“Your being a good man means something to me, too. I wanted to believe your promises at the beginning. But I was afraid to. I’m a lot less scared now. And a lot happier,” Kelly said.

“I can’t make it all better.” There was too much damage for him to ever expect he could erase it all. “But I’m trying and I want you to know you make me glad I do. Every day. They’re going to make this right. I told them that was necessary.”

She groaned. “Great. I told you not to do that. Now they’re going to think I put you up to it and made you choose. I’m the Yoko of Sweet Hollow Ranch.”

“I already chose. I’m here. With you and our daughters. You’re my family. Everyone got off to a rocky start but we’re all older and wiser now. I honestly believe this is going to be just fine. There’s so much amazing stuff happening for all of us right now, there’s no other way but to be a big loving family.”

“If you say so. I’m in if they are.”

They had a lovely, long dinner, though she didn’t eat enough for his liking and he told her so as they got up to leave.

Kelly gave him a glare. “Look, I told you. This is part of my life. I have to think about how many calories I take in each day. I have to think about what might make me look bloated. What might make my skin look worse. Sometimes I need to be far more conscientious and in control than others. When I have work in front of the camera, that’s one of those times.”

“Vaughan? Can we get your autograph and a picture with you, please?” The two women from the bar cut them off at the elevator.

“And this is yours.” Kelly stepped out of the way, but he could tell she was agitated. This had been a sore point for them while they’d been married and then, well, he’d given her a reason to be suspicious and wary of his interactions with female fans.

He took some pictures and signed a menu.

“Do you two want some company?” one of them asked him.

“Fuck off, skank.” Kelly walked into the elevator and he followed quickly. The host downstairs told Vaughan the car had been called and was at the curb.

But just a few feet from the door two photographers stood, taking shots of Vaughan with his arm around Kelly. They called his name then one of them recognized Kelly.

Shouting her name, they got in closer but Vaughan hustled to the car where the driver held the paps back while Vaughan got Kelly inside.

“Sorry about that, Mr. Hurley. They just showed up,” the driver said as he got behind the wheel.

“I think they got a tip from someone inside that I was there. Not your fault.”

“You need to think about a guard. If you’re out with your wife and kids...” The driver met Vaughan’s gaze in the rearview mirror. He didn’t need to say any more.

Being with them made it more dangerous than not being with them. He’d call Jeremy the following day and get some ideas. He’d hired plenty of drivers and guides and there was security at the venue, but a bodyguard wasn’t something he’d wanted to be hindered by.

But now that he had his family around, it was a necessity apparently.

They headed home; the tension between him and Kelly had begun to rise once more. But it was more a build of energy than anger. There were dark and twisty memories littering their history.

But it wasn’t anger. Or resentment. Since they’d moved into the same bedroom the bitterness of their split had melted away. Day by day. Each time they resolved some problem the ghosts of all that’d remained unsaid for so long had rested a little more.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“I’D FORGOTTEN,” KELLY SAID once they’d gotten into the elevator heading up to her place.

“About what?”

Her fingers twisted with his and where once she’d have felt divided from him, the monster of his fame always ready to spring, this problem was one that felt as if they faced it together.

But the reality of it had been dulled in the past six weeks. He was at home. In their neighborhood. The houses were on large lots so they had a lot of privacy. Even at the carnival, though he’d been recognized, the other parents had been pretty good about being appropriate.

The moment they’d arrived at the airport she’d had to remember. They’d waited until the last minute to board but even at that, on the flight they’d been disturbed more than once.

And then the constant stream of women angling for his attention. Chicks in restaurants offering group sex like it was something normal to do. Camera flash as people shouted her name, a reminder from the driver about a bodyguard.

This was what being with him entailed. The flip side to the beauty of the music he created. The celebrity that formed a bubble of unreality around a person for a lot of good as well as bad.

“I wanted to go for drinks,” he said. “I’m sorry about that scene. I should have chosen better.”

“It wasn’t the restaurant that was the problem. It was a small, private place. It wasn’t a celebrity haunt.”

They had to stop discussing it until after they’d paid the sitter and had locked up for the night.

“We can change and have a drink out on the deck.”

He pulled her close once they got changed.

“You looked so gorgeous and sexy in that outfit. I’m sorry to see it go. But you’re so beautiful and perfect sometimes it’s like I can’t look at you straight on or risk blindness.”

No one gave compliments like he did.