over claims that Austin was the one who told her siblings how she stole their grandmother’s engagement ring.

  And then there was Melanie. She had been annoyed with him more than anything in the beginning, but in the end, she threatened to kill him over their affair.

  Or…the end of it.

  She was numb right now—unable to believe he was truly gone. Austin Maxwell was larger than life, and it didn’t seem possible that he was dead. That she’d never see his face again. Or that he’d finally pushed one of them over the edge.

  Detective Morgan continued walking around and it was making her crazy. Why wouldn’t he say anything? Why wasn’t he questioning them, or at the very least, telling them what he knew? If this was his way of getting one of them to crack, Melanie seriously hoped it would work.