Ford smiled and turned to Sawyer. “I say this all the time, but I will continue to say it until the day I die. You amaze me Sawyer.” Ford brushed his hand against Sawyer’s cheek. Sawyer closed his eyes and grabbed his hand, then kissed his knuckles. “But what about the children?” Ford asked.
Sawyer smiled. “I thought of everything,” he said. He continued to hold Ford’s hand as he laid it all out there for him. “Callum is with your parents. Savanna and Gavin are both with friends. They were excited to have this sleepover with their friends. It’s really all taken care of.”
“Sounds like it,” Ford said. “And this table setup. Holy cow. You went all out!”
Sawyer snickered. “I managed.” A waiter came out to get their attention.
“Dinner is served,” he said.
“Right on time.” Sawyer grinned. He walked Ford over to the table and pulled the chair out for him before taking his own seat. Sawyer and Ford locked eyes as the waiter brought them their food, then poured them each a glass of champagne.
“Would you care for anything else?” he asked, stepping backward as Ford and Sawyer broke their gaze to look at the food before them.
“We’re good, thank you,” The waiter nodded and then left them alone before Sawyer motioned to their plates. “Dig in.”
“I don’t even know where to begin,” Ford said, chuckling. Sawyer watched as he lifted the couscous to his mouth and then released a sigh.
“This is good,” Ford said before lifting another to his mouth.
Sawyer took a bite and nodded, smiling when he looked back.
“So, how was the call with Mark? I hope everything is okay,” Ford asked when he had swallowed.
Sawyer rolled his eyes, “I love Mark, but he sometimes can be the biggest drama queen.” He laughed, taking another bite. “He’s worried about one of our projects which is supposed to be completed next week. It’s on schedule, but Mark worries, of course, since we have tenants moving in almost immediately. I’m not worried, and I told him as much. He’ll be fine. He gets like this near the end of every project.”
“That’s good,” Ford took another bite of his food. “I don’t know how you guys juggle everything. Just this one we have here shows me how much work it is.”
Sawyer took Ford’s hand that was on the table. “It's because we have amazing people working for us. If you hadn’t taken over this project it would be one more thing on my plate, so thank you. I don’t think there’s anyone I trust with this as much as you.”
Ford looked down at his food. Sawyer saw on his face that he had something on his mind.
“Is everything alright, babe?” Sawyer asked. “You look like you are worried about something.” Sawyer lifted his glass and took a sip of champagne.
Please let everything be okay.
“Something is weighing on my mind.” Ford looked down, and Sawyer’s heart sank.
“Okay…” Sawyer dropped his fork down to his plate. “You can talk to me. You know that, right?”
Ford nodded, but still didn’t look up. That didn’t make him feel any better.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
When Ford finally met his gaze, he was wearing a smile, one that stretched from ear to ear.
“That was so not cool, babe You had me worried.” He leaned back in his seat. Man, their lives had been chaos after chaos. Who could blame him for being worried?
“Not exactly bad news.” Ford blew out his cheeks. “I just hope you’re not upset about the news that leads up to it.”
“I’m sure you’re good, babe, just start at the beginning.”
Ford dropped his fork. When their eyes met, his were a little guarded. “You know I trust you. I trust how you handle everything,” Ford bit his lip, “I want us to be equals in this relationship.”
Sawyer was quick to stop Ford, “Babe, we are. Trust me we are.”
Affection glowed in Ford’s eyes at his words, but Sawyer could see he wasn’t done.
“We have three kids here that depend on not just you, but me too. They need us both as a united front, and I know I said we need to worry less, but I couldn’t sleep last night.”
Sawyer frowned. “What’d you do?”
“I called the lawyer that is prosecuting Cynthia and Larry.”
Sawyer wasn’t sure where Ford was going with this. He knew Ford wouldn’t do anything to hurt their case. “Okay, and…?”
Ford bit his lips again. “I just don’t want you to worry that I don’t think you’re handling everything well. I know you are. I know you’ll do everything to protect our family, but I don’t know...” Ford gave a half shrug. “After the dream”—he closed his eyes—“It felt so real.” Sawyer covered Ford’s hand with his, and squeezed. “I just wanted to hear him tell me what was going on. I’m sorry I went behind your back.”
Sawyer's body sagged in relief like a balloon that had the air let out. “Look at me, babe. I don’t mind if you call him. The kids are just as much your responsibility as they are mine. I get that. I don’t want you to feel like you’re less than in this family or something. That’s not the case at all. I can promise you that. I meant it when I said we’re partners. It’s me and you and the kids.”
Sawyer heard Ford heave a sigh, and he saw the tension leave his body. God, he hated that Ford felt that way, felt like checking up on their family wasn’t his right. He had to fix that. Sawyer picked up his fork and took another bite, then motioned with his fork for Ford to do the same.
“What’d they say?” He lifted his glass and took another sip.
“Well, that’s where the conversation got interesting.” Ford’s demeanor changed, and Sawyer could tell it was good news.
“Oh yeah?”
Ford nodded. “He said that he was going to call you today anyway. I guess there were some changes
