Now that he had time to think on it, she had stayed. Even in the middle of a fight—and he knew how much she hated to fight—she’d given up the control of leaving. She’d stayed to work it out, and he’d pushed her away.

There was a knock on the door. “Hang on a sec,” he told Ezra and opened to find Vaughan there holding his iPad.

“Paddy, what did you do?”

He took it from Vaughan, who followed him inside.

Ezra swore softly. “Jesus, Paddy, I just got an email from Jeremy.”

“I’m reading it now. I was only trying to help.”

Bob Clayton had done another interview, and this one was worse than the first because it included the phone call Paddy had made and the fact that he’d been slurring his words. The piece also contained references to her job as a silly-rich-girl hobby and had less than flattering things to say about her friends.

All in all, this would devastate her.

“You need to call her and tell her. If you want, I can go over there.”

“I need to call Jeremy first. He’s worked up. Then I’ll deal with Natalie.” Paddy paused. “We okay?”

Ezra sighed. “It’d take a lot more than you being a dumbass to chase me off. We all make mistakes, Paddy. Lord knows I have. Call her. Make this right.”

“I’m heading into the last of a tour. I’ll be back in Portland in ten days for our last dates. Hopefully, I can convince her to come to the Rose Garden show. But I’ll call her. I promise.” And he had to hope she’d forgive him.

Vaughan sat, tossing his feet up on the coffee table. “You are so in trouble. I thought I was the one who blew the best thing to ever happen to him. Guess you can sit at my table in the cafeteria in hell. Or maybe you can do what I didn’t and own your shit. Make this right. She’s worth it.”

Paddy shoved a hand through his hair. “Yeah, yeah. You’re next in line after Natalie. We’re going to talk about your moping around. Let me put out these other fires. Don’t go anywhere.”

He dialed Jeremy.

“I take it you saw that interview. Did you call this guy?”

“I did. He made Natalie unhappy. I wanted to fly down to California and punch him. So really, a call was a far better outcome.”

“Jesus. Okay, well, it’s not the end of the world. The tour is nearly done. The album is doing fantastic. He’s trying to shake you down for money to shut up. Don’t give it to him. This guy will never go away. He’s eaten through his own money, and he’s living with his mother now in Washington. Let her carry his dead weight.” Jeremy paused. “I hear through the grapevine that you and Natalie broke up. Over this? She’s good for you, this dumb crap notwithstanding.”

“She thinks we’re broken up. I’m on it next. I’ll see if I can’t adjust her reality more toward my way of thinking.”

“Good luck with that. If you need to say anything else to Bob Clayton, route it through me, and I’ll decide if it’s worth saying through an attorney. You got me?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He hung up and took a deep breath.

He headed toward the minibar, and Vaughan stood up, blocking his way. “This is what got you in trouble to start with. It feels easier to deal with it this way, but you need all your wits to make this right, and you don’t have that many to start with. Do you love this girl? Really love her?”

Paddy nodded. He didn’t even need to pause.

“Then you need to put your pride and your ego aside. You said some harsh-ass stuff to her. And from what you’ve told me and what I know of her, the stuff you said was bound to have really done some damage. You pushed buttons, man. You gotta be careful. Because once something is really broken, you can’t fix it. Not with another baby like Kelly and I failed at, not with diamonds or promises to slow down or go on a trip. You have to be truly willing to own it and get on your knees and beg her to forgive you and mean it. Because you might think you’re over it. And you might find plenty of pretty thighs to get between and think you’ve forgotten. But you’re going to look up in a few years, and there’ll be an empty spot only she can fill. And it’ll be too late.”

“Aw, man.” Paddy hugged his brother quickly. “You have time to fix this. I know Kelly still has feelings for you.”

Six years before, Vaughan and his wife had hit a rough patch and ended up divorcing. They’d been so young. Too young to get married. Definitely too young to have kids, and Vaughan had made big mistakes, and Kelly had stayed long enough after she should have left, that their end was bitter.

“She’s engaged. She told me when I dropped the girls off before we left for the tour.”

“Then do something about it!”

“Says you. You first. We’ll talk about this when you’re done with your call. Go in the other room so I don’t have to listen to you debase yourself and beg forgiveness.”

* * *

ZOE OPENED THE DOOR, and they all threw themselves to the couches right as Natalie’s phone started ringing.

Natalie looked at it a moment as Paddy’s face flashed on the screen and heaved herself up from the couch. “I need to take this.” She answered as she headed out to the covered porch, closing the door behind her. “Hello.”

He sucked in a breath on the other end. “I’ve missed your voice so much.”

She tried not to cry because she’d missed him, too, and there he was. And then because she wasn’t sure if it meant enough.