Page 44 of Final Proposal

“That’s bullshit.” I say the words with more conviction than I feel.

“Is it? Because I never saw her as being the one you’d walk through fire for just to see for a minute.”

I’m about to laugh but when I glance his way, amber eyes that match mine are looking back at me with an unrivaled intensity. “Are you missing Mom?” I ask him, suddenly feeling like an ass for not looking closer sooner.

A soft smile breaks on his lips. “I will always miss your mother. That’s a given. But no, this isn’t about Mom. This is about you.”

“Would you have walked through fire for her?” I ask, my voice barely a whisper.

“Yes.” His voice breaks on that single syllable.

With every passing day, passing year, her memory grows fainter and fainter regardless of how hard I try to hold tighter to it. The sound of her laugh. The scent of her perfume. The way she’d hug us as if her life depended on it. The love she gave. God, she knew how to make you feel loved.

“Yes, I would have.” I wonder if they were just an anomaly—the love they shared and he seemingly still feels. “I did. I still do. I’d go to hell and back for her. Some days I feel like I have after living all this time without her. Seeing you guys grow up, enjoying every minute of it, and knowing she’s missed every part of it.”

“I’m sorry for what you’ve missed,” I murmur.

“Don’t be. At least I had the chance to have that kind of love.” He clears his throat, making it clear the kumbaya session is now over. “And I want that for you. For your brothers.”

“You actually think Callahan will settle down?” I snort.

“He’ll find someone to tame that fire of his, whereas you need someone to help stoke yours.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

His half-hearted smile doesn’t tell me much. “When you find her, you’ll know.”

“I’ll know what?” Now he’s just making shit up to feel fatherly when he’s currently in over his head. “If you know the answer, please impart your wisdom.”

“Son, when a woman’s temper makes you love her even more, when her defiance makes you want to challenge her, and when her smile makes you want to earn each and every one, then you know she’s worth the goddamn fire.”

His words make me uncomfortable because I sure as hell didn’t feel that way about Jennifer.

“Got it.”

“At some point, you will get it. And when you do, I just hope I’m around to see it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I wave a hand at him.

Can he just go and leave me in my wallowing?

“Hint taken. I’ll be going now.” Thank God. But as he reaches the door, he turns back to look at me. “Promise me something, Ford.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t ever stoop to that level. Stealing another man’s woman shows who a man really is . . . or rather isn’t. And any woman willing to do the same isn’t worth the fire anyway.”

Ellery

The property is abuzz.

Contractors and laborers are everywhere. In the halls. In the rooms. Outside. Freaking everywhere.

Noise fills the air from the demolition of interior walls of the suites, the backup alarms of the trucks hauling out the debris, and the jackhammers chipping up concrete to make way for the café.

It’s complete and utter chaos, and I welcome every second of it.

Especially because it keeps both Ford and me busy—in different parts of the property—at almost all times.