Page 68 of Composed

He was all the fuck out of ideas, and it was terrifying.

“Oh, Ryan, there you are.” Robert Hawthorne stepped out of the office just as Ryan crossed in front of the door. “Can I have a word?”

“Yeah, anything for you, Dad,” Ryan replied.

Robert grinned and walked over to join Ryan, gesturing for them to continue walking outside into a surprisingly nice day.

“I need your opinion,” Robert said, pointing for them to walk around the corner of the house. “Your mum’s and my thirty-fifth wedding anniversary is coming up next year, and I have a massive gift in mind for her.”

“You two have been married that long?” Ryan asked with a smile.

“No, not really,” Robert said with a cheeky wink. “It’s actually only been official for twenty-eight years or so. Turns out thatguru who performed our first marriage, when your mum was pregnant with Rhys, was a fraud without a license, but no one really cared.”

Ryan shook his head and laughed. He was never certain whether his dad told the truth about those sorts of things, but knowing him and his mum, there was a good chance he actually was.

“I’ve decided I want to have Hawthorne House’s gardens redesigned and replanted as a wedding present,” Robert went on as they turned a second corner to look out over the vast, overgrown, once magnificent gardens.

“That’s a good idea,” Ryan said. “What did you have in mind?”

“Something spectacular,” Robert said, making a sweeping gesture over the vista in front of them. “Something that will get Hawthorne House featured in all those horrible, posh magazines that people should be wiping their arses with instead of reading.”

Ryan laughed. “Youwantto be covered in those magazines?”

“For your mum’s sake, yes,” he said. “But as it turns out, it’s much more complicated to find the right garden designer than I thought it would be.”

“Is that what you need my help with?” Ryan asked.

“Yes. I’ve got a list of recommendations, but I was hoping you and I could visit a few gardens in the next few months to see which designs we like best,” Robert said.

Ryan brightened. “I’d like that,” he said. Not only would touring gardens over the fall and winter months give him more time to hang out with his dad, it might inspire him with ideas for a fall collection.

“Excellent,” Robert said, thumping Ryan’s back. “Now help me walk the space to figure out where we want to put things.”

Ryan grinned and followed his dad as he set off into the formerly grand gardens. Maybe the next few months wouldn’t be as bad as he’d been worried they’d be. They could just be fantastic. As long as his dad didn’t ask too many questions about why his career as a fashion designer was on the verge of crashing and burning.