Page 35 of The Cattleman’s Unforgettable Love: Ford and Amelia (MacFarland Ranch #11)

"You have anything you need to do in the office, boss?" Boone asked.

Ford scowled at him. "Why don't you just come out and say it? You'd all be better off with me out of the way this morning, right? Well, tough. The way the hands are..." He looked up when Janey came over to join them.

"You're not really complaining about them, are you, Ford?" she asked. "You're the one stumbling around like a bear with a sore head. I don't know what your problem is today, but..." She let the words trail off as she held his gaze.

"I was just suggesting he might have paperwork in the office he needed to get to," said Boone.

Ford turned to scowl at him. The only reason he was risking sticking his neck out a second time was because he knew that Ford wouldn't lose it completely with Janey around. If she weren't here, Ford would snap at him for saying it again.

Janey smiled. "You know, that might not be a bad idea."

He scowled. "Then fuck it, I'll go. Maybe the hands will get their act together for you.

They can't seem to do that for me this morning.

" Ever since he'd come down here, it seemed like one thing after another had gone wrong.

He'd just turned to walk away – finally admitting, if only to himself, that the problem this morning might be him.

Sawyer came jogging over from the bunkhouse, calling, "Hey, Ford."

His scowl deepened. Sawyer was a good kid, but Ford could do without his peppy questions and insights right now. "What do you need?" he asked.

Sawyer held his hands up defensively as he said, "I know today isn’t a good day to mess with you. I'm only letting you know that Brody was trying to get ahold of you."

"What's he want?"

Sawyer shrugged. "He just said to ask you to give him a call. That's all I know."

With that, Sawyer backed away a few steps before turning and heading back to the chute.

Ford pressed his fingers to his temple. It was one thing after another this morning.

He enjoyed catching up with Brody – he was as close to a friend as Ford had.

But if he needed something, today wasn't the best day.

He blew out a sigh and pulled his phone out of his pocket – just because he was having a shit morning, that wouldn't stop him from checking in. He gave a rueful smile when he saw that he'd missed a message.

Brody: I know it's a long shot, but I'm heading back up to Trip's – I've been down in Gardiner this morning. I'm going to stop at the bakery and grab some lunch. Don't suppose there's any chance you can get away for half an hour, is there?

As he stared at the screen, another message came in.

Brody: Since I didn't hear back from you, I tried the bunkhouse. Sawyer took a message for me. Sounds like he was scared to deliver it. If today's not a good day, give me a shout some other time. If you need anything, let me know.

Ford had to smile. Just because he'd screwed up with what he'd said to Amelia before he left the house this morning, he shouldn't be taking it out on everyone else. Maybe meeting up with Brody for half an hour would help him get his head back on straight.

As he headed for his truck, he decided that bringing back a tray of pastries might not be a bad peace offering for the guys either.

When he arrived at the bakery, Ford pushed the door open and felt himself start to relax when a wave of warm air carrying all the familiar comforting smells of the place hit him.

He gave Rocket a chin lift when he grinned at him from behind the counter where he was serving a bunch of tourists.

Looking around, it seemed that he had beat Brody here.

He took a seat at the counter, not minding if he had to wait a while – it wasn't as though anyone would be waiting eagerly for him to get back to the ranch.

"Hey, Ford, how's it going?" asked Spider, who came over to serve him. "What can I get you?"

"Just a coffee for now, thanks. I might get some lunch when Brody arrives."

Spider smiled. "It's not like you to be getting out and socializing."

Ford shrugged. "Right, but this works out so..." He shrugged again.

He felt bad when Spider turned away to get his coffee. He'd only been trying to make conversation. Ford didn't get the chance to say anything else; after Spider delivered his coffee, another group of tourists came in and he went to serve them.

A few moments later, Rocket came to stand across the counter from him. Ford smiled at the big guy. "How's it going?"

Rocket nodded. "I'm doing fine. What about you?"

Ford rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, Janey told you that I'm in a shit mood today."

Rocket chuckled. "You know she wouldn't put it like that. I just had a text from her saying that you were coming over here and would I make sure you're all right?"

Ford gave him a rueful smile. "We don't deserve her, do we?

Shit. I didn't mean you. I meant the rest of us, her siblings.

Janey's the best of us. I've been stomping around snapping at everyone this morning, and instead of calling you to tell you to watch out and avoid me if you can, she still wants to look out for me. "

"Yeah," said Rocket, and there was no mistaking that his smile was the one of a man in love. "And I'm right there with you. I don't deserve her, but I do my best every day to try."

"Yeah, you do," said Ford. "You're the best thing that ever happened to her, and if you don't know that, you should."

Rocket gave him a bashful smile. "You doing okay? Anything I can do to help?"

Ford shook his head. "I'm good, thanks. Nothing that a coffee and a timeout won't fix."

Even as he said the words, he didn't know if that was true. Going by the way Amelia had looked when he talked about sharing his family with her this morning, he didn't know if he'd made a blunder that couldn't be fixed. Why hadn't he kept his damn mouth shut?

"Whoa." Rocket stepped back from the counter. "Whatever you're thinking, that's what you need to talk about. You look fit to tear someone limb from limb."

Ford sighed. "Sorry. The person I'm mad at is me, so there's nothing to worry about."

"All right," said Rocket. "In that case, I'll get your buddy here a drink and leave you to it. I'd love to help, but speaking from experience, when you're mad at yourself, you're usually the only one who can fix it."

Ford gave him a wry smile. "That sounds about right."

He turned to greet Brody as Rocket asked, "Hey there. What can I get you?"

A few minutes later, Ford and Brody were settled in a booth in the back with sodas and sandwiches.

"So, what's the deal?" Brody asked. "Are you pissed at something in particular or just having a bad day?"

"Who says I'm pissed?" Ford asked.

Brody laughed. "Sawyer didn't say anything, but I can read between the lines. When I asked him to give you a message, it seemed like he would have been happier if I'd asked him to go hand feed the wolves."

Ford rolled his eyes. "Okay, so I guess I've been in a bit of a mood this morning."

"Right. And now that you're up to speed on the situation," Brody said with a laugh, "do you even know why? Or is it just one of those days?"

Ford looked down at his sandwich.

"Right," said Brody. "So it's about Amelia."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because you don't know what to say. You can handle anything – anything except women. Especially emotional ones. Oh, shit. Did she get all emotional on you?"

Ford shook his head. "Not in the least." He sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. "Don't give me any shit when I tell you this, but... I'm the one who got all emotional on her ."

Brody set his sandwich down and sat back, looking skeptical. "You're shitting me, right?"

Ford shook his head slowly. "I don't know what to tell you – that little lady gets to me."

Brody smiled. "Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?"

"I'd like to think so, but I might have gotten a bit ahead of myself. I mean, I didn't do it intentionally. I didn't mean it the way she thought I did. I..."

"Slow down," Brody said with a puzzled smile. "Walk me through it."

"Okay. So things have been going well between us."

Brody raised his eyebrows. "You mean, like, really well?"

Ford wasn't sure he even wanted to answer that. Luckily, Brody picked up on it. "Well, shit, then this is serious if you don't even want to brag about it."

Ford pursed his lips. "I'm not saying anything."

"I respect that, and I apologize. I'm just not used to it being important to you. Now I know that it is." He gave Ford a sly smile. "And I know that you've been there, or you wouldn't be defending her honor so hard. But anyway, carry on."

"Asshole," Ford ground out with a grudging smile.

"You wouldn't expect anything less from me, would you? But carry on with the story. Things have been going well between you," he said with a smirk. "But now you're getting ahead of yourself. What does that mean?"

Ford rested his elbows on the table and pressed his fingers to his temples. "I said something stupid this morning."

"So tell me what it was. We only have an hour at the most for lunch. You can't drag it out like this."

"Fuck you," Ford said with a laugh. "Okay, so she stayed with me last night.

This morning, Ty stopped by early. Tanner texted, Laney, and Janey both called.

" He sucked in a deep breath, still feeling bad about the way he'd complained about his family when Amelia had no one.

"I was bitching about them all – only joking, but Amelia doesn't have any family left. "

"Ouch," Brody said with a cringe.

"That wasn't the problem, though. She's cool. I apologized and she was fine. She doesn't expect me to feel bad about having more family than her or about her not having anyone at all. She was glad that it even occurred to me to apologize. But..."

"Come on," said Brody. "We're getting to the point now. But what?"

"But I told her that I have more family than I need and I'd be happy to share them with her."