“Was your father in the candy industry?”
Rudy chuckled.“Absolutely not.He owned a designer brand of clothing and became quite wealthy.He wanted to pass the business down to me, but it wasn’t my passion.”
“Making candy was your passion?”Cavin inquired.
“Living my own life was my passion,” Rudy shared.“Eleanor was my passion.My kids were and are my passion.And, yes, being a candy maker is also my passion,” he added.“Spend your time on the people and things that light you on fire, son.”
“What does this have to do with Noel?”Cavin asked.
Rudy laughed so loudly his belly jiggled.“Everything.I used to be like you, and then I met Eleanor.She stopped me in my tracks.I believe there is a woman out there for every man who will stop him in his tracks, and he has to decide then and there if he is willing to make a sacrifice for her, or if he wants to look back five, ten, twenty years down the road and wish he had.Women like Eleanor and Noel are a once-in-a-lifetime kind of catch, and if you release her, the next man with his wits about him will swoop her up in a heartbeat,” Rudy guaranteed.“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that this Noel Puckett has stopped you in your tracks, but you have to decide which is more important to you—your business life or personal life.”
“They are both important,” Cavin attested.
“Of course they are,” Rudy agreed as he pointed to the superyacht surrounding them.“I have made more money than I know what to do with, but the people I love are more important than this yacht, my houses, my airplane, and every other material object I own.It’s not that you can’t take any of it with you; it’s that you would give it all up to have the people you love with you.Or at least I would,” he shared, settling back in his recliner to think about Eleanor.
“You would give up all your possessions to have Eleanor back?”
“That’s not really a fair question to ask a grieving man,” Rudy rebuked him gently with a chuckle.“But yes, I would.I would paddle out of here on that dinghy you saw on the back of the yacht and live in the smallest house in Beaufort to have another life with my Eleanor.”
“That is humbling, sir, but I cannot just walk away from my family’s business.How am I going to make a living?”
“You can make a living doing what you love, or you can take advantage of struggling small business owners like Noel by buying their buildings to turn them into high-rise apartments and fancy restaurants.It’s up to you.”
For one of the first times in his life, Cavin was nearly speechless.“How do you know so much?”
“Are you asking how I know your father wants that building?”
“My father has never seen that building,” Cavin pointed out.
“You don’t want that building, Cavin Dawson, you want a relationship with the woman who owns it.”
“Maybe I can have both,” Cavin offered.
“You can’t have both; the world Noel Puckett lives in doesn’t work that way.”
“Why not?Why can’t my family’s company buy that building and help move the candy shop somewhere down the road, or maybe even find a space for them in the newly renovated structure?”
“I like that you have thought about helping keep the candy store alive, but you can dig deeper, my friend.”
Cavin sensed that Rudy meant something more than simply walking away from the deal.“If we do not buy the candy store, someone else will.”
“Possibly but not if you dig deeper.”
“What are you talking about?”Cavin investigated.“And how do I know you are not planning to buy the candy store?Maybe you are just trying to outsmart me with all this talk about following my heart and giving up my family’s business for a woman I barely know.”
Rudy nodded approvingly.“You are wise to consider all the possibilities and to rule me out as an adversary.”
“How can I rule you out as competition?That candy store does not currently sell your candy.It is all homemade by Noel, Mrs.Madelyn, and those children,” Cavin pointed out.“Do you even know why those children are selling hot chocolate and trying to find your dog?”
“Yes, I know exactly why.”
“They told you?”Cavin questioned.
“They don’t have to tell me.It’s obvious,” Rudy declared.
Was the man really that wise?
“They are doing those things out of the goodness of their hearts,” Rudy acknowledged.“That’s all I need to know.Their mother and those who came before her taught them how to do that, how to be a family.Because of that, the candy store will find a way to survive.It doesn’t need me or you or anyone else.”
