Back to You

by Lauren Dane

  It was long past time so the moment she arrived back in Gresham three days prior, Kelly had contacted Stacey to get her working on a legal framework to protect her family from Rebecca.

  Stacey’s nose wrinkled. “She’s a piece of work. I’ll give her that. She’s outraged that you’re back with Vaughan and look so happy. I’m glad I wasn’t there or I might have punched her.”

  Kelly laughed. “That’s what she wants. Then she could shake you down for a settlement.”

  “I’m very happy to hear Vaughan protected you. That’s what we needed to see! After the scene how was he?” Stacey asked.

  “I told him a lot about my childhood. About her and the food stuff. He was pretty cool. You were right. I should have before now. He also told his parents the whole truth. And we’re going over there for dinner this coming Wednesday before the gallery opening.”

  “Wow. How does all that make you feel?”

  “Valued. It makes me feel like I matter to him. That he listened and did the hard thing. He whined about how mad they got at him. But only a little.” Her father hadn’t ever stood between Rebecca and Kelly to protect her. Vaughan hadn’t with his mother, either.

  But now he’d changed and was trying. Which didn’t necessarily mean she was going to hang out at the ranch with them for a week. Not at that point.

  “The house is quiet when the kids are gone, huh?” Stacey asked.

  “It’s not like they’ve never spent time over at the ranch.” Kelly shrugged. He’d taken Maddie and Kensey to help with harvest. Really they rode horses and played cards with Sharon and their aunt Mary, but they loved every minute and because Kelly had a bunch of stuff to handle at the Portland shop, she’d stayed behind.

  She’d gone from sleeping at his side every night after putting the girls to bed to sleeping all alone in a silent house for the past three nights.

  “I used to sort of like the first few days of their time with him. Being alone, not having anyone to answer to or be responsible for. I could sleep in and watch whatever I wanted on television. But I’m used to it now. I get up to work out and Vaughan isn’t here. The girls don’t come get in bed with us and demand breakfast. I keep waking up because it’s so quiet and I’m worried.” Kelly snorted.

  “Anyway, he’s bringing them home tomorrow afternoon. Their manager comes into town first thing tomorrow so they go from harvest to band stuff. I told him to just stay out at the ranch. Jeremy, their manager, can stay with Vaughan and they can work. I don’t want him coming back here at three in the morning. Or having the girls sleeping at his parents’ because he’s out late with his brothers.”

  “That’s good with you for real?” Stacey asked.

  Kelly blew out a breath. “What am I going to do? Supervise him at all times? I can’t live that way. Having to follow his every move to keep him faithful and from making a mistake? He wants us or he doesn’t. I’m not his mother. He has to police himself. I look at all those women I knew when Vaughan and I were married and the only ones still together with their musician husbands are the couples who make one another their priority. I can’t make him do that. He has to be a big boy and monitor himself. I’m raising two kids. I don’t need to raise him, too. Anyway, I’d end up hating myself and him as well if I tried to accept anything less.”

  Kelly twisted one of her rings as she thought about how true that was. Another thing she never wanted her daughters to see was their mother not being treated well by their father.

  “But I’m still scared sometimes. I’d forgotten what it was like to have your man openly hit on right in front of you. I can’t offer him secret squirrel restaurants and all that exciting nightlife. I’m not exciting like that. I’m not twenty-two. My boobs haven’t been in twenty-two territory in a really long time. My God, have you seen twenty-two-year-old boobs? They’re fucking spectacular. All gravity-defying and taut. I’m not taut.”

  “You’re heading into a full-blown shame spiral. Stop. Need I remind you that you’re one of the genetically gifted? Stop with the woe is me, my stunning tits aren’t as stunning as they were before I had two kids stuff. Otherwise I’ll be forced to slam your head in the fridge like in an action movie.”

  Kelly sputtered a laugh. “You’re feeling sassy tonight.”

  “I’m saying he knows you and he seems to like your boobs just fine. I get why you don’t want to have to monitor him. I think that’s wise. Couples who need that sort of time together to keep one of them out of trouble rarely last.”

  “I miss him. But it’s a few days. I don’t think he’s pretending to be harvesting alfalfa as a cover for banging random chicks.”

  “That’s not what you’re afraid of anyway,” Stacey said.

  “No. It’s all of it. This life isn’t a thrill a minute. This life has dentist appointments and tantrums and teacher conferences. This life has laundry and toilets that need plunging.”

  “Fuck that. It also has a supermodel as the mother of his children. You’re gorgeous and smart and you run your own business. You’ve raised two great kids. You’re worried that’s not as enticing as an easy lay with tits still up at twenties geography?” Stacey pointed at her chest at a spot a good bra could still get near.

  “Your selfish, dumb-ass psycho of a mother didn’t know her own worth so she torpedoed yours, too, so she wouldn’t be alone. You’re not her. Not ever. Stop trying to argue your way out of your happy ending.”

  * * *

  VAUGHAN’S MUSCLES HADN’T been this tired in a long time. How Ezra managed to do this on a regular basis was always a source of amazement to him. He’d worked on the harvest, in and around showing the girls how things were done and when he dropped into bed every night he’d pretty much passed out.

  Now that he’d taken a more active role in their day-to-day lives, they were bolder about coming to him for assistance.

  That had been a painful realization. When they stayed at the ranch in the past they were just as likely to go to his mother for something as they were him.

  But that had changed. As proud as it made him, it also was another thing he’d fucked up and couldn’t go back to fix.

  And it underlined just how much Kelly did. Traveling with them in a nonvacation fashion had been far more exhausting than he’d imagined. They were already pros at what to do at the airport. But they needed constant surveillance and guidance. Kelly seemed to have inborn radar. If either child got a certain distance away, her attention snapped to and she wrangled her little ducklings back once more.

  She made it look easy. Just two months ago he’d imagined he was just as involved and able to multitask when it came to his daughters and their care as Kelly was.

  It was a wonder that Kelly hadn’t hit him with a shovel.

  Vaughan smiled as he thought of her, missing her more than he could have imagined.

  The girls had missed her, too, and the past four nights he’d ended up with two kids and a corgi in bed with him instead of his woman.

  The night before he’d waited until the girls had conked out and he snuck out of bed to FaceTime with her.

  “Did I wake you?” he asked when she answered. She was in bed, but clearly not sleeping.

  “I was waiting for you to call.”

  All that connection filled him when he saw that smile. “I want to share something. I got some more done on a song today. Wanna hear it?”

  “Yes, very much so.” The happiness in her voice made him feel better and even more glad he’d called.

  He set his tablet up so she could see him play and swung his guitar into his lap.

  And then he sang her a song about a woman who did more than most people knew, a remarkable woman who filled his heart and his life. He wanted to sing that to her, not have Paddy sing it. That was another reason he was doing this on his own.

  The look she always wore w
hen he sang or played music settled back into his stomach. He realized that while it had only been a few days, he’d missed this.

  He missed the way she listened to him. Missed her laugh. How he survived years without it was hard to imagine. It seemed to fuel him, fortify and anchor him.

  She clapped when he’d finished. “I love it. This is so fantastic. You’re doing something wonderful and I’m so proud.”

  Exactly what he’d needed to hear.

  They’d talked for a few minutes more before he headed back to bed.

  Vaughan wanted to talk to Ezra about it, but his brother had a whole lot of his own stuff going on just then. He worked himself to exhaustion. More even than his usual insane levels.

  The oldest Hurley brother was in love with Tuesday. Anyone looking at Ezra could see the change in him. It was a good thing. Beautiful. But even after all these years of being there for his family, of turning his life around, Ezra wasn’t entirely sure he deserved to be happy. And until he figured that out, he’d never allow himself to believe he was worth it.

  And, as Vaughan loaded Kensey and Maddie into his car to take them to Gresham so they could eat an early dinner and head off to dance and piano classes, he realized he didn’t want to be alone in the house at the ranch. He wanted to be with his family in his home.

  But Jeremy was set to arrive within the next few hours and despite missing Kelly, it was always nice to see their friend and manager and it would really only be one more night until he got back home anyway.

  So he headed out to Gresham, frowning when he saw Ross’s BMW in the driveway.

  Since the girls were with him, he didn’t yank the other man out of his house and toss him into the street. But it was a close thing when, upon going inside, he noted Ross’s angry expression and Kelly’s body language. She’d put a table between herself and her ex-fiancé and that didn’t please Vaughan one bit.

  “Mommy!” Maddie and Kensey hugged Kelly, said hello to Ross and then headed upstairs.

  “Ross was just leaving,” Kelly said, taking Vaughan’s hand.

  Vaughan put himself between Kelly and Ross. “All right, then. Goodbye, Ross. I pulled into the garage so I didn’t park you in.”

  “Actually, I wasn’t quite done. Vaughan, if you could give us a moment in private,” Ross said.

  As if. Vaughan made a face and then looked to Kelly. If she’d given him a sign, Vaughan would have gone into the kitchen while they finished up. But she didn’t and she didn’t let go of his hand, so he stayed.

  Vaughan shook his head and wished he had a reason to punch the other man’s face. “I don’t think that’s necessary. Kelly and I are back together. I’m sure she’s explained that. I’m sorry it happened this way.”

  “You have nothing to do with this,” Ross insisted.

  “With ejecting you from my house? You’re wrong about that.”

  “Ross, just go. You’ve said what you needed to say.” Kelly clearly didn’t want to start something. Vaughan understood that, but Ross was treading on some thin ice.

  Ross threw his hands up, frustrated. “He’s going to leave you again. He can’t want this life. And then what? You think I’ll be waiting around?”

  “Ross, please. I told you already.” Kelly kept her voice low. “Even if I wasn’t with Vaughan, I’d have broken the engagement one way or another. We weren’t right. I’m sorry I hurt you. I really am.”

  Ross stormed out and she just sighed, giving Vaughan a look. “So that happened.”

  He hugged her, loving the way she felt. “I can’t believe how fast I got used to the way you feel against me again.” Vaughan looked at her face carefully. “Did he scare you?”

  “No. His ex told him what she’d said. He came over to apologize. He admitted telling her that when he was angry at me.”

  “He said he wanted you back, didn’t he?”

  Kelly shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’m already taken. Thanks for bringing the girls home. Are you heading straight back?”

  He’d thought about it. But now he didn’t want to go. He wanted more time with her. “I was thinking we could have dinner and then I’ll go. Does that work for you?”

  Her smile made everything better.

  “Yes. That would be great.”

  He hugged her once more and then went to lock the front door carefully. “He didn’t use his key, did he?” Vaughan asked as he found Kelly in the kitchen.

  “No. I changed the locks anyway when I first broke things off, remember? But he knocked. It was fine. We dated two years. He’s not having an easy time of it and it’s my fault. I hurt him.”

  “You said your apologies. You gonna feel bad forever because you didn’t marry someone you didn’t love?”

  “Not forever. But I’ve had my heart broken. I know what it feels like. I don’t hate him. I just hate the way he acted at the very end. But he was good to the girls. He was good to me. I wanted him to feel better for venting.” She brushed her hands off. “Now that’s over.”

  “Why doesn’t he get back with the ex? She clearly still digs him.”

  Kelly laughed and laughed. “She doesn’t dig him as a partner. He’s tall and he’s handy and it’s easier than hiring out when something breaks. She wants a nonsex husband.”

  “Ew. The worst kind.” He shuddered.

  “Harvest go okay?” She changed the subject and he let her.

  “Yeah. Good crop this year. Everyone pitched in, including your daughters. They also made sure Mary had plenty to drink and probably helped her with the realization having kids means never being uninterrupted again.”

  “Ha. Well, glad they could be of service. She’s all right?”

  “She’s uncomfortable and hot. But the baby is good and so is the pregnancy. She asked about you, wanted me to reiterate the invitation to their house.”

  “All right.”

  “Is it too weird?”

  “What?”

  “Finally being welcomed by my family.”

  “Well, that’s a pretty big way to describe something that hasn’t happened yet. I’m glad to be invited. Glad that they’re trying to take a step in the right direction. But that’s all it is right now. I do hope they will welcome me at some point, truly. But I appreciate this step.” Her smile was wary a moment, and then bloomed. “How’d that sound?”

  He hugged her. Things would be just fine. They had to be.

  “That sounds just right. And totally true. How’d inventory go?”

  “It went fine. Tuesday came in today for a dress to wear to her grand opening day after tomorrow. She’s going to turn some heads in it.”

  “Did she talk about Ezra at all?” His brother had been pretty quiet about Tuesday, using the burst of work the harvest brought with it to keep busy. Vaughan knew Ez was well and truly freaked out by the depth of feeling Tuesday evoked in him.

  Every small thing his brother revealed was intensely personal and though he wanted to bounce a few ideas off Kelly, he tried not to share anything he thought Ezra might not want shared. Considering how private Ezra was, that pretty much meant everything.

  “Sure she did. He’s her boyfriend.” Kelly’s smile was coy.

  “Oh, is that how this is going to be?” He sidled up to her, pulling her close again.

  “They’re private people, which is why you aren’t giving me all the details, either. They’re both clearly going through some stuff. But she cares for him, deeply.” Kelly hesitated and licked her lips. “Second chances are important. Tuesday and I share that in common.”

  Humility rushed through Vaughan’s system. Standing in a house he considered home, not just because of the people in it, but because he liked it, too. He felt truly welcome each time he came in.

  He wanted her. Wanted to lay her back and love every inch of h
er. But two human birth control pills stomped around upstairs, already bickering about something that would no doubt spill down to them soon enough.

  And like a weirdo, he loved it. He loved how it made him feel. Full. Satisfied. He’d had a good life before he moved into Kelly’s guest room nearly two months before.

  But this? This was everything. He understood the way Damien always got drawn back to Mary whenever they were apart.

  “I don’t want to go back tonight. I’ll sleep here and then go over first thing. I haven’t slept next to you in forever.”

  * * *

  SHE MADE A FACE. “Four days isn’t forever. Jeremy is in town and staying in your house. You want to hang out with him. You’re the one who gave that little push to see if you could help Ezra and Jeremy get their friendship back! Of course you want to see that happening. Plus, you just finished your harvest so you and the rest of your brothers are going to want to celebrate. Have dinner with us and then go to the ranch. I figured it would be just the girls so they’re having chicken, mac and cheese and broccoli.” She winked.

  “The holy kid trinity. In my house it was fish sticks, mac and cheese and broccoli.”

  “We like to switch it up. Sometimes we have rice pilaf instead or corn on the cob when it’s fresh. We’re zany that way.”

  “I missed this. My house with my family, with my singing, dancing, bickering children. My woman being the heart of it all.”

  When he talked like that, all her doubts fell away. All her loneliness from his being gone seemed silly.

  “I missed you, too. I’ve gotten used to you being around.” She pulled a few things from the fridge. “We’ll be here tomorrow. And the day after.”

  Kelly said the words, but she had to admit when he was gone she wondered if he realized his life was way more fun without a woman and two kids in it. But that seemed stupid, like all her other doubts when he stood there so open and loving. So genuine.

  “Speaking of the day after tomorrow. Don’t forget we’re having dinner with my parents before the gallery opening on Wednesday.”