I set two rocks glasses on the counter.

“Dude, why do you have to tell Mom everything?”

He lifts a shoulder and pours us each a few generous fingers. “Because I like being her favorite. So what happened?”

“I don’t know.” I bring my glass to my lips. Take a sip, the liquor snaking a line of fire down my middle. “I mean, I do know. But I don’t. You know?”

Ford just looks at me. “Sounds bad. As bad as you look.”

“Do you always have to be a dick?”

“I always have to be honest. If that makes me a dick, then, well.” He shrugs, taking a sip of whiskey. “So be it. You look tired.”

“I am tired.”

“Tell me what happened with Julia.”

He listens while I tell him what went down. The registry, the disaster of my morning, the house on South Battery.

“I’m trying to do the right thing. I want to be Julia’s dream partner. She means the world to me. That baby in her belly means the world to me, Ford.” Ah, fuck, my throat’s tightening up again. I take a slug of whiskey. Doesn’t help. “Just lately—I feel like I’ve been drowning trying to keep up with work and the baby and Julia. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy. Genuinely happy being with her. But I’m struggling to show up at work the way I need to while showing up for her the way she needs me to. That make sense? Everything just feels so real and so…urgent. I’m overwhelmed.”

Ford ducks his head in a nod, swallowing his sip. “Makes perfect sense. I think I see what’s going on here.”

I let out a breath. “Thank God. Help me, Ford. Please.”

“Work has always been important to you. But why do you think it became your life after your divorce?” he asks.

“Because,” I say, searching for the right words. “For one thing, I didn’t have a personal life anymore. I had no one to go home to. For another, Rebecca passed. I wanted to provide for you and the baby so you were able to take the time and space you needed to grieve. I wanted you to be there for your daughter. So I stepped up to the plate and covered for us both. I took over. Once I was in at the firm, I was in. Doesn’t hurt that I like the work, and that I’ve gotten really fucking good at it. Being there kept me busy. Kept me distracted.”

“Keep digging.”

I shoot him an annoyed glance.

“Okay. I guess I also wanted to…” I swallow. “Give back to y’all. You and Bryce and Mom and Dad. After the hell I put you through with my divorce.”

“So you were trying to earn something by working like you did.”

“I guess, yeah. Earn y’all’s forgiveness. Show y’all I cared. Maybe punish myself a little, too. I felt such shame…I mean, in my mind, I didn’t deserve another shot at a happy life. I broke Cameron’s heart, and I broke Mom and Dad’s, too. You know how much they adored her. I couldn’t give them the daughter-in-law or grandchildren they always wanted. But I could crush it at work. I could give back that way. So that’s what I did.”