“I will. I’ll leave you credentials for the Rose Garden shows if you want to come out. If not, I’ll call you in ten days when I get back. I love you, Nat.”

“I love you, too.” But love wasn’t always enough.

* * *

VAUGHAN LOOKED UP from his tablet when Paddy came back into the room. “So?”

“She cried.” He slumped into a chair, tossing his phone to the table. “You don’t know this, but she doesn’t cry like that.”

“About her dad?”

“Well, it stems from him originally. He f**ked her up, gave her all these hot buttons. But this is on me. I was so f**king careless with her. My reaction, stuff I said, hurt her.”

“You didn’t use them on purpose to hurt her.”

“Sure I did. I meant to hurt her like you do in a normal fight. I didn’t think.” He slapped his head. “I didn’t f**king think about how what I said would make her feel beyond wanting her to know I was upset she’d let Ezra fix this thing instead of me. So she left, and I just let myself think we’d both lick our wounds and come back to each other. And I may have lost her because of it.”

“So don’t lose her. Look, Paddy, I’ve known you my whole life, right? I’ve never seen you fail at anything. In fact, this is the first, nonmusic thing I’ve ever seen you struggle over. Don’t give up because it’s hard. I’m telling you this from the other side of that mistake.”

Vaughan was right. He was used to things working out easily for him. He knew he was charming and used it all the time to ease his way through life. His mom often joked that charm was his superpower.

But it had left him lazy sometimes. He’d let charm become a shortcut. And it had blinded him while the woman he loved had been suffering. He’d gotten so wrapped up in his sense of hurt that it was Ezra who’d helped her first and not him. All that time Paddy’d felt buoyed by her respect and the ways she shared herself with more, more and more. At last it wasn’t just Ezra who’d been the reliable one. That had made Paddy feel ten feet tall, and he’d let that blind him.

But her apology, the way she’d taken responsibility for hurting him, for being willing to work it out, meant he simply had to up his game and earn back her trust.

Paddy put that aside to think on a bit and turned his attention away from his own troubles to his brother’s. “So tell me about this thing with Kelly. Are you going to let her go? Forever and for real?”

“I need to figure out if I really still love her, or if it’s one of those I don’t want you, but I don’t want anyone else to have you things. That’s what Mary said.”

“Who is this dude?”

“His daughter goes to school with the girls. Kelly’s on the PTSA with him.”

Damn.

“Man. So a nice guy. How long have they been together?”

“Yes. I’ve even met him. They started dating last year. I’m trying to get my head around it.”

“What a bunch of dicks we are.”

Vaughan laughed. “Well, you are, anyway. Damien has a gorgeous, pregnant wife who feeds us every day. He managed to get it together. I think we might, too.”

“Countdown is on. In nine days we’ll be in Portland. In twelve, we’ll be done. Use the time to figure it out. Are you going to let your future be guided by your past mistakes and just give up and really move on? Find another woman and let yourself love someone other than Kelly?”

Vaughan made a face just as Paddy thought he would.

“Or you can accept the mistakes you both made in your early twenties and make up for it with a better future because you still love this woman who is the mother of your children.”

“There’s a lot of baggage there. A lot of hurt.”

“And your babies. Don’t mess up her future if you don’t really mean to be the man she needs. Your girls don’t need it, and neither does she.”

“I know. But, dude, I hate the idea of their being parented by anyone else. He’s a good guy, I can’t deny it. But I’m their dad.”

It put his own situation into perspective, at least. He didn’t want another man to take care of what should be his, either.

“Well, do you want another man to be a husband to your woman? You can’t do this just for the kids.”

“I don’t know. I do have to think it through, yes.”

“I guess after the shows, we can think about how to claim our women instead of getting drunk.” Paddy grinned.

“Maybe thinking and drinking. Let’s not go wild.” Vaughan winked.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“THERE YOU ARE.”

Natalie turned to face Sharon Hurley as she came through the library. “Hi there, Sharon. I’ve got a few things I think you’ll like.”

Sharon linked her arm with Natalie’s. “I’ve missed you. You haven’t been up to the ranch in a few weeks now.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“I know you and Paddy are having difficulties right now.”

Natalie blinked the tears back. “Sharon, I can’t. Not here.”

“Come to the house tonight. Let me make you dinner. Tuesday should come, too.”

“Oh, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

Sharon paused, turning to face Natalie. She put her hands on Nat’s shoulders, squeezing gently. “Here’s the thing. I consider you one of mine now. Paddy probably should have warned you about this, but to be honest, he’s never actually brought anyone home before so he didn’t know, either. So, I have a ham, and I’ll be making fried potatoes and corn bread. I’ll see you and Tuesday at six. You’re off at five today, right? You can bring me the books you have set aside, too.” Sharon grabbed a quick hug and dashed out before Natalie could argue.