Taut: The Ford Book

“Yeah. Something slow. Where we can just be still, and look around, and think. Where we can watch life, and not participate in it.”

“I’m not sure Vegas is the right place for a slow and quiet walk, but I’ll give it my best shot.”

“You’re an overachiever, Ford. I’m one hundred percent confident you’ll pull it off flawlessly.”

I smile at that assessment. “Ready to go in and eat? Kate’s out, we should take advantage while we can.”

Ashleigh reluctantly untangles herself from my arm and nods her head. I open the door and she unbuckles the car seat and scoots out after me. I lay little Kate in her seat and Ash covers her with a blanket because it’s pretty damn cold out here, and then we walk into the diner like we’re a team in this baby thing.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Stop texting, Ford. It’s rude.”

Ashleigh and the baby are on the other side of the booth from me and I’m typing on my phone frantically. “This is the first good signal I’ve had in days. I’m not wasting it. I have work, you know. I’ve missed a shitload of meetings, my assistant is going out of her mind, and I need to make plans for a quiet date in Las Vegas for tonight.” I look up at her and she’s grinning. “What?”

“You look very serious. Very determined. Very… professional. Even though you’re the one wearing the I’m not a ski addict, sometimes I have sex too t-shirt today.”

I look down at my shirt and smile. She was wearing this the other day and just knowing that makes me feel connected to her in some small possessive way. “I got this shirt after completing a double black in Jackson.” Her face is blank. “Wyoming? Jackson Hole? Ever heard of it?”

“It’s a lake?”

I laugh. “A lake? Shit, they have Corbet’s Couloir in Jackson Hole, Ash. Corbet’s Couloir.”

“No idea what that is,” she says shrugging.

“Like one of the scariest double black diamond runs in the world, that’s what. My dad and I did it once.” I stop to smile at her. “Just once. I mean, if I had f**ked it up I might’ve tried it again to get it right—if I was still alive. But it was one and done for both of us on the first jump and that was enough.”

She clicks her tongue in disapproval and scowls. “Why would you do that? If I was your mom I’d have said no way.”

“I was twenty,” I reply, laughing.

“No, I mean, I’d have told my husband if he wanted to go do dangerous shit like that he can be single again. That’s bullshit.”

“Yeah, I don’t blame you. And don’t think I didn’t just notice those unladylike words you just used. But my Corbet’s days are definitely over. It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

“Because your dad’s gone now and he was your bucket-list partner?”

I look up from my phone and study her face. It’s contemplative. Normally when someone asks about my dad—and normally they don’t, but if they do—I shut it down. I don’t like to think about it. But I’ve already told Ashleigh about him, so what the f**k. It takes less energy to just answer the question honestly than it does to fight about why I refuse to discuss it. “Yeah,” I say after a few seconds. “That’s why. He and I did it all. I don’t want to do it with anyone else. It’s over.” I hold her gaze for a few more seconds and then go back to my phone.

“That’s how I feel, Ford.” I look up again and she’s got that sad look on her face. “About Tony. That’s why it’s so sad for me.” She looks over at Kate and smiles. “I’m gonna get over him. I will. But right now, that’s exactly how I feel. Like it’s over, why bother with anything.”

“Maybe you need to talk to someone. My dad was a psychiatrist, and I’m not saying you need that level of help or anything, Ashleigh, but maybe just a counselor. To talk things through.”

Her laugh comes off a little sarcastic, if that’s even possible. “Right.”

I drop it because one thing I learned from being a kid who required a lot of counseling is that people generally do not like to discuss their mental health status. And Ashleigh is not interested in letting me in on the state of her mind at the moment.

But it doesn’t take a genius. She’s definitely depressed. All the crying, and then the abrupt back-to-normal mood changes. It’s very obvious she’s struggling with this breakup. “Anyway,” I say to bring us out of this funk. “I have my assistant, Pam, on it for tonight.” I tilt my head a little and unleash some dimple charm on Ash when my smile gets big. She giggles, like I’m obvious. “And I have the perfect quiet place to have a hand-holding walk in Vegas all set up.”

She raises her eyebrows at me. “In fifteen minutes? They should call you the Fifteen-Minute Master.”

“I might make you call me that tonight, thanks for the idea.”

She makes a face at me.

“I know people. Famous people. Important people. People who I’ve provided certain favors to in the past. And I’ve called in a return. You’re gonna have a great time with me tonight.”

Her whole chest expands as she takes a deep breath, but before she can say what’s on her mind, the waitress comes to our table. “Ready, folks?”

I take over since Ash is still daydreaming about our date. “We’ll both have the number six. Pancakes, real bacon for her, turkey for me, scrambled and coffee. One regular, one decaf.”