Broken Open

by Lauren Dane

  It had been right and necessary to apologize to people when he’d got clean.

  He’d reconnected with many of his friends but rebuilding had taken a lot of energy. So he’d started at home, where it was necessary to concentrate. And now, after five years, he’d been able to regain the trust of his brothers and parents. He’d shown fans and the label that he was all about the music once more.

  But there had been friendships like the one he’d shared with Jeremy that he’d been scared to face. What he’d done, who he’d been, haunted Ezra even to that very moment.

  But then Tuesday had shown up and the way he’d wanted her had overruled any fear or discomfort at pursuing something more than a few sessions in the bedroom and boom out the door.

  The way they’d slow danced toward where they stood at the moment had been a big part of why he hadn’t kept her away from the start. But now, after the way he’d felt the day of her party, he knew there was no hiding from the intensity of what he felt for her. And after years when all his most intense feelings were negative, feeling so good made him panic. He didn’t know how to judge if it was an okay sort of happy.

  Baby steps. That’s what he needed to do.

  He looked in the mirror quickly, finger combing his hair and getting himself together. He was stronger than this. Better than this.

  “I’m ferocious. I’m dark and broody and broken,” he whispered as he pulled back into traffic.

  * * *

  SHE SAT IN the cab of his truck and hid her smile. That morning he’d nervously asked if he should have come back to the ranch to get his Porsche instead of taking the truck to her parents’ house. He was so ridiculously sweet.

  “I didn’t expect to see Vaughan there today,” Ezra spoke, interrupting her thoughts.

  He’d come with Kelly about half an hour before Ezra showed up. Then when he’d gone off with Vaughan for a few minutes, she’d finally had the chance to speak to Kelly in private to ask her for an update.

  And then it had got really busy and they’d ended up selling every last piece so Vaughan and Kelly went home when Tuesday and Ezra left and Tuesday had barely had three minutes to talk with Kelly alone to get an update on what was happening.

  “Me, either. He looks good, though. Like he’s maybe gained a few pounds. She always looks fantastic. Do you hope they reconcile?”

  “Kelly and Vaughan are a good example of what happens when love isn’t enough. She’s two years younger than him, but really, until maybe three years or so ago, she was far more mature. When she got pregnant it was like some switch got thrown. You could see the difference. He didn’t change. It was ugly and awful and it broke my heart because all these years she’s been raising them every day. He’s a spectator and sometime participant in his children’s lives. And he made that choice. So now he’s grown and matured and understands what he gave up. He can look at the entire situation and know he’s got no one to blame but himself. He can’t ever go back and undo it. That’s a heavy load.”

  “There are second chances, you know.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “I’ve given second chances. I’ve been given second chances. She’s changed, too. She’s not that twenty-three-year-old who didn’t know if she could survive without him. She did. And she thrived. She’s got a great life and Vaughan isn’t the only man who loves her.”

  He was quiet a long time and then her phone rang. “Gotta take this—it’s Di.” She swiped a finger to answer the call. “Hey, Mom. I have the naan.”

  “Oh good.” There was a lot of noise in the background.

  “I take it the house is full already?”

  “Lord above. Both your brothers are here. All the boys and Sadie, too.” Sadie was her seven-year-old niece and the boys most likely meant GJ and his wife Alana’s oldest, Darius, who was ten, and Shawn’s twins, Alonzo and Adam, with his wife, Tisha.

  “I’m bummed we didn’t bring Ezra’s dog. She’d be in heaven with all those kids.” Loopy would love the big backyard and running around with all the laughing, playing kids would make her day.

  “Next time. Did he bring his guitar?”

  “Mom, we talked about this.”

  “What? Just talk to him about it. Did you talk to him about it yet? Just one song. Surely he wouldn’t deny my request.”

  “Diana Robinson Easton, don’t even try that with me.” But Tuesday knew it was a lost cause. Her mother would be dead set now.

  “GJ agreed to play the bass.”

  “Okay, well we’ll be there in a few minutes. Ezra is getting off the freeway now. Do you need us to stop and get anything else? Do you have enough to drink?”

  “We don’t have any alcohol in the house.”

  She’d already spoken to her mother about the situation. Tuesday knew they’d find out easily about the heroin and rehab so she preempted all that by getting it all out in the open. She’d also told her mother Ezra wouldn’t care if anyone had a beer, though they didn’t drink much except for a glass of champagne at New Year’s Eve and the occasional glass of wine from that box that’d been in the fridge at least five years, probably more.

  But there was no use saying anything else about it. “Okay. I’m hanging up now so I can give Ezra directions. See you soon.” Ezra had GPS of course, but her mother didn’t need to know that.

  He didn’t say anything for a moment. Waiting.

  “So when I was a kid growing up my family had a band. Nothing like what you guys have obviously.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me before now?”

  “It’s a silly thing my family did on weekends for about a decade when I was growing up. When we all spend holidays together there’s singing. But they don’t have a piano—my mom plays the rhythm guitar.”

  “Did you think I’d mock it?” She’d hurt his feelings, damn it.

  “No. Not like that at all.” She turned to him. They didn’t have much time because her dad was going to want to get judging Ezra right away. “I’m telling you now because this is the first time you’re meeting them and my mother brought it up right now on the phone. I’d never think you would mock my family. That’s my job anyway.”

  He nodded. “I think it’s awesome. My dad loves listening to music but he isn’t musical. My great-grandmother was a torch singer apparently. She and her sister and brother had a three-piece band and they played all over the South for like twenty years in bars and small theaters. But nothing else after that until our generation.”

  Aww, man those Hurleys were adorable. Good lord.

  Still Tuesday winced as she told him the rest. “She’s going to ask you to jam. I’m just warning you. I’m going to try to head her off, but, well you’ll meet her.”

  Ezra’s features lit with delight as he grinned. “Tuesday, I’d love to jam with your mom. You have no idea.”

  “She’s going to make you play Alabama Shakes. It’s her favorite right now.”

  “Works for me. What do you play then?”

  “Do we have to? I’m really not very good.”

  “I beg to differ. You’re very, very good.”

  When he dropped his guard and teased like that—intimate stuff he’d only say to her—it made her crazy for him. The way she needed him hit her hard, crawled over her skin until she itched to touch, to nibble, to be held down and loved the way he did it.

  “You still have to tell me, though.”

  She sighed. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t figure it out when her mother herded them all into the garage and she got behind the drums.

  “Drums. Turn left up here at the light.”

  He did and she kept looking at him. “A word of warning about Di Easton. She’s sneaky. My dad is a typical dad. He’s going to look you over and be scary for a few minutes. Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Stop being nervous. I won’t fart or pick my nose in front of them. I promise.”

  She rolled her eyes. “She’s a master. I’m just saying.”

  “Sounds like s
he and Sharon will get along just fine.”

  “Probably. They’d either love each other immediately or hate each other on sight. They’re both women like that.” She blew out a breath. “Up there on the left.”

  He whipped around and parked at the curb. “Doesn’t look like Paddy and Nat are here yet.”

  “She said she wanted to stop in downtown for something first. Plus she’ll want me to get all the attention and they haven’t seen her in months.”

  He leaned over and kissed her quick. “You have good taste in friends.”

  “I really do. Paddy is very lucky Natalie loves him. Though he does seem to make her really happy, which is why I haven’t maimed him for making her cry those few times.”

  “He was scared. But they’ll get through it all. He loves her to his bones. He made mistakes and acted like a dick. But he figured it out and now that he’s truly chosen her, he’ll be about her happiness always. Once they fall for real, Hurleys don’t play around.”

  They looked at one another in the dying light filtered through his windshield. He laid himself bare for her in that moment, even if he didn’t know he’d done it. He was scared, too. Like Paddy had been.

  Between Ezra and Tuesday lay a twisty, complicated road full of potential hazards. The two of them carried a lot of baggage. So much it would get in the way at times. If the other person was also having a rough time they’d butt heads when they were both vulnerable.

  The power of that, the ability to either open your heart a little more and dig a little deep for patience to ride something out and get to the other side stronger. Or the circumstances leaving you worn out and agitated at the worst possible point.

  That’s what a relationship was. An agreement to navigate all that twisty bullshit that could sink everything.

  “This is going to be fine,” he said, kissing her fingertips.

  She had to hope so because she was in love with him. “It will. You’ll like them. They’ll like you.”

  And then her phone rang. She picked up, thinking it was her mother. “We’re right at the curb. Jeez, let us get out before we can get to the front door.”

  But it wasn’t Di, as Tuesday figured out as the screeching began and she realized it was Tina again.

  “If you don’t stop yelling, I’m going to hang up.”

  Tina didn’t hear, or didn’t care because she kept yelling about Tuesday changing her name.

  “Hanging up now. I’ll tell my mom you said hello.”

  Tuesday not only hung up, but she finally did what Natalie had urged her to and blocked the number.

  She tried to get out but he made a sound and she slumped back into the seat.

  “You want to tell me what the hell that was about?”

  She actually didn’t. But he asked her to share. She wanted him to, so if that was the case, she figured she needed to, as well.

  “That was my former mother-in-law. She’s upset I’m changing my name back to Easton.”

  He paused and she realized he wasn’t that comfortable with it, either.

  Hmm.

  “I should probably explain some of this backstory. Eric wasn’t close with his family, though he wanted to be. A lot.”

  She filled in the details about the original name change and why she was going back, trying to edit carefully around the parts where it was clear he’d had some part in her decision-making because she didn’t want him to feel bad or guilty or even uncomfortable.

  It was her life and she made the choice for lots of reasons and that was that.

  “You blocked them, though? Just now? I don’t like this woman acting this way to you. Who the hell does she think she is?”

  “Yes, I blocked her number. She’ll find another way to get in touch when she next decides to.” She shrugged.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She sighed, turning to face him. “Lots of reasons. One is, she’s awful and who wants that in their life? I didn’t want to bring that to you. Second? You seem a little nervous about me, about being in a relationship with me, so I kept it to myself. Because it’s my choice, Ezra.”

  “I’m not nervous about you, Tuesday.”

  “Bullshit. You’re scared of me and of this intensity between us. It’s okay. I’m trying to give you the space to deal with it. But that doesn’t include pretending it’s not there.”

  He was quiet for some time, taking it in.

  “We need to go inside. My parents know we’re here. Please don’t tell them about this mess with the Heywoods. Oh god, or the feed store debacle.”

  “This isn’t over. I want to talk about it more. Why can’t I tell them? You haven’t told them, either? Not about the feed store or your in-laws?”

  Tuesday laughed. “Ezra Hurley, you’re such a fibber. You do not want to talk about this more. But we will. Just not right now. And my mother and Tina are not friends. If I told them about this, it would only make them both upset and they can’t do a thing to help. Same with the feed store. This is not a new experience for any of us. It would only upset them and they can’t do a thing about that situation, either.”

  He kissed her hard. “Fine. But you should tell them yourself at some point. If these people hurt you again, I’m going to show them just how displeased I am. You get me?”

  “Yeah.”

  * * *

  HE RAN AROUND to open her door and her father, who’d been watching from their bedroom window on the second floor, would have put that in the plus column.

  Ezra would be fine. He’d charm her mother and her mother would charm him. Her family would like him. Natalie would be there shortly to buffer anytime things got annoying. And at the end of the night she’d escape, jump Ezra a few times in a hotel room. It was good incentive to get this in motion.

  Tuesday opened the storm door and knocked while she pushed into the house. “Hey, all, I’m home!”

  Her mother came in with a big smile. She wore an apron Tuesday and April had made for a Mother’s Day present what seemed like a million years ago. At her ears were the delicate tree-of-life dangles she’d given her mother for Christmas the year before.

  Her hair had been pulled into twists and the similarity between them was sort of scary for just a second.

  And then it was just...wonderful. This was what her family was underneath all the stuff that made her crazy.

  “Baby girl! Come over here and hug me.”

  Tuesday did as she was told, smiling behind her mom’s back to her brother Shawn, who stood in the hall.

  “Well, come on in here and meet the boy.” Tuesday waved a hand at Ezra, who grinned and looked ridiculously handsome.

  “Ezra Hurley, this is my mother, Diana Easton.”

  Ezra took her hand in both of his. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Easton. Thanks for inviting me tonight.”

  Di looked to her daughter. “You’re right. This is the single finest beard I’ve ever beheld.”

  “Don’t be jealous, now, that you don’t have a mother who blurts things like that.” Greg Jr. came in. He hugged Tuesday and held out a hand for Ezra to shake.

  Ezra chuckled. “Ezra Hurley, nice to meet you. I do actually have a mother who is a lot like yours.”

  “Ezra, this is my brother Greg, but everyone calls him GJ.” Shawn came in. “And this is another brother, Shawn.”

  There was handshaking and looking over and they went through to the kitchen where her mother put the flowers they’d brought in water.

  More introductions were made to her sisters-in-law and then the kids. Tuesday got them both a glass of iced tea and then her father rolled in.

  Greg Easton was a barrel-chested man. His hair, what little there was left, was gray at the temples. He was six feet tall and when she’d been a little girl her dad’s hands had seemed big enough to battle monsters on her behalf.

  He pulled her into a big hug. “Happy birthday, sweetie pie.”

  She hugged him back. “Thanks, Dad.”

  It was good to be
there. That feeling would wear off as the night went on, but for that moment, she was glad to be there in the kitchen she’d grown up in, surrounded by people who cared about her, about to eat a seriously delicious dinner her mother most likely spent most of the day making.

  “I’m Greg Easton.” He held out a hand to Ezra, who took it, and they had some sort of shake that she hoped wasn’t too loose or too tight or whatever her father deemed less than acceptable.

  “Ezra Hurley. Thank you for having me in your home, sir.”

  “Our daughter wanted you here. Walk with me, son, and we’ll talk about what that means.”

  “Dad. No. Come on. This is silly.”

  Ezra kissed her temple. “We’ll be back.”

  * * *

  “MMM. WELL NOW, that boy is a tasty bite.” Her mother watched them walk away. “Ezra, too,” her mother said with a wink when she turned back around.

  “Nat will be here soon. She stopped at Radiance for her favorite shampoo. If you like that brother wait till you see her version. In my opinion, I have the superior model, but hers sure isn’t a chore to look at.”

  “It’s been way too long since you’ve been here.” Her mother’s gaze narrowed, taking her daughter in. “Come along then.” With a very Di flourish, she turned and headed to the stove where multiple things were bubbling and smelling really yummy.

  Shawn snorted. “You look good, Tuesday. You’re dating a rock star.”

  “He’s a rancher mostly, but yeah, sometimes during the year he’s also a rock star. They’re all pretty normal, but you see them onstage and it’s mind-blowing.”

  They walked in their mother’s wake, not keeping her waiting once she’d delivered an edict that they follow her to the stove.

  “He’s white,” Shawn said.

  “Oh my god!” She paused, slapping a hand over her heart. “He is?”

  Her mother chuckled.

  Tuesday held a finger up. “I’ll continue in a second but for this moment I need to smell stuff.” She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “I am going to get a gold medal in eating my dinner tonight.”

  She looked back to Shawn. “Is that a problem? Ezra being white? Like your wife is white?”