If Ezra was throwing around words like crave it meant he was still using it to keep Tuesday from getting too close.

“I think it’s interesting you use the word crave,” Vaughan said as he fully entered the room. If he could help it in any way, Vaughan would push his brother into making the right choice. And he thought Tuesday was that right choice.

“The prodigal Hurley returns. Pull up a plate and something to drink. We’re poking Ezra about his love life,” Paddy said.

Vaughan headed to the kitchen where food was laid out. One of the things he missed the most about living at the ranch was getting to eat his sister-in-law Mary’s excellent food.

They’d come a long way from those barely-out-of-school shitheads with some instruments, a van and some dreams. Still, those early days weren’t all bad.

“It’s times like these I miss getting drunk, fighting a bunch of assholes in an alley behind a crappy little dive and crashing with a black eye and blood on my shirt in bed as the sun came up. Life was simpler back then.”

No one spoke for long, tense moments and Vaughan started to feel bad that he’d dropped a bomb into a nice dinner. But then Ezra started to laugh. A deep belly laugh and everyone relaxed.

Ezra flipped Vaughan off and then tipped his chin at Paddy and Damien. “It’s okay to laugh, you know. I’m not going to run out and buy heroin because Vaughan brings up our storied and violent past. But if I do you can blame him in therapy. I will.”

Ezra gave Vaughan a one-armed hug as he walked past, grabbed some more food and headed into the living room. Paddy continued to poke at Ezra about the whole crave thing and Ezra clearly tried to tune him out but it didn’t work. Everyone knew one another’s weak points and how to get a rise from their sibling.

Finally, Ezra just blurted out, “Needing something on that level isn’t stable ground for a junkie.”

Paddy nodded. “Fair enough. Do you see the situations as similar?”

“I know the difference between a woman and drugs.”

Vaughan heard the defensiveness in Ezra’s voice, but it was Damien who addressed it before anyone else could.

“Stop being such a defensive dick. I might even agree if you were a junkie. But you aren’t. You used to be. Now you’re just a grumpy asshole who could be getting laid a lot more regularly but would rather punish himself by holding what he needs away to prove some sort of point that does not matter. You kicked heroin. Tuesday is not drugs. She’s not an addiction. You’re not out of control for liking a woman a lot,” Damien said.

Ezra growled as Damien kept sneaking food from his plate to the two kittens who owned Ezra. Ezra barked at Damien to stop feeding the cats; Damien ignored him.

Essentially, a day that ended in a Y, then, for the Hurley brothers. It wasn’t his house that he missed, but this sort of camaraderie.

“I’m going to spoil the fuck out of all your goddamn kids. Know that right now,” Ezra grumbled like it was a threat.

Vaughan snorted. “Too late. My girls already have more shit than they need and it’s got Hurley written all over it. Kelly’s family are assholes, but you people send my kids so much stuff. I had no idea how much stuff until I was at their house on a daily basis.”

“Yeah, so what’s going on with that?” Ezra leaned forward, taking the opportunity to change the subject.

But Vaughan was smarter than that. “Nope. I’m here to talk about you. And to pick up mail and some clothes. The girls are up with Mom and Dad having pizza and when that’s over, I’m taking them home because they have school and Kelly will punch me in the throat if they’re back after nine.”

“Are you living there now?” Damien asked.

He started to tell them the whole story, but he also realized Ezra wanted that. Wanted the attention off him and on Vaughan. And if anyone needed pushing to get what they needed from life, it was Ezra.

He’d share soon enough. “In the guest room. But again, first we talk about Ezra and then I’ll talk about what’s going on in Gresham.”

Ezra frowned, but gave in, answering. “There’s not much more to say. I have what I guess you’d describe as a girlfriend. It’s far more serious than anything I’ve done before and I’m mainly okay with that. It’s not like no one knows about it. Hell, Paddy and his girlfriend just spent four days with me and Tuesday last weekend. I’m done talking about it. Thank you for being concerned.”

Paddy flipped Ezra off. “I’m more nosy than concerned. I figure you two have it handled. She’s got as much dark, tragic backstory as you do but she’s strong. She doesn’t take your shit, which I like.”

Vaughan hooted, ignoring his sadness that he’d missed seeing this firsthand. “Ha! Do tell.”

Which they did. Filling Vaughan in and then also updating him with news from their lives, too. Mary was getting irritable and ready to give birth. Paddy was considering asking Natalie to move in with him, and Tuesday was going to relaunch her business as an art gallery.

“Now you. We’ve told you about our lives. What’s happening in yours?” Paddy demanded.

“I’m working on some solo stuff.”

Each of his brothers reacted a little differently, but none of them seemed upset or angry.

“You leaving the band?” Damien asked.

“Hell no. I just have some material and I don’t think it’s our sound.”

“But if it’s your sound, it’s our sound,” Paddy argued.