Lost and Found Family by Jennifer Ryan

Time was passing too quickly on Sarah’s visit, and though there were still four weeks to go, Luke had no idea what he was going to do when she left. The ranch was his dream and he was finally living it. He didn’t know what he’d do if they couldn’t work out some way to see each other. Hell, he didn’t even know if she wanted to be with him. But the long drive back and forth from Carmel to Silicon Valley wouldn’t be easy for the long haul. He’d tried that in the past and failed. Plus, with the hours she worked and needing to be home with her kids, he feared they’d become some weekend thing.

And for the first time, he wanted more.

Maybe he could convince her to stay at the ranch and work from there. With technology today, she could probably do her work from anywhere. Despite what she said about needing to be at the office, if she’d just admit it, she didn’t have any real trouble working from Margaret’s.

But he was getting ahead of himself. First, he needed to convince her that they should be together. If she walked away before he had a chance to show her how much he wanted her to stay . . . It’d be like tearing himself in two. Part of him would go with her. And he’d be left wondering what might have been forever.

A soft knock sounded behind him. He turned and found Sarah standing at the back door, smiling at him through the window. He’d left a note on the front door for her to come around so that he didn’t miss her while he set up the backyard for their dinner.

He opened the door and smiled back at her. “I’m so glad you came.” He took the cooler from her hand. “Hungry?”

“Starving.”

So was he. For her.

“Let’s head on back to the firepit.”

He followed her down the porch steps and around the path to the back garden. She wore faded jeans, a lightweight baby-blue sweater, and short brown boots. Her hair was up in a ponytail. No makeup again. She looked tired but at the same time fresh and natural. He loved that Sarah didn’t hide behind all that stuff. She was perfectly comfortable in her own skin. And he found that exceedingly sexy.

Family and friends thought he didn’t want to commit to anyone. Not true. He just wanted to find the right woman.

And he was pretty damn sure she was standing in front of him.

Making a commitment to Sarah didn’t scare him half as much as losing her did. That’s why he’d struggled with how to apologize and show her that he really did want to be with her for the right reasons.

*  *  *

Sarah’s shoulders slumped the second her phone rang. She wanted one work-free evening and time to explore this thing happening between her and Luke.

She turned to him. “I’m so sorry. I have to take this.”

“No problem.”

She appreciated that he meant that, but still wished she didn’t have to interrupt their date. “Hi, Abby.” She sighed, not hiding her disappointment about the interruption.

“Are you okay?”

She hated making Abby concerned. “Sorry. Yeah, I’m fine. What’s up?”

“You tell me what’s up.” Abby knew her too well. Last they left things on their call before Sarah headed to Luke’s, Sarah had expressed how happy she was about making up with Luke.

“I’m trying to have a date with Luke, but someone interrupted us.”

“Oh crap. Sorry. And yay! He’s the first man you’ve been interested in since Sean. This is so great.”

Sarah chuckled under her breath. “I love the enthusiasm, but if I don’t actually get back to the date it will end without it starting.”

“Okay. Sorry. I wish I could get this done some other way, but . . .”

“Abby, what is it?”

She sat in the Adirondack chair by the firepit. Luke hadn’t lit the logs yet, but he’d taken the time to bring the two chairs down from the porch. He’d even cut some flowers from the fading garden and placed them in a vase on a low table set for two with stoneware plates, silverware, and red linen napkins. Very simple and pretty. It had been a long time since she’d shared dinner with a man when she wasn’t conducting a business meeting.

She felt his strong presence behind her. Just like earlier in the day, she could feel him staring at her while she talked to Abby.

“Evan is meeting with clients, so I need your help. Accounting just notified me that Mr. Larson hasn’t paid his final installment. David’s team completed the installation two days ago and we should have received the money that day via wire transfer. Accounting checked with our bank; they don’t have anything pending.”

“Remind me how much the final payment is.”

“You’re not going to like this.”

“How much?”

“A million two.”

“Great. What’s the contract say about penalties?”

“Stan, in legal, said if they don’t pay today, there’s a five percent penalty.”

“Five percent on the final payment or the total?

“The total. Stan let George know what was going on, but Larson wouldn’t take his call. You’d think George, as CFO, could handle this problem, but he can’t get Larson on the line. Larson will only talk to you.”

“Has legal released the licensing agreement?”

“No. They said they never release them until the final payment is verified, same as all the other contracts.”

“I just wanted to make sure they hadn’t already sent it. Okay, tell Stan and George I’ll deal with this. Put me through to Mr. Larson’s office.”

Abby connected the call through to Larson Marketing. Sarah listened to it ringing, glanced at Luke waiting patiently, and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, set the cooler down by the firepit, and took the seat beside her, relaxed and unbothered by the delay.

Larson’s assistant finally picked up. “Larson Marketing.”

“Connie, this is Sarah Anderson.”

“Hello, Sarah. I’m afraid Mr. Larson is in a meeting right now.”

“Get him on the line. Now. He’s given my staff and our CFO the runaround for two days. Tell him time’s up, or I shut him down.”

“Just a minute, please.” Sarah was sure she heard understanding in Connie’s voice.

Sarah only had to wait a few seconds before Tom Larson decided that his meeting wasn’t as important as talking to her.

“Sarah, it’s so nice to hear from you. I thought you were going to be here to do the final installation. You know how I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

“Tom, you knew very well I had no intention of being there.”

“Why are you hiding from everyone? I just want to meet you in person. You always send someone else.”

“Because I’m busy working on the next project. Now, you owe me one point two million dollars and you have,” she looked at her cell phone to check the time, “fifty-four minutes to make the transfer. If you don’t, you owe me another three hundred thousand and I won’t release the licensing agreement until I get paid.”

“Sarah, come on. The installation was just completed. Please be reasonable. At least give me thirty days, like any other accounts payable item.”

“I am not any accounts payable item. You knew that when you signed the contract. I’m the one who revamped your entire computer system, which I’m sure is working beautifully.”

“Yes. It’s even better than my staff or I expected. Everyone has been so pleased the last few days and the installation and transfer of the old system’s information took no time at all.”

“I’m so happy you’re pleased. Now, let me remind you of a few things. You are in violation of our signed contract. Final payment was due two days ago when we completed the installation and as I told you, I expect it in less than an hour. The five percent penalty fee goes into effect tomorrow. You’ve been running my software on your system for two days without a license to do so. Now, you have less than fifty minutes to make your payment, or I pull the software. If there wasn’t a lawyer sitting right next to me, I might threaten to hack into your system and drop a really nasty virus that will shut your entire system down in a matter of minutes. But there is a lawyer beside me, so I’ll only say that I expect to hear from my accounting department in an hour that payment has been received or my lawyers will start breathing down your neck. Do I make myself clear?”

“I’ll send it,” he quickly assured her. “Still, it’s too bad we can’t get together. Everything I’ve heard about you intrigues me. I’ve tried to get an invitation to the benefit at the end of the month, so I can meet you. Your voice alone is enough to keep me up at night,” he admitted, and she cringed. “Apparently, it’s impossible. You should be pleased that you’ve created quite a stir. Your business is about to explode.”

“Remember that when the software I completed for you needs to be upgraded in another year. Six million will look like a bargain when you find out what I’m going to charge you for the upgrade. You should have negotiated that into the original contract, and you shouldn’t have tried to cheat me on the final payment. Give me your word that the money will be sent today and I may overlook your adolescent behavior.”

“It is on its way as we speak.”

“Very good. Thank you, Tom.” She hung up and dialed Abby back.

“Abby, Mr. Larson will make the transfer. Tell legal to verify with accounting the payment is received, then have the licensing agreement sent over. Let me know if there are any more problems with Mr. Larson. I might have to unleash Fido on him if he doesn’t make the payment.”

“Well, now I hope he doesn’t make the payment.”

“You’re really twisted, Abby. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Enjoy your date with Luke!”

Sarah hung up and smiled at the man smiling back at her.