Back to You

by Lauren Dane

  Everything seemed to scare the hell out of Vaughan, but Kelly had seemed to handle it perfectly so he’d leaned on her.

  “We can all walk together, if that’s cool with your dad.” Kelly kissed Kensey’s head.

  “Yeah, I’d like that.” He looked at the clock over the stove. “Okay, ladies. Bathroom break and then we’ll go.”

  The girls headed off and he moved in close to Kelly. “Hi.”

  She smiled. “Hi.”

  “I’m impressed with how you mother them. I feel like a total amateur.”

  “You love them. That’s the biggest thing. You just have to be tougher sometimes. You’ll learn. They’ll still love you. It’s going to be okay.”

  “I’ve made so many mistakes already.” Sometimes that shook him. Made him wonder if he had it in him to do this. But then he looked at his ladies and he knew it was worth the effort.

  “Everyone makes mistakes. I sure do.”

  He kissed her quickly but stepped back when he heard thundering feet coming back downstairs.

  * * *

  IT WAS THAT FEELING, that sense of fitting in a place that was distinctly unique. Not Hurley, but something more.

  “I’m heading out,” he told Kelly as they returned home. “You sure you don’t want to come along?”

  “Uh, yeah. Totally sure. I’ll handle picking the girls up so if you want to spend more time with your brothers, you can.”

  He took her hands. “I’ll be back. I swear to you.”

  She took a breath and then shrugged. “I can’t do anything but trust your word.”

  He kissed her. Right there in the driveway. He pulled her close and showed her how much he’d missed her. Of course when he broke the kiss, he, too, was nearly panting and totally not wanting to go anywhere but upstairs back to her bed.

  “That’s a down payment. Tonight we fuck in my room. I have plans. And because it’s even farther from the girls, I’ll happily make that growling grunt you seem to like so much.”

  She shivered, blowing out a breath. Her eyes were clear when she smiled. “All right, then. I have very high standards so I’ll hold you to that.”

  The last thing he wanted to do was get in his car and head away. But she had work and he had to get moving so he could return in plenty of time for dinner.

  * * *

  VAUGHAN HAD DRIVEN the same route to and from Hood River from Kelly’s house dozens upon dozens of times. Usually, he came up the hill, the road curving ever so slowly and then bam he was home. The big iron gates with the Sweet Hollow Ranch logo on them welcomed him as he drove through.

  Even as he knew every bump in the road, he thought about how to make the office above the garage a more useful work space. Because he’d begun to think of that house in Gresham as home, as well.

  He parked at his place, noted the mail Ezra had left on the counter in the kitchen. The dog had long since given him up for the far more lavish surroundings his mother provided so he didn’t have to worry about feeding anyone but his daughters.

  Ezra had left a note saying he’d put Vaughan’s sprinklers on a timer so his landscaping didn’t die in his absence. It’s May already, dumb ass was implied. Vaughan snorted as he pulled his phone out to text Ezra.

  If his brother was on horseback or on an ATV he wouldn’t even hear or feel his phone so it could have been anywhere from a minute to hours before Ezra replied.

  Vaughan had two of his guitars with him in Gresham already, but he grabbed his mandolin and slide guitar along with some equipment. Before he’d left Kelly’s he’d pulled the seats out of the back of his SUV so he had enough space to pack enough to get set up to work.

  He’d already loaded his equipment and was in his room filling suitcases with his things when Ezra came over.

  “Look what the cat dragged in.” The brothers hugged.

  “I put some soda in the fridge when I got here. You want something to drink?” Vaughan asked.

  “Yeah, that’d be good.”

  Once they’d retrieved their drinks, Vaughan began to pack some things from the kitchen and family room into a box.

  “Well.” Ezra gave him a look. “That looks like more than just what you’d need to hang out until your daughter goes back to school.”

  “Which is today. I walked her to the bus this morning before I came out here. Damn, Ez. That kid is strong. She was operated on just a little over a week ago and she’s ready to go back to school. It’s not just staying there until Maddie gets better. It’s more. I’m moving in. In my own bedroom still. Which sucks. But I can deal.” He paused after tucking a few of his favorite books into the box.

  “I want you to know I’m still going to be here to do my part.” It was coming up on the alfalfa harvest and then a whole lot of busy months as summer came and that melted into fall. Harvesting pears would take up much of August into October. The pears were picked and then sent to cold storage to continue the ripening process. Each step of the process had its own set of challenges.

  Ezra did a lot. Far more than anyone else. When the brothers were off the road they made it a point to pitch in and be as much help as Ezra would allow. It was, in a very real way, their big brother’s ranch now. He had staff to handle all things that needed doing. But he was there when the band wasn’t. He kept their roots deep and something their parents had built chugging along.

  And he had his own way of doing things. So the rest of the brothers just pitched in and if Ezra didn’t want them doing something he aimed them elsewhere and that worked, too.

  “You’re dealing with something way more important right now. Focus on that.”

  Vaughan wanted to tell his brother that he’d slept with Kelly at long last but something made him keep it to himself. Ezra had enough on his plate just then anyway.

  “You work too hard. You need to let people help.”

  Ezra rolled his eyes. “I have employees, Vaughan. I keep telling you guys that. Has the ex shown up yet?”

  “He drove by when I was out in the front yard last week. When he saw me he left in a hurry.” Vaughan had wanted to punch the guy, but then he’d thought about it and felt sorry for him.

  “He in stalker mode?”

  He liked that his brother had worried for Kelly.

  “I don’t think so. It struck me more like regret that she’d gotten away than him having a secret shrine to her in his basement. She took some stuff over there last week, but Stacey was with her. I’m scared of Stacey. I imagine she inspires that same fear in Ross.”

  “Stacey is the lawyer? Killer legs? Redhead?”

  “Your memory for women rivals Paddy. Damn.”

  “Some gifts you never lose.” Ezra grinned and then got serious again. “You happy?”

  Vaughan leaned back against the counter. “I am. It’s hard. I make mistakes. The girls know I’m a rookie so they try to work it to their advantage.”

  Ezra found that hilarious. “They’re Hurleys, all right.”

  “Kelly deals with discipline better than I do. She’s calmer about it. Firmer. I’m just watching and learning.”

  “You’ve always been a pushover when it came to women anyway. She is a good mother. I misjudged her at first. But your daughters are amazing and she’s definitely part of that. Speaking of Kelly... How are things between you two?”

  He smiled as a flash of memory hit. Kelly arched, flushed from climax, and his brother’s face told Vaughan Ezra knew they’d had sex. Just from one look. He was going to be such a great father someday with that kind of radar.

  “Slow. She wanted to take it slow and while parts of me thought it was a bad idea, I have to admit she was probably right to keep it careful and be cautious,” Vaughan said.

  Because sex between them had been perfect. Messy and sticky, too, but it had always been a
part of their relationship that had worked.

  But it was so good, and made them so close that it was easy to forget all the work. Easy to coast on the fucking and forget the rest. Which was why she’d wanted to wait, of course. But damn, he was glad she was as powerless against their sexual chemistry as he was.

  “It’s good. All of it. Uncomfortable sometimes. I did some damage, you know?”

  Ezra snorted. “Yeah, I think I can imagine what that might feel like.”

  His big brother had fallen down the deep pit of addiction. Driven himself right off the road of life, had to go to rehab and rebuild everything, including all his relationships. Which he had.

  Ezra, being who he was, though, carried it around, all that guilt, as if he hadn’t made up for his mistakes a thousand times by then.

  “I say this with love, Vaughan.”

  Vaughan cringed at whatever his brother was about to say.

  Ezra laughed. “Calm down. You’ve been given a pass. Most of your life. Now you have to face some shit you pulled. Bad enough to have derailed your own damned life. Own your shit and then move forward with these women who adore you. Don’t look back, Vaughan. Once you’ve dealt with the hurts of the past, it’s time to look to the future.”

  “I’m trying.”

  “You’re out of your element, too. Not here, but at Kelly’s house. How’s that feel?” Ezra asked.

  “She’s got reasons for that,” Vaughan said, defensiveness in his tone.

  “I imagine she does. We’re all responsible for that. In protecting you, we were less than kind to her.”

  How could Ezra be so spot-on about everyone else, but never cut himself a break?

  “And now she doesn’t trust you all,” Vaughan said. Which he really hated. This was his family; he loved them. They were an incredibly important part of his life and he wanted her to feel that, too. Though his family had opened their hearts up to his sister-in-law Mary, Natalie, his brother Paddy’s girlfriend, and even to Tuesday, the woman Ezra was just starting up with, they hadn’t with Kelly.

  “Fair enough. You have to get her trust back first. And then you have to lay out the whole truth. Mom will do the right thing once she knows.”

  Vaughan blew out a breath. “Maybe. She seems pretty invested in not liking Kelly.”

  “Sure she did. You’re her son. She’d cut someone to protect any of us.” Ezra shrugged. “Back then the whole family was different. You brought this woman around and she was pregnant and your wife before they even met her?”

  “Mom took one look, got how pretty Kelly was and then wrote her off. You can’t pretend that wasn’t part of it.”

  Ezra nodded. “Yeah, most likely. We never got to know her very well.”

  Vaughan just hoped he got the chance to get his family to open up in ways they hadn’t before. If they gave Kelly the time, they’d see she was so much more than a pretty woman who’d had his kids.

  “Step one is to get her back. Then I guess the rest of it will follow,” Vaughan said.

  “Only if you work your ass off for it.”

  “That so? How are things with Tuesday, then?”

  His messed-up brother had found a woman with her own set of vulnerabilities. The two fit in ways Vaughan could see made his brother uncertain. But that he kept at it and continued a relationship with her was a good thing.

  Ezra smirked. “I’m keeping it close for the time being. We like each other.”

  “Fair enough. Help me load this stuff into my car.”

  As they did, his father approached with a wave, a few dogs and a pig in his wake. “Ezra, your animals came to see me this morning. Your mom loves the visits but your pig roots in her flower beds and then I have to listen to her rant about it. You know how she is about those beds. It was your goats last time now it’s the pig again. Don’t do that to me, boy.”

  Ezra was a burly man. Broad-shouldered. He didn’t speak unless it was necessary most of the time. Taciturn. Gruff. But that was all for show. He was a giant marshmallow when it came to his animals and his family. He had a sweet but not exceptionally bright Lab named Loopy and a pig named Violet who seemed to think she was a dog and Ez let her.

  Currently though, Violet knew she was in trouble for digging and she made a cute little squeaky grunt. Ezra rolled his eyes, went to his haunches to dust the dirt from her snout.

  “I thought we had a deal?” Loopy licked the side of Ezra’s face. “And you? You’re supposed to keep her away from those flower beds.”

  As Ezra pretended to scold his pig who thought it was a dog, Vaughan hugged his dad quickly.

  “Hey there, stranger. How’s my granddaughter today?”

  “First day back to school. I made Kelly promise to text if there was a problem, but she was strong and happy when she left this morning.”

  “Good. Bring them over to see us soon, all right? She brought them out here, you know. While you were on tour,” his dad said quietly. “For your mom’s birthday. We had them for the weekend.”

  “I didn’t know.” Though he wasn’t surprised. Despite her feelings about Sharon, Kelly had gone out of her way to be sure the girls saw his family.

  “She gave up her career to move here. She didn’t have to. She could be making a huge amount of money if she was modeling regularly.”

  “She sure did.” His father clapped his shoulder.

  “He’s sneaky with the lessons,” Ezra said as he stood, brushing his hands down the front of his jeans.

  “Vaughan knows a dad has to get his lessons in whenever he can. You’ll know this one day, too.”

  “I have a long way to go to be half as good at this as you are,” Vaughan told his father.

  “I’ve been doing it longer. Parenting is a lot like a marriage. You have to consistently work at it or things turn to shit. Hopefully you’ll all have children who are easier on your hearts than mine. Though I’ll laugh my ass off when one of you has to go to the school to deal with some stupid bullshit one of your kids pulls.”

  He took Vaughan by the upper arms for a moment. “You can do this.” And that moment passed.

  But it was what he needed. Enough to spur him on. To remind him of what was important.

  He could do this. He would do this.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  KELLY LOVED CLOTHES. That one part of being a model she’d loved. She’d never have been exposed to the depth and breadth of design, fabric and style otherwise. As she grew more successful in the modeling world clothes began to come with the gigs.

  When she left modeling full-time she hadn’t relinquished her love of clothes. She’d kept a huge closetful in her condo in Manhattan and the one she currently stood in was similarly full.

  Her closet was a place she often escaped to after a frustrating day. Organizing, shifting things around that she hadn’t worn in a while. She liked to do a cull each season and those things were either donated or traded with her friends.

  Some of her pieces were like art. Kelly didn’t attend as many parties as she once did, though she still did modeling campaigns for two design houses, but she built her time in New York around the girls’ school schedule and kept a place there.

  The money was good. It kept her working and relevant in that world, which was helpful to her boutiques, and she couldn’t deny she was proud of what she’d built.

  It was fitting that she’d been able to take her love of clothes and fashion and make it into a way to continue to support herself and her girls. More than that, she’d begun to construct what Stacey liked to call Kelly Hurley, Inc.

  She didn’t much want to act or sing or do any of those things. But there were things she was good at. Things she was proud to add to her résumé. It was more than throwing money at a storefront. She was involved with the direction of her business. She and
her partner liked to innovate.

  Which was why she’d just pulled on one of her favorite outfits and was heading to Hood River to have lunch and a chat with Tuesday Eastwood about her jewelry.

  There was a tap on the door just as she’d slid a blue Lucite bangle bracelet into place.

  Vaughan stood there with a smile. “Wow, I’m impressed. This is huge.”

  She looked around the room, proud. “Yeah. This was supposed to be another bedroom with an en suite bath but I made it into my closet instead.” And a dressing room—a place she put on her makeup and did her hair, as well.

  “You’re off to have lunch with Tuesday now?” He’d retrieved Tuesday’s number from Ezra just a few hours before so he knew where she was headed.

  “Yes. I’ll be back in time for the bus, though.”

  “No big deal if you aren’t. I’m here. I’m working in the office, setting it all up in there, but I have my phone and the house phone up there so I’ll be available if there’s a problem. Tell her I said hello.”

  “You really want me to like her, don’t you?”

  He brushed the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. “Well, sure. She’s my brother’s girlfriend so it would be nice if you were friends with her. And she’s close with Natalie, and that’s my other brother’s girlfriend so that’s a good thing, too. I want you to like my family.”

  “I like the way your family treats my children.” She smiled brightly, pleased she’d found something positive to say that was actually believable. “That’s a lot to me. As for the rest, it’s a conversation we need to have, but not right now.” She stepped back, breaking contact or they’d end up in bed and she’d never leave the house at that rate.

  Avoiding any more discussion of his family, she grabbed her bag, slid into her shoes and headed out.

  “You tell me to share but then when I do you’re too busy for it?” he called out from the doorway to her bedroom.

  The words to agree with him rose to her lips and then she stopped, frowning. Her normal instinct was to defer, even when her feelings were being ignored. If he meant to be around she couldn’t let their daughters see her be anything but strong, them anything less than united and always respectful of one another.