“Fine. Joy killers.” Tuesday winked at her, and they headed back to the stables before walking over to Damien and Mary’s.

* * *

MARY SENT THEM to the store with a list and strict orders, but Paddy was pleased, anyway, to get her alone.

“How’s the album coming along? I heard about the fight between you and Vaughan.”

He laughed. “Which one?”

“The one Mary had to break up with the hose.”

“That little f**ker tripped and took me down with him. After messing up his freaking bass line four times in a row.”

“You’re a harsh taskmaster.”

“Hmph. Live is one thing. You know everyone puts their all into a show, and it can be uneven, but it’s okay because that’s the beauty of watching live music. But an album is different. If he wants to write this time out, he needs to bring it and to work his ass off.”

“Makes sense.”

“Really? I figured you’d say I was being mean.”

“I think you’re one of the most relaxed, laid-back people I’ve ever met. So if you’re intense about this thing that matters to you so much, this thing you do and put all your life blood into? What’s wrong with that? I figure your brothers will punch you in the face if you go too far.”

“I didn’t expect you to react that way.”

“How did you expect me to react? Shock? Because I don’t do something really creative, you think I can’t understand it?”

She was so provocative sometimes. There were times he knew she did it on purpose. It used to offend him, but really he’d begun to realize she didn’t do it with most people, only with people she liked and trusted. She wanted more from him in her own way and her raw, honest questions were about that.

“My music is this intensely personal thing. It’s hard to put it into words. I guess I just expect people to judge me when they hear I’m precise.”

“Well, if they know you and your brothers, they know you guys are intense with each other all the time. I imagine it’s hard to expose yourselves to each other over and over. I imagine Vaughan wants to impress you, and I imagine you want the best from him and you wouldn’t be giving him this chance if you didn’t think he could do it. He’s your baby brother. He wants you to respect him and believe in him. And when you get too harsh, he punches you in the face. And Damien throws dirt clods and laughs, and Ezra yells at you both to stop because he’s the big brother, and that’s what he does.”

He laughed.

“But he should punch something else because I like your face.”

“I’ll be sure to tell him that. Maybe it’ll save my face from being punched in the future.”

“I doubt that. It seems to be a popular mode of communication between you Hurleys.”

“You and Tuesday wouldn’t punch each other in the face if you disagreed.”

“No.” She shrugged. “We have a rhythm. We always have. But we get into fights sometimes. Mainly we use humor to poke at one another. We push each other when we don’t want to confront ugly truths. She was the one who pushed me to go out with you back in the summer. She said I should give you a chance.”

“I knew I liked her for a reason.”

“Anyway, I think the people you love most and are closest to you have an immense power to really hurt you because you let them in. Strangers can say something to me that won’t hurt, but if Tuesday said them, or you, for that matter, they could slay me. I’m not going to second-guess how you make records. You’ve been doing this with your brothers for years and years. Given your success, you’re all good at it.”

“We’re having some growing pains.” There, he said it.

“How so?”

“Until the last album, Ezra and I did the lion’s share of the writing. We come up with the raw material and then we meet as a band and work through the songs. We always have more songs than we have room for, and usually we do those songs as bonus singles for our fan club around the holidays. Anyway, we bring the lyrics and usually a basic track to the group, and we all work on it. Everyone is good at something different. Damien lays a beat, Vaughan funks it up, I create the texture and Ez, he puts it all together into something coherent.

“Last CD, Damien was falling in love. His life had gone a revolution. He had two of his songs on the album, including the title song. This time, though, he and Vaughan both came to the meetings with material of their own. Some of it was good. We’ve been able to take it and in one case, we melded a few ideas together into one. One will most likely make it onto the CD. Vaughan’s is too rough, and he’s super touchy about criticism.”

Paddy found a parking space near the front doors of the grocery store.

“Well, if he wants to do what you guys do, he has to be open to the criticism you all get from each other.”

He got out, walking around to her side where she waited for him to open her door. He knew she did it for him. She was perfectly capable of opening her own door and that sort of thing. But he liked to do it for her, and she made room for it. It never ceased to make him smile.

“See, you’re right. And we try to tell him that. But he takes it the wrong way and punches me in the face.”

“Perhaps Damien can tell him that? I mean, you and Vaughan are close. And you’re a lot alike in temperament, so maybe a different voice saying it means he can hear it better.”