Back to You

by Lauren Dane

  Sharon was trying with this dinner invitation. Kelly had plenty of misgivings about dinner with her former in-laws. In Sharon’s lair. But she’d agreed and tried to give the situation the benefit of the doubt. Having them know the truth was a relief. But it wasn’t as if after all the time and things had been done and said between them it’d be effortless. But if they both thought Vaughan was worth it, Kelly figured at the very least they could reach a place where they could all be around one another without any tension.

  Kelly already worried they’d blame her for Vaughan’s doing a solo project. He assured her otherwise, but she worried about it coming back to bite her.

  But she was thrilled he was doing this solo project because Kelly had watched him gain confidence in himself as he began to work on the songs in earnest. He had a confidence in the work that seemed to grow daily. They could blame her if they chose, but she hoped they’d see this growth and artistic expression as an amazing thing.

  “I was just thinking about the song you sang for me on the phone last night.” Kelly shook herself free of the memory.

  “You were? It looked like panic at having ham with Sharon and Michael Hurley.”

  Kelly held up a hand, went over to the stairs and called up to tell the girls to wash up for dinner.

  “I remember dinner. Everything is fine. I really was thinking about that song.” She didn’t want to talk any more about the dinner or to make him feel bad or anxious.

  He was only going to be there for a little while and she wanted to enjoy it.

  Ten minutes later she was buttering bread and passing the salt and pepper as the girls told her all about their own special boots to wear out in the fields.

  “I had a pair when I was your age, too,” Vaughan said. “Not purple ones, though. They only had green ones.”

  “Purple boots? That’s so cool,” Kelly said.

  “Uncle Damien got them for us. He got a tiny pair with caterpillars on them for the baby to wear when he comes out,” Maddie said.

  “Babies can’t even stand. What’s that baby gonna do with boots?” Kensey was clearly dubious of the whole situation and Kelly tried not to laugh.

  “It’ll look cute.” Maddie’s voice had that pretending-to-be-patient tone. “People just dress babies like dolls.”

  Kensey gave a long-suffering sigh. “Baby toes are cute. You don’t need to cover them up with boots. But they might fit my American Girl doll so I asked if I could have them once the baby was done and Aunt Mary said sure. And then I explained to her all about American Girl dolls. She told me she had a few friends with little babies who’d be growing up to want dolls so she was excited to know about them so she could make sure them other kids get some dolls and stuff. I told her she could call Mommy to get the address of the store we went to.”

  “That’s very helpful. I’m sure the baby will be very happy to have such wonderful cousins who know all the good stuff already.” Vaughan winked, amused. Probably because the girls had pestered Damien, which would have amused him.

  “Remember Damien and Mary are going to need quiet so use your indoor voices and don’t make a pest out of yourself when you’re at the ranch.”

  “Uncle Damien says we can come over anytime.”

  “That was said the first day we arrived,” Vaughan said, also meaning that might be different after several days with their chatty girls.

  But he looked amused. The way the brothers seemed to enjoy nothing more than fighting with one another was mediated by the intense love and connection they all shared.

  “Uncle Damien needs some experience. We’re just helping.” Vaughan’s expression was mischievous.

  “Vaughan Hurley, you troublemaker, you.”

  He laughed, as did their daughters, who loved it when Mommy and Daddy teased one another.

  * * *

  HE STAYED UNTIL it was time for Kelly to leave to get the girls to dance class. He hugged them all, saving Kelly for last.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams. And make sure everything is locked up tight.” Vaughan said the last quietly, making sure the girls didn’t overhear. “Don’t let him inside again, all right? Not without me here.”

  Kelly didn’t think Ross would ever hurt her. He rarely even raised his voice when he got angry. But her interaction with him earlier had left her skittish. She nodded. “Okay. Drive safe and have a good time.”

  “Hey, Legs, I sure love you.”

  She blushed and he kissed each cheek and then her mouth. There was giggling from the car.

  “I love you, too.”

  “Take care of my girls.”

  “Always.”

  He watched them drive away and Kelly shoved all her fears as far down as she could.

  After she deposited the girls at their classes, she headed to the coffee shop she hung out in until class was finished. She had some tea and looked over things usually, handled her email and that sort of thing. But before she could, her phone rang.

  “Hello?” The number was from the same area code as the ranch but it wasn’t Vaughan.

  “Kelly, it’s Sharon Hurley. I just wanted to call to touch base about dinner. Make sure you aren’t allergic to anything.”

  Kelly looked at her screen again, just to be sure, but it really was Sharon.

  “I’m not allergic to anything. But thank you for asking and for the invitation.”

  “I should have invited you myself. I realized that after Vaughan left. It was rude. Not the only rude thing I’ve done over the years. We’ll talk more when you’re here. It’s not an over-the-phone thing.”

  “All right.”

  “See you and the girls on Wednesday, then.”

  “We’ll bring wine and something nonalcoholic to drink,” Kelly surprised herself by saying.

  “Yes, that would be nice. Thank you.”

  Moments later after she’d hung up, Kelly was still looking at her phone as if it might bite. But Sharon had sounded sincere. Even a little friendly.

  It was the first time since she’d met Sharon that the other woman had ever admitted her behavior had been rude.

  Could it actually be that this might work after all?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  VAUGHAN, KNOWING HE had to bow to the inevitable, called Kelly. He was supposed to go home that night but it was looking iffy.

  “Hey you.”

  He smiled at the sound of her voice as she answered. “Hey. I’m still in a meeting. Once this one is over, we have another one with marketing. I’ll be here at least three more hours.”

  “Oh.” He heard the disappointment in her tone. “All right. It’s already seven, though. You should stay at the ranch instead of driving back so late.”

  He knew he should, but he didn’t want that.

  “Don’t miss me yet?”

  She was quiet awhile. “I miss you enough to scare myself here and there. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’ll have lots of times when you need to be away because of the band, or the ranch, or whatever.”

  “Scared?”

  “I got used to you being gone. I remember what it feels like to be left by you. It’s not a place I want to go back. And now I’m used to you being around again and I’m afraid of never feeling it again. Which is why you need to stay there tonight.”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  “Most of my brain knows that. I also know that since we’re making a go of this, we have to deal with your work. I can’t worry about it all the time. What’s the point of being with you if I had to do that? Anyway, that’s just a stupid worry. Mainly I miss the way you smell when you first wake up. Your skin is all warm and you’re snuggly. The sex part that follows is also something I miss. I’ll get both when you come home tomorrow. Which you will because I’m n
ot driving over to your parents’ for dinner without you.”

  She made him laugh, which made him want her more.

  “She called last night. Your mom.”

  Surprised, Vaughan paused a moment. “And everything is okay?”

  “Surprisingly yes. It’s not fixed by any means, but having her call means something to me. It felt like she was trying.”

  Relieved he didn’t need to bail anyone out of jail or go yell at his mother, he spoke again. “I’m glad to hear it.” And holy shit, he was.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow. Go on. Finish your meeting. Have fun with your brothers.”

  “I love you, Kel. Remember to lock up.”

  “Already done. I love you, too.”

  He hung up and headed back inside where Paddy and Damien were arguing over something that was most likely stupid, so Vaughan stayed out of it and seated himself between Ezra and Jeremy.

  “Should I ask?” Vaughan tipped his chin toward the argument.

  Ezra snorted. “No. If it gets too violent I’ll toss them outside before they break anything important. Your tiny-ass dog thinks it’s hilarious to bark when the yelling starts.”

  “More and more like Mom every day.” Vaughan laughed and his brother joined him.

  “Everything cool with Kelly?” Ezra asked.

  “She told me to sleep over here tonight if we went late.”

  “So why are you anxious?” Ezra knew him well enough that Vaughan didn’t bother to evade.

  “When I was married to her I liked being with her. I always have. But if I was gone weeks or months I missed the sex, but I never felt an overwhelming need to rush to her. Now? I hear her voice and I want to go to her. All the stuff I know I have to do, the people I know I want to hang out with, you’re all great, but it’s her I need. I’ve lived in this house for years. I love it. But when I walk into the house from the garage in Gresham I’m home. I have this thing that is so... I don’t even know how to put it. I didn’t even know it was possible to feel this way. These are my kids and I was married to Kelly before and this time it’s different. I sound like a total cock, but I just didn’t know. And now that I do, I can’t un-know it. I want it because it feels good. I sleep better with her around.”

  “You are soppy full-on in love with Kelly. Wow.” Damien pushed Paddy from the way and stole his chair at the last minute. Paddy smacked him upside the head and Damien tripped Paddy, who nearly fell face-first into the edge of the table.

  “Knock it off, assholes. I have too much shit to do and zero time for emergency room visits for stitches,” Ezra said.

  “Nine stitches.” Vaughan touched the scar at the side of his neck, at the hairline where he’d cut it open on a jagged piece of lumber with a nail sticking out of it. “I had to get shots for that.”

  He and Paddy had gotten into a shoving match that had slipped into punching when Vaughan had lost his footing, slipped and fallen off the porch.

  “Mom literally kicked my ass,” Paddy said as he picked up Minnie and started talking to her. “Then she kicked Vaughan’s for getting hurt and Ezra’s for not stopping the fight.”

  Ezra gave them both a dark look. “Even though I wasn’t even there. You guys are really dicks sometimes.”

  Damien rolled his eyes. “You guys are such babies. As I was saying about Vaughan and Kelly. Tuesday really digs Kelly. So she talks to Nats about it. Then Natalie comes to our house and tells Mary and then it’s all, hey why are you guys not camping out on Kelly’s lawn to tell her you were wrong?”

  “So why aren’t you?” Jeremy asked.

  Vaughan shook his head. “Kelly would hate it, first of all. She’s sensitive about all that stuff. She knows what people thought of her before. That would only remind her of something I’m trying hard to get us both past. If you could not be morons when we’re around, that’s a start. We’re having dinner here with Mom and Dad tomorrow night before the gallery opening.”

  “Mom’s on a quest. She got on my ass earlier about Tuesday when I was trying to work out. I nearly threw her at you and Kelly, but I’m not that cruel. I did try to send her to Mary and Damien’s place, reminding her about contractions, but then she said Mary’s contractions were the practice kind. Whatever that means,” Ezra said.

  Vaughan fed one of the kittens a little bit of potato chip. “What I want is for everyone to just chill and give her a chance. I don’t need you to get her name inked on your biceps. But she’s my family. Like Natalie is Paddy’s. This is the mother of my children and the woman I plan to be with for the rest of my life. A chance. That’s it.”

  “Goddamn it! I told you guys to stop feeding the cats,” Ezra griped.

  The kitten stood on Vaughan’s shoulder, head butting his ear, purring so hard it vibrated through his bones.

  “I had to be fair. I already gave the dog some pizza and the other cat, the one with the crazy eyes, a grape. Dude, what kind of cat eats grapes?” Vaughan asked just to watch Ezra’s vein bulge a little.

  “You’re an asshole.”

  “I learned my craft from you, old man.” Vaughan waggled his brows at Ezra, who flipped him off.

  “We’re all giving her a chance, Vaughan. Honestly,” Paddy said. “Nats and Tuesday are having lunch and drinks with her on Saturday in Portland after Tuesday finishes work.”

  Everyone looked to him. Vaughan hadn’t known that and neither had Ezra.

  Paddy looked smug. “Oh, that’s right. My lady talks to me about stuff. They planned to include Mary but she and Damien are hosting her family this coming weekend.”

  “Okay, everyone, get something to drink and take a bathroom break. We have a call with the European label people in ten minutes,” Jeremy said, getting them back on track.

  Minnie gave him a look until he picked her up and kept her in his lap. The girls had loved being with her, and the little dog seemed to miss them, too. Vaughan knew the feeling.

  “Vaughan.” Jeremy kept his voice low. “Don’t let this go. Be the best father and husband you can. You’ll never regret it. It feels great because it’s what you’re meant to do. I had that once.”

  Jeremy paused, probably remembering, as Vaughan had, his little girl who’d died and the wife who was someone else’s now.

  “Thanks.”

  “If it were me, and I felt up to it, I’d drive home to sleep next to my woman with my babies safe under my roof.” Jeremy raised a shoulder.

  Before Vaughan could respond, Paddy and Damien came back into the room with the laser pointer and a furry mass of barking and scampering fur. Minnie jumped from Vaughan’s lap and ran toward her brethren, barking right along with them.

  Ezra came in, trying to get the animals to calm down and when that didn’t happen, he lunged at Paddy to get the pointer and they crashed into the wall near the back doors.

  Vaughan darted between them to open them both so his brothers could spill out into the night before they broke a window or someone really got hurt.

  “Come the hell on. We have this call to handle and then I want to go home to my bed with my woman in it. I’m sure Damien and probably Paddy can attest to this. Ezra could, too, if he’d stop pretending he had to stay away from Tuesday to prove some sort of stupid point.”

  “The fuck you know about it?” Ezra swung and Vaughan narrowly avoided his brother’s king-size fist headed toward his nose.

  Jeremy sighed and then whistled really loudly as he banged two large copper garden pots together.

  “Jesus. I thought Erin and Adrian Brown were bad. You four have given me gray hair. Get inside so we can be there and ready to make some money when the call comes in.” Jeremy turned and went back into the house.

  With a few last elbow jabs and muttered insults, the four of them helped one another up from the ground, dusting off and putting things back where t
hey’d been knocked away by the brawl as it passed by.

  “I miss your dumb ass,” Paddy said, as he headed back into the house.

  Ezra laughed as they followed. Damien had to take the call with a bag of frozen corn on his lip. He’d split it when he’d rolled—or been pushed—from the back deck to the ground a few feet below.

  “It’s probably going to save your pretty face if you’re in Gresham most of the time,” Damien said.

  “That would be a gift to the world.” Vaughan pretended to buff his nails on his shirt. “Anyway, it’s less than an hour from here. I don’t know what the long-term future holds, but our house in Gresham has plenty of extra bedrooms and Kelly might share her tree house with you if you’re nice. Seriously, she’s got a sweet little setup out there. Weekends, if I can get Mom and Kelly on track, would be spent here a lot. And summer vacation. All that stuff. My point is, I don’t need to be living half a mile away to be around. Things are changing for all of us. But we’re Hurley. We got this.”

  “You’re sappy now that you’re in looooove,” Damien sang quietly as the call went through.

  * * *

  KELLY PUT ON her headphones, hit Play and smiled as the beginning of Beyoncé’s “Flawless” came on. Now that the girls had been asleep awhile, Kelly opened the big windows in her bedroom and scrambled atop the little built-in couch.

  Lights off, no one to see her, she lit a cigarette and started to dance in the moonlight in her panties and a tank top. For Kelly, this was illicit and wild.

  Technically, she’d stopped smoking the day she found out she was pregnant, but every once in a while, when she got particularly stressed out, Kelly gave in and let herself have a cigarette.

  She laughed as she danced. Illicitly smoking and blowing it out her window like a teenager.

  When she hit the I woke up like ’dis part, she had one fist pumped in the air as she silently shouted, jumping up and down on the couch, and as the song ended she opened her eyes to find Vaughan standing in the room.

  She shrieked and fell off the couch. Luckily he’d rushed to her and saved her from a big fall.