“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.