Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Ford diligently distracted Colby the next morning. Made her breakfast in bed, ate her for breakfast, and then they were speeding out of Boston down to Woods Hole to catch the midday ferry he’d reserved a vehicle spot on.
But as soon as the boat shoved off, she angled in the passenger seat toward him and began the inquisition he’d been dreading. “So what’s been going on with you?”
Since distraction had worked so well already, he snuck a hand between the ends of her dress she’d left unbuttoned and hiked up, owing to the heat. “But we’ve been having so much fun today.”
She covered his hand, stopping its ascent up her thigh. “You tell me the truth, and we’ll go find a bathroom to get frisky in.”
He gagged. “Have you been in the bathrooms on one of these?”
“Of course not.”
“Keep it that way.”
“Noted.” She leaned toward him, and for a split second he thought his ploy had worked, but then she kept twisting, reaching into the backseat of his Blazer to grab the tin of leftover cookies. “Talk to me, Ford.”
He traded her thigh for an offered cookie, then washed it down with a sip of coffee from the mug between them.
Time spent debating where to start. He’d been circumspect about his past since joining the RH team.
Messy divorce had been his answer whenever anyone asked.
He hadn’t wanted to sprinkle his past embarrassment all over his present prospects, and he’d still been learning who to trust in this new life of his.
Most everyone, he was coming to realize.
They were good people. Colby, the best of them.
“I got a call from my nephew last month. My grandmother, his great-grandmother, has dementia. She had an incident, and it’s getting worse. ”
Colby rubbed the back of his shoulder. No platitudes, no pity, just quiet, easy comfort.
He leaned into the touch. “Griff called me because his father and my ex don’t want to do anything about it.”
“Why does your ex still get a say?”
“Because he’s engaged to my brother.”
She recoiled, her appalled gasp indicating she’d correctly connected the dots and timeline. “Oh, fuck him.”
“Literally,” he quipped, humor a defense mechanism he defaulted to whenever the scandalous topic came up.
Better than showing everyone the hurt said scandal had caused.
Not because he ever wanted Josh back, but because everything about it—from the loss of his family to losing himself for longer than he wanted to admit—had made him feel like a failure.
“Josh wasn’t down with me being a side or bisexual.
He could talk about wanting to bang Brendan Fraser all day long, but if I even mentioned also wanting to bang Rachel Weisz, he took it as a personal offense. ”
Colby shoved the entire cookie tin at him. “You need those more than I do.” No argument there. He shoved another one into his mouth. “And your family’s okay with this?”
“Coop’s been my parents’ favorite since the day I bought a Chevy instead of my namesake.” He patted the seat beneath him, the 1990 Blazer his first act of defiance or disappointment, depending on who you asked.
“This car is perfect and so are you,” Colby said, the righteous indignation in her voice and expression causing Ford to wish he had a camera in hand instead of another cookie. “I will fuck you in that backseat tonight to prove it.”
He waggled his brows. “Or we could do that now.” He glanced at the clock. “Thirty minutes left.”
“Tempting, but exhibitionism is more my sister’s kink. And you’re trying to distract me again.” She grabbed a cookie and took a bite before getting the convo back on track. “Can Griff go to your parents about your grandmother?”
Ford shook his head. “They won’t get involved. Mom is desperately trying to ignore what might happen to her one day too.”
“Runs in the family?”
He nodded. “All but one of Meemaw’s siblings, and that one died of a heart attack in his sixties.”
“Why won’t your brother and . . .”
“Josh,” he supplied.
She wrinkled her nose, and it was everything Ford could do not to lean across the console and kiss her.
“Why won’t Pooper Cooper and Hogwash Josh do more?”
He nearly choked on a bite of cookie. He washed it down with another sip of coffee, then chuckled. “You’re going to call them that forever now, aren’t you?”
“Oh yeah, that’s who they are now.”
“It’s who they’ve always been.” Petty, yes, but also the truth, and a relief to finally say so to someone. “Taking care of our grandmother is nowhere near the top of their priority list.”
“But it’s who you are.”
A wave of ever-present exhaustion rocked him, but there was warmth in its wake for a change.
He worried, though, that Griff only had exhaustion these days and little warmth.
“My nephew too,” he told Colby. “He’s a good kid, and Meemaw practically raised him.
Me and Cooper too, for that matter. And yet, it’s Griff researching memory care facilities in the area. ”
“When we get back, give me the list.”
“Col—”
“The Rosins know everyone.”
“I don’t want to—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips. “You haven’t been around RH long, but I’ve been with them for a while now, and whether you’re related by blood or bond, whether you’re in the corporate office, in the restaurants, or in the vineyards, you’re family. And you, Ford, are part of that family too.”
He did lean across the console then and kiss her. For the boost of confidence and for making him feel like he wasn’t alone for the first time in over a year. “Thank you,” he whispered against her lips.
“Thank you for telling me.” She snuck a hand between them, on his thigh like his had been on hers earlier, but creeping higher, her pinky giving the head of his cock a teasing flick beneath layers of fabric.
She dropped her voice an octave and whispered hotly in his ear.
“And after we’re done with work tonight, we’re going to drive to your place, crawl into that backseat, and blow each other until we can’t think straight. ”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been able to think straight.”
She giggled, the bubbly sound lighting up his life. “Me either.”