Page 108 of Make it a Double

I turned, smiling politely. “I am. It was a little daunting at first, but thankfully his father has been a huge help. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

He stared at me for a long moment before pulling out his wallet and slapping a one hundred dollar bill on the bar. “Well, hopefully he manages to be a better father than he is a son.”

And then he walked out, leaving me feeling queasy for the first time in months.

“You good?” Ryan asked. Some of the patrons turned in their seats to gawk at me standing in the middle of the bar, staring at the door that’d just slammed shut. “Sawyer?”

“Did that man give his name?” I asked, marching toward my friend.

Ryan’s brows drew together as he considered my question. “No name. He paid in cash the entire time. I figured he was just hiding a drinking habit from his wife or something. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

No, it wouldn’t, but there was this dread in the pit of my stomach I couldn’t get rid of. There was one surefire way to confirm my suspicions, though. Pulling out my phone, I typed the name Edward Montgomery into the search bar and almost threw up when the results came back.

“Sawyer? Are you sure you’re okay?” Ryan asked. “You’re looking a little pale.”

No, I wasn’t okay. Not at all. And I had a feeling Beckett wouldn’t be either by the time his father made it to him.

“I’ve gotta go,” I said in a rush. “Can you handle things here?”

“Sure, but⁠—”

I didn’t wait to hear what he said. There was little I could do to help in my condition, anyway. Dashing to the office, I grabbed my things and was out the door before Ryan had even made it to the back. He called my name, but I didn’t stop.

The moment I was in my car, I pressed Beckett’s contact and hit call. It rang and rang and rang until it went to voicemail. He had plans to run all of these errands, so I had no idea where he was. “Fuck,” I cursed, searching for Tatum’s name next and cursing my luck as the same thing happened with her.

“Tatum, it’s Sawyer. Your father is in town, and I think he’s headed straight for Beckett. I don’t know where he is, and he’s not answering my phone. If you get this, can you please try to get ahold of him? I’m leaving work right now and will check our cabin first before heading out to the new house.”

It’d taken all I had not to break down in tears right then and there. Hearing how his father spoke so callously about both of his kids had me seeing red. The things he said couldn’t have been further from the truth. Tatum and Beckett were two of the most brilliant people I knew, and they brought a new kind of energy to our little family. One I wasn’t sure any of us even realized we were missing.

Placing my phone in the car mount, I frantically pulled out of my spot and onto the highway, speeding my way to the cabin and hoping like hell I wasn’t too late.

BECKETT

“Do you need supervision?” Lukas asked, leaning against the doorframe. He crossed his arms, looking down at me with amusement. “Or do you have it handled?”

I looked up from my mess on the floor, scowling at the smirk on his face. Most of my days recently had been spent at the new house, making sure everything would be ready by the time my son was born. Lukas had been showing me the ropes with some basic home repair because I was, in his words, a very pretty city boy who didn’t understand the difference between caulk with a U and cock with an O.

The playful dig at my intelligence sure as hell beat waiting around for a phone call from my father that still hadn’t come, or trying to figure out what I was going to say to him at the end of this week.

Today’s project had me sitting on my ass in the middle of the room, putting together baby furniture that came with instructions only a NASA engineer could decode. Sawyer was supposed to come by after work so we could decide where it would go, but I was worried I might not have everything done by then. At this point, I’d just be happy to finish the crib and the changing table. The rest would have to wait.

“I don’t need your help,” I said, grabbing the thick crib manual and waving it around. “I can follow instructions.”

“Can you?” he asked. “Because this shouldn’t be this hard.”

“Oh, like you said being a parent wasn’t hard? How’d that end up for you?” I snapped back.

He shrugged. “I may have lost, but that’s okay because I’m still the best uncle.”

I stared at him for a moment. “You realize you’re competing for that title between Duke and Grady, right?”

Lukas sighed dramatically. “Fine. I’m the fun uncle. Is that better?”

“It’s acceptable, at least,” I muttered, turning back toward my project. He was just being an ass and making it seem worse than it was. The crib was nearly finished. The dresser, however, was piled in the corner because I’d taken one look at all the parts and gotten overwhelmed.

“The offer was genuine,” he said, softening his tone. “I didn’t mean to insinuate that you couldn’t do it.”

I knew it wasn’t his intention, but this felt important. Just like Sawyer was insistent on painting the nursery, I was hellbent on putting the furniture together. It didn’t matter how many hours I had to spend sitting here in order to make that happen.