Page 76 of Ramsey & Emerson

I looked up from my phone to see Corrine Lipman looking at me from the doorway of my office. “What areyoustill doing here?” I countered.

“I got an adoption taking place,” she answered, making my heart warm. “I didn’t want to waste any time on my end of the paperwork.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“Plus, Adrian seems like he really wants to change things for the better here, and since that would benefit us all, I’d like to help out if I can,” she added.

Adrian Cossacks was our newest supervising agent with CPS, and on his first day, he’d given a very compelling speech about how he wanted to do things differently, in a way that would benefit as many children as possible. Though a government agency, he was working on branching off part of CPS as a non-profit, so that we could accept donations to better fund what we did here. If he could pull it off, then we’d have more resources than what we had now.

“It’s amazing how much more you have to give when it’s to someone that you believe in,” I remarked. “I just hope that he’s the real deal.”

Her brows furrowed a bit. “You don’t think he is?”

I quickly shook my head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I just mean…we’ve seen a lot of people with grand ideas come and go from this place.”

Her face immediately softened. “Yeah, we have.”

“Well, good luck on the adoption,” I said, changing the subject. “I’m going to take half this stack home, then try to put a dent in it.”

“You work too much,” she chided jokingly.

“Well, now that babies are popping up everywhere, I might start looking into that work/life balance thing that so many people talk about,” I teased.

“I’m pretty sure that’s a myth,” she snorted.

“I think you might be right,” I grinned.

Throwing me a quick wink, she said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As she left my office, my phone chimed again.

Ramsey:Then I’ll c u when I get home. I love you, Emerson

As always, he typed it out all the way to make sure that I never misunderstood him.

Chapter 3

Ramsey~

Iwalked into Emerson’s office, our house being large enough for us to each have three offices if we’d wanted them. Though this was our home, and though we were used to the extravagant space, the house really did seem larger now that the kids were no longer living here. Yeah, we had our place in Port Lucia, but Sands Cove was our home, and it was where we spent most of our time when given the choice.

“Hey,” I greeted, and silver eyes looked back my way, something that always made my heart beat faster in my chest.

“Hey,” Emerson greeted back.

I walked over to where she was sitting behind her desk, then immediately went to massaging her tense shoulders. “Long day?”

She dropped her chin down, giving me more access to her neck. “There are days when I think that I’m making a difference, and then there are days when it’s a good thing that I don’t own a gun.”

“You’re making a difference,” I automatically assured her. “As long as some situations still make you angry, then you’re making a difference. It’s the employees that no longer react with emotion that need to call it quits in a job like yours, baby.”

“Do you know how hard it is not to just want to foster them all?” she asked tiredly.

“Then let’s foster them all,” I told her seriously. “We have the space and the money, so all you have to do is say the word.”

Emerson let out a soft chuckle. “These kids are damaged enough without bringing them to live with us.”

“I don’t know, the kids didn’t turn out so badly,” I said, saying anything to help her current state of mind.

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