“It’s a cash offer,” she went on. “I don’t know if we’d even find an interested buyer for months. Maybe longer. If they’re set on selling, this is a golden ticket. We likely won’t get another.” She squeezed his hand. “I have to tell them, Ford. And when I do, I may not have a choice. We have to sign the addendum tomorrow or Tessa won’t have another chance before our deadline.”
Ford felt a little like strangling his buddy for dragging him into Maxwell’s competition. If only he’d been a bystander, they might’ve avoided running into the man with all the money . . . and his life-altering offer. “Are you going to ask them to consider keeping it?” Ford pleaded.
“Of course.”
He let out the breath he’d been holding. He wanted to ask if she would stay in Sunset Ridge even if they ended up selling the lodge. But he wasn’t ready for her answer to be no. Not yet. “At least make your case.”
“I will. But Ford, I’m afraid my younger sister is in some kind of financial trouble. She married a surgeon and lives this glamorous life in a mansion on the beach. She’s been a stay-at-home mom since her daughter was born, but the other night she had to cut our call short because she had towork. If her family needs money . . .”
Ford pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Have the conversation, Cadence. Plead your case, and fate will do the rest.” If ever there was a time to tell her how he felt, it was now. Because if he didn’t, he might lose her forever.
And he still might once she learned his original motives. He no longer cared about the money. He could raise the tuition funds another way if he had to. But he was done hiding the truth.
“Let’s get in one more dance,” he said, pulling her to her feet.
They rocked slowly to the music as he searched for the right words and the nerve. Finally, Ford decided to wing it. He was never going to win a romance novel hero-of-the-year award for an epic profession of love, but the meaning of what he had to say would be the same. “Cadence, ever since you’ve come into my life—”
Her head jerked to the side. “Is that—”
He followed her gaze, and it landed on a woman a few years younger, a golden hue to suntanned skin, standing behind their bench, a young girl tucked into her hip.
“It’s my sister, Sophie.”
Chapter Fifteen
Cadence
Cadence, convinced it had to be a figment of her imagination, stood there on the street as people danced around them. She stared at the woman on the sidewalk with a little girl hugging her leg as if it were a life raft. No way her sister and niece were in Sunset Ridge. “Sophie?” she said again.
“I didn’t know your sister was coming.” Ford’s voice sounded faint and echoey, far away as though it were coming through a tunnel, despite his arms still around her waist.
“I didn’t either.”
Sophie offered a shrug from the sidewalk and waited. Cadence found herself slowly reentering reality when she spotted the tear rolling down her sister’s cheek. It glistened in the low-hanging sunlight. She shimmied out of Ford’s embrace and hurried to Sophie. She hugged her, holding her tighter when she felt her body shudder.
“I’m sorry,” Sophie sniffled after a minute, pulling free. She wiped at the tears with the back of her hand. “Caroline, you remember Aunty Cadence?”
The girl clinging to her mom was bigger than she remembered. She’d grown so much in that year since their father’s funeral. “It’s okay,” Cadence said when recognition didn’t flash in Caroline’s eyes. Cadence was pretty much a stranger to her for the handful of times they’d met. “You must be tired,” she said to Sophie.
“A little.”
“Let’s get you guys to the lodge.”
Ford had hung back, letting the sisters talk, but Cadence waved him over. After quick introductions, she said, “I have to take them back to the lodge.” Whatever he’d been about to tell her would have to wait. She hoped the apology in her pleading eyes was enough to make him understand why she had to cut their night short.
“I’ll get the truck,” he offered. He squeezed her hand until she met his eyes. Desperation lingered there, and she couldn’t blame him. The offer from Maxwell had already changed so much. Now with Sophie and Caroline in town, neither of them could predict what would come of everything.
“Thank you, Ford.” She cared a great deal about him. Cared enough to figure out a way to stay, no matter what happened to the lodge.
“Is that him?” Sophie nodded toward Ford as he hurried down past the roadblocks. “Thecaretaker?”
Cadence was so happy seeing her sister smile after those tears that she didn’t try to hide the relief. “Yeah, that’s him.” When Caroline let out a long yawn, Cadence ushered them away from the dance crowd. More than anything, she wanted to ask Sophie not only why she was in Sunset Ridge, but why she arrived without announcing she was coming.
“I’m sorry we interrupted your evening.” Sophie hoisted Caroline into her arms, and the tired girl immediately dropped her head on her shoulder. A stuffed moose dangled by a leg from her grip.
“Are you okay, Sophie?”
“Yeah.”
