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“All right, then.” She pressed her lips together and lifted her gaze to his. “I understand that you chose a different path in life, and I know you love being a chef and restaurant owner. After our visit, I can even appreciate it. I like your town, and clearly everyone there loves you. But even though you’ve said you didn’t turn your back on this family, it took your brother’s wedding to bring you back even for an overnight visit.”
She held up a hand when he started to speak. “I know. Your father has often been cutting and cruel. There was no reason for you to subject yourself to that. But I’ve missed you. I’ve missed us being a family. If I promise to curb my meddling, will youpleasemake an effort to visit us more? It’s not as if you live across the country. Can you manage to have dinner with us once a month?”
“Manageisn’t the right word.” Grant crossed the room to pull his mother into his arms. “I would like that. If you want, I can even cook every now and then.”
His mother smiled and hugged him. “I also promise to try and rein in your father, although he’s only had good things to say about Bliss Cove. Grudging, but good. Speaking of him, can you please go outside and tell him lunch will be ready in an hour? He’s trimming the hedges.”
“Sure.” Grant started toward the French doors leading to the backyard. A monthly dinner with his parents wouldn’t heal all wounds, but maybe it was a start.
He found his father around the side of the house, with garden tools scattered nearby and a wheelbarrow half-full of clippings. After greeting him, Grant relayed the message about lunch and picked up a pair of shears.
“Is Rory here, too?” Edward glanced toward the house.
“No.”
“You talked her right out of taking my job offer, didn’t you?” Edward sheared off another branch and straightened. “You’d never want your girlfriend to work for Intellix.”
“That’s not true.” Grant moved to another hedge and began trimming. “I’ve never hated Intellix. It’s phenomenal company. I just wasn’t cut out for IT work. And Intellix became this…I don’t know, symbol for everything that was wrong. But it was never about the company.”
His father frowned. “Intellix was the reason you had so many privileges and the life that you did.”
“I had a lot because of Intellix, but it didn’t give me all my privileges. I earned many of those.”
Edward yanked a fistful of weeds from the dirt. “What about your trust fund?”
“It’s still there.”
“All of it?”
“Yeah. More of it now, with the interest.”
Edward wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. “You didn’t use any of the money to buy that tavern?”
“No.” Grant picked up a few clippings and tossed them into the wheelbarrow. “I’d been saving for my own restaurant since I first started bussing tables. I was working at a restaurant up in Portland when I heard that the Mousehole was for sale. I’d been there a few times when I was traveling, so I made an offer. When the owners accepted it the next day, I knew it was the right fit. I moved to Bliss Cove the following week.”
With a muttered,“Huh,”Edward returned to the trimming. So did Grant.
“What are you going to do next?” Edward asked. “Open a Mousehole in Santa Cruz or Los Angeles?”
“No. I might invest in a place for another chef one day, but I’m not moving. I have everything I need and want in Bliss Cove.”
Almost.
“What about Rory?” Edward bent to pick up a stack of branches from the ground. “I assume she’s not going to stay at Digicore, and she’s not coming over to Intellix. You want her to move back to Bliss Cove and work in a bakery again? Waste her talent?”
“I want her to be happy.” A sudden tightness constricted his chest. “You know what it’s like to want your girl to be happy, right? Rory has never had the chance to prove what she’s really capable of, not even to herself. She’s tried, but she’s hit too many roadblocks. If you do what you’re good at, what you want to do, how is that a waste of talent? Would you rather I was working at Intellix doing a shitty job because I don’t know the difference between a bit and a byte?”
His father lifted an eyebrow. “A bit is part of a byte.”
“Asmall biteis an appetizer that can be eaten all at once.”
Edward slanted him a narrow glance. Amusement—faint, but there—glimmered in his expression. “That artichoke soup was something else. I’ll give you that.”
“Ancient secret recipe.”
They finished cleaning up the branches and started back to the house.
“Your mother has mentioned wanting to visit Bliss Cove again.” Edward’s voice was gruff. “I wouldn’t mind another bowl of that soup. Good fishing, too.”
“I’ll be there whenever you want to come back.”
“Maybe after the new year.” His father pulled open the door. “I’m taking your mother to Indonesia next spring for another second honeymoon. Which I guess makes it the third. Just the two of us this time. And believe it or not…no cell phones.”
“Don’t worry.” Amused, Grant followed his father into the house. “I won’t tell anyone.”
