Page 6 of Saving You

“Yeah, I’ll take care of it.” Ridge nodded to his team, then headed up the stairs, where he found Adele’s office door cracked. He knocked with a single knuckle and walked in to find Adele on his phone.

“…yep. Yeah, no, I’ll take care of it. Tell him…Christ Almighty, it’s just a little bit of vomit. No, there’s not—Gage, breathe. No one is going to die from cleaning it up. Stop taking medical advice from fucking TikTok. I’ll call you later. Ridge is here and—okay. Okay.” Adele held the phone away from his ear. “Gage says hi, and he wants to know if he’ll see you and Ina next weekend. He misses his best friend.”

Ridge laughed. “Tell him as long as my mean-ass boss doesn’t make me work, I’ll be there.”

“His mean-ass boss is giving him Saturday off so he can see you,” Adele said into the phone. “Okay, call me later. Love you.”

Ridge sank into the chair beside the desk as Adele dropped his head back and groaned. “Dare I ask?”

“Gage’s buddy got a cat, and the cat coughed up a hairball. Some jackass on TikTok went viral claiming all cats have hepatitis A that can spread through vomit. I hate social media.”

Ridge did too, but he wasn’t a crotchety old man about it the way Adele was. “He’s gonna have to get over that shit quick. That’s one of, like, six things cats do.”

Adele rolled his eyes and hunkered down in his chair. “I’m trying to prepare for him moving back in.”

“I thought he liked working in DC,” Ridge said. After a lot of debate, Gage had eventually worn Adele down and gotten a recommendation for the academy and had passed his certs with flying colors.

He also spent his first year working out like crazy. He’d hit his last growth spurt too, and he was no longer the weedy little theater kid that Ridge had first met. He was as tall as his dad and just as muscular. He’d even started growing a beard beforehe was told he had to shave it in order to do his job, but he kept a slight five-o’clock shadow that gave him years, which made Ridge feel all kinds of old.

But he was still the same kid. He still gamed with his friends on his days off, and he did plays at the local community theater whenever he had time, and he was doing well in the city. But Ridge also knew that Adele missed his son like a lost limb.

“He does like it there, but he and his boyfriend broke up two days ago, and there’s something he’s not telling me about it. He asked if he could move back in, which that was no question. Kash and I found a place downtown with an opening in three months that would be perfect for him. A little apartment right next to Murphy’s Playhouse. He could join up for fun, and he could go back to gaming with Lucas and his friends.” The longing in Adele’s voice made Ridge wonder if that would be him someday.

Watching Ina go out into the world to live her own life, leaving him empty-nesting and, if things continued on the same path, more alone than Adele would ever be.

“Well, you know he’ll be welcome here if you can get him a spot,” Ridge said. “Also, I’m here for debrief before I get sidetracked again.” He sat forward then and quickly gave Adele his report on the incident. “Anthony will probably write everything up and email it to you.”

Adele nodded and clicked a few buttons on his computer before sitting back. “So. The date…”

“I already rehashed that disaster once today. Save it for drinkies.”

Adele put his hands up in surrender. “Fair enough. Though this is getting a little ridiculous. You should let Frey set you up. He works with a ton of singles.”

Ridge wrinkled his nose. “I’ve met his work friends. That’s a hard pass for me. I dropped in one day, and one of the nursesat the station literally flashed me her fuckin’ bush when she was showing off her new tattoo. I’m not even going to tell you what it said.”

Adele covered his laugh with his hand. “That’s fair. But I hate seeing you so close to giving up.”

“You know how hard it is out there with a kid,” Ridge pointed out.

Adele’s face fell. “Yeah. But Ina’s great. Anyone who doesn’t love her has shit for brains, and they’re not worth your time anyway.”

Ridge didn’t disagree, but it made the dating pool smaller than he preferred. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I was hoping that I’d meet my future husband the same way I got Ina and Cheese, but it doesn’t look like fortune is heading my way.”

“Just promise me you won’t totally give up.”

Ridge sighed. “I’ll do my best.” Slapping his hands on his thighs, he pushed to his feet. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a shower and then some dino nuggets in my future.”

“Promise me you’ll have some veggies with color. I cannot lose you to scurvy.”

Ridge snorted and gave him a quick two-finger salute off the side of his forehead. “Heard. See you later?”

“I’m counting on it.”

Ridge headed down to shower, feeling a heavy weight resting on his shoulders. It was a familiar friend though. He was used to the burden. He only wished it was a little kinder on his nerves.

CHAPTER TWO

OZ

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