Last night had sucked in the sleep department. After waking up in a cold sweat, he’d spent half the night in Callum’s room in the rocker. He may have peeked in on Gavin and Savie a number of times too.
He was doing his best to wave off any fears Sawyer might have. Trying to convince him there was nothing to worry about. Sawyer tried to hide it from him, but he was a ball of stress over everything.
But how am I supposed to stop him from panicking? Ford was like a pot of boiling rice about to overflow and make a mess. Just call already, Ford.
He picked up the phone and dialed the lawyer’s number. Almost immediately, a woman answered. He waited as she went through her opening greeting before he calmed his nerves enough and spoke. “Hello. My name is Ford Erickson. I’m calling regarding Cynthia Mayhew and Larry Banks.”
“Just a minute, sir. Do you know the name of the lawyer handling the case?”
Ford’s eyes went to the notepad again, not that he needed it. “Devon Ripley, please.”
“Hold please.” She put on some dry music. Elevator music he called it, but it gave Ford a moment to focus and put his thoughts together. It wasn’t long before the woman came back on the line.
“I’m sorry, but he’s not available at the moment. Would you like me to have him call you back?”
Ford hesitated. He looked at the clock on his laptop. The last thing he wanted was getting caught up with curiosity, wondering when the lawyer would call him back. Still, he’d come this far…
“That’d be great.” He shrugged and muttered, might as well. “Ford Erickson. Please have him call my office phone.” He rattled off the number. “I’ll be here until five today and then back at eight tomorrow.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Erickson. He’ll be out of his meeting soon, and I’ll give him the message. Have a good day.”
“Thank you, you too.” Ford disconnected the call, then focused back on his laptop.
There was a knock on the door distracting him from the screen. “Come in,” Ford called out.
He checked the time to see about two hours had passed since he’d hung up the phone and started working in earnest. When Ford looked up, he smiled when he saw Sawyer.
“Knocking, are we?” Ford leaned back in his chair and asked.
Sawyer shut the door behind him and took a step into his office. “I heard the guy in this office is sleeping with the boss. I wouldn’t want to walk in on anything.”
Ford shook his head while rolling his eyes. “I think you mean the boss is sleeping with the guy in this office.”
A thought flashed in his head, whether or not he should tell Sawyer about the call he’d made, but then Ford didn’t want Sawyer to think he didn’t trust him to deal with all of this.
He knew technically the kids were Sawyer’s, but Ford felt like they were his too. He was so attached to them that it hurt his heart thinking that something could happen to any one of them.
He got up and went to Sawyer, meeting him in the middle. They shared a quick kiss before Ford pulled back and put his hands on Sawyer’s chest. “What brings you here? This nice surprise. Did you finally decide to tell me what we have planned tonight?”
“Not even close.” Sawyer traced Ford’s lips with his thumb. “Ever heard the saying patience is a virtue?”
Ford groaned. “You’re mean.” He stuck his tongue out, making Sawyer throw his head back in laughter. “But, as you wish. If you’re not here to share, then what brings you by?”
“Business, actually.”
Ford looked up at Sawyer, “What’s up?”
“Mark and I have been talking about investing more in Amber Falls, and I just had a meeting with a guy that is interested in buying the B&B, but he needs a silent partner.”
“And let me guess. You’re going to be his partner?” Ford wasn’t surprised since Sawyer was becoming very involved in quite a few of the new Amber Falls business ventures. Most that had been around when Ford was a child closed due to the increasing popularity of places such as Vail, Aspen, and Telluride. But with their resort opening and the buzz it was creating, Amber Falls was coming to life again.
Ford leaned back so he was looking at Sawyer. “Thank you for loving Amber Falls as much as I do.”
The corners of Sawyer’s lips quirked up. “Babe, I love you. Amber Falls could be Outer Timbuktu, and I’d love it cos you were there.”
Ford snorted at the Outer Timbuktu comment, but he didn’t let Sawyer play it down.
“I’m serious, Sawyer. Most people that left here, well, they didn’t come back, or they drove over an hour to get to the other towns, but you’re bringing Amber Falls back to life, and that just makes me love you more.”
Heat suffused Sawyer’s cheeks, and Ford grinned. He couldn’t help it. He found his very hot boyfriend’s blushes adorable.
Ford leaned in and kissed Sawyer. In the background, he heard the business phone ringing. Ford considered letting it go to voicemail, especially because he didn’t want Sawyer feeling like he was going behind his back to call the lawyers. He just continued the kiss, snaking his fingers up into Sawyer’s hair, but the stupid phone kept ringing.
“I should take that?” Ford groaned.
“It could be important,” Sawyer didn’t let him go.
He groaned, placing his palm against Sawyer’s chest and pushing him away with one hand. As he began to move to pick up the phone, Sawyer’s cell dinged from an incoming message. He reached into his pocket and pulled the phone out, looked at the screen, then looked back up at Ford.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Mark just sent me a message, and it
