Sharon Hurley at arm’s length.
She didn’t come out with him when his parents left, but his mom thanked Kelly for letting them be around, and Kelly thanked them for coming over.
It was a small start. Something he could work with.
Stacey and Kensey came downstairs, Kensey’s hand tucked in Stacey’s before she dashed over to Vaughan. “I like it that you’re here!”
“Hey, darlin’, I like it, too.”
“I’m going to head home.” Stacey hugged Kelly. “Call me later to check in. If you need anything and I find out you didn’t ask me for it we’re going to rumble.”
Kensey giggled madly at that.
“I promise. Thank you for coming back.” Kelly hugged her friend one last time before she headed out and then it was just the four of them. Vaughan and his women.
“What’s next?” Vaughan asked.
“Kensey needs to finish her book report and I need to do laundry.”
“I have to go to school tomorrow? Maddie will be home and she’ll have Daddy all to herself and that’s not fair. I won’t miss anything important. Let me stay home, too.”
In the face of so much adorable he was hard-pressed to say no and he nearly relented, but Kelly knelt in front of their youngest. “We all have jobs in the family, remember? Right now your most important job is to go to school and train your brain. Your sister’s job is to get better first. Your dad and I need to do our jobs, which is taking care of you two. Everyone’s going to be all right, but we need to cooperate and do our jobs.”
Kensey nodded and hugged Kelly before she scampered off to finish her homework.
“Nicely done. I’m the baby, too. It’s hard sometimes.”
“She’s good at it, though.” Kelly’s smile belied the annoyance in her tone.
“She is. It’s hard to say no to her.”
“I want them to be resourceful and independent. Those things will serve them far better than big eyes.”
“True. And it’s good to teach them their brains are more important than their looks.”
Kelly shrugged. “Also an important life lesson. I was going to give you a set of keys, but the locksmith is going to be here in about twenty minutes to change all the locks. We’ll get you a set then.”
He put a hand on her arm. “Is everything all right?”
“It’s fine. I might as well tell you that I broke my engagement with Ross today.”
“Did he hurt you or scare you?” Vaughan was the least punch happy of his brothers but the need to hurt someone to defend Kelly surged through him.
“Oh, no. Not like that.” She shook her head firmly. “He’s unhappy. He gave me my keys back, but I thought it would be easier if I stopped wondering if he had another set and just changed the locks.”
Vaughan didn’t think it sounded easier at all. But if that’s what she needed to have happen, it would. And he’d be extra sure to keep an eye out for Ross.
“Was it about me? You breaking the engagement I mean,” Vaughan asked her.
“It was about him and me.”
He wanted to say more, but Kensey was just around the corner so it wasn’t the time. “All right. Well, I’ve got some stuff to put away in the guest room. Maybe tonight after dinner you could go over the schedule with me. I meant it when I said I wanted to help. I’m trying to be a better dad.”
“We’ll talk about it later. Settle in. I’ll get you the network password. If you need a space to work, there’s a desk in the guest room, and my office has a printer in it if you need one.”
He nodded as she spoke and followed her as she showed him where everything was before telling him to make himself at home and disappearing into the laundry room.
Alone, he headed to the guest room and began to unpack his things.
“Hi, Daddy!” Kensey bounded into the room and hopped onto the bed. “I can’t believe you’re going to be my neighbor! You have your own bathroom, though. That’s good because now Maddie takes too much time in there so when I have to pee Mom lets me use hers if I’m upstairs.”
Vaughan let the steady stream of talk from his youngest smooth around him, tucking him in. She never told a story without a great deal of dramatic emphasis that he found himself at turns charmed and exhausted by.
“Will you walk me to the bus tomorrow? Mom usually walks us both but you never have. I would like for the other girls to see what my dad looks like. You already made my teacher last year ask about you all the time.”
He wrestled back a smile. “That so?”
“I finished my book report. Want to see it and make sure my penmanship is nice?”
He opened his arms and she leaped into them as he hugged her tight, kissing the top of her head before he set her on her feet.
* * *
“WE WATCHED MOVIES and read books and she napped a few times. Maddie can’t eat solids, but she’s awake and lonely. Would it be cool with you if we all ate together up in her room?” Vaughan stood very close to Kelly and she felt like a horrible person because this morning she was going to marry someone else but right then, Vaughan looked so good her hormones did a slow roll. Like onto their back, belly and all the good parts exposed.
“That’s a great idea. I’d considered bringing her down here, but keeping her in bed is better. Kensey, can you get the trays out? I made shrimp pasta salad for you.”
Kensey pumped her fist with a shouted “yes!” as she brought out the trays they used when they had snacks in the family room and watched movies together.
Kelly put some warm chicken broth in one of her to-go coffee cups and slid a lid on. “She can have broth, they said. I had some in the freezer. I hope you like shrimp pasta salad. I should have asked. If you don’t, there are still leftovers from yesterday in the fridge.”
“Shrimp pasta salad sounds great.” Vaughan’s agreeable smile was handsome and she realized this had been the longest it had been just the four of them in her house. No Hurleys. No Ross or Stacey. Just Kelly, Vaughan and their daughters.
A long time ago she’d dreamed of normal moments like this one. And she’d given up on them. Or so she’d thought.
Hope was a tiny ember in her belly. Fear lived there, too. Because he’d broken her heart. That had sucked and it had taken a long time to get over. But hope wasn’t backing down and Kelly thought maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to let it stay as long as she kept her expectations low.
Right?
Kelly instructed Kensey and Vaughan as they loaded their dinner up on the trays and headed up to Maddie’s room.
“We
