Page 39 of Luke

Garrett babbled back at Ryker and held onto one of his massive fingers.

“He’s mine now. He makes good business decisions,” Ryker said.

“Well, let me know when your interview is and I’ll take him,” Catherine said as Ryker walked back toward his office with Garrett.

“He can attend,” Ryker called back without turning around.

“I really should have just been quiet when we got here.” She giggled. “Eventually, he will need a diaper change and then I’ll get to play with him for a while.”

“Thank you, seriously,” Luke told her.

“Anytime. I mean that. Cade and April would watch him, too. All of us would.”

Luke choked on emotion welling up in his throat. He didn’t deserve their friendship after all he had done to help his father try to destroy their relationships.

“Luke,” Ryker called.

“I better go see what he wants and say bye to Garrett,” he said, eager to get away from his sister before the emotions spilled over.

“You’re worth all of this,” Catherine said.

Luke gave her a nod, his only acknowledgement, and headed for Ryker’s office.

“If you have a minute, I’d like to talk about your sister,” Ryker said when he entered.

It was hilarious to see him sitting behind his massive desk with a baby in his arms. Garrett seemed so out of place except for the fact that Ryker looked at ease with him.

“I’ve got a few. Paisley is getting ready to go out later. What did Catherine do?” He couldn’t imagine what Ryker could want to tell him about her.

“No, Ashley.”

Of course, his other sister made more sense. “What about her? Is my father up to no good with her already?” She hadn’t reached out.

“No, but it does seem that she has realized we are keeping an eye on her. She’s giving our new guy a run for his money and keeps ditching him.” Ryker’s tone was stern but his face held laughter.

“I can talk to her,” Luke offered, not sure it would help.

“Not necessary. I just wanted to let you know what was going on. At this point, she’s great training for our new guy. It’s growing quite comical to watch her evade him.”

“Do you need a different guy?”

Ryker shook his head. “No, he’s really good at what he does, but your sister is really good at evading him. He did tell her why he was there so it’s not like she doesn’t know that we’re good guys. She just doesn’t want to be followed.”

“Can’t blame her. As long as we don’t think she’s in danger, then I’ll stay out of it.” He’d reach out and check in on her though. He needed to plan a time for her to come visit Garrett now that they were in a better place.

“I’ll keep you posted. It’s not important but I just wanted to let you know. She dodged him again this morning, slipped out of her apartment without him seeing. Went down the fire escape.”

Luke laughed outright. “That sounds exactly like her. Where’d she go?”

“That’s the best part. She just went to the gym. He found her on her way back.” Ryker laughed along with him.

“I don’t envy him the job of keeping up with her. Keep me posted.” Luke shook his hand.

“Will do. You go ahead and get. Garrett and I have important decisions to make,” Ryker dismissed him.

“That was fast,” Catherine commented as he passed her.

“I was dismissed so my infant could make important business decisions,” Luke told her.