and he started dating a girl he works with. We’re at a point where we even laughed together when I choked out how bad an idea it was for him to date someone he worked with. He’s taking it slow, though. Luna adores seeing him over video chats, and we’re talking about having him come out for a visit at some point so he can see Luna. It sounds like he’s really thrown himself into his new job, which is probably exactly what he needed to move forward from the devastation we caused together.
The months drag. Tyler and I have good days and bad. We bicker on the bad, and we apologize on the good. I see the sadness in his eyes when our time apart feels long, and I see the excitement in his eyes as we move toward a time when we’re going to get to visit with him. And on Luna’s second birthday, which happens in the third month of his tour, we fly to Miami to see him.
And then, three days before he’s supposed to arrive home, something happens.
It’s not like last time, though.
Instead of him telling me he’s going to be locked in a house for thirty days rather than coming to see me, I get a letter in the mail.
From the Wisconsin Court System.
I open it, and it’s a copy of my final divorce decree.
I cry as I read it. I cry for Ford, who lost so much because of the lie we agreed to when I was still so in love with somebody else.
I cry for Luna, who doesn’t get to see Ford everyday even though she has something completely different and absolutely beautiful with Tyler.
I cry as I feel the significance of the words on the paper. I’m free now, well and truly, of the mistakes I made in the past. It scarred me, and Ford too, and Luna and Tyler, but in the last six months, we’ve all begun the healing process.
But mostly, I cry tears of joy. Despite everything, this means that Tyler and I can be together now.
No more of this no commitment nonsense. I’m all in with him, and I can’t wait until we can get started on our future together.
CHAPTER 46
TYLER
As I try to sleep on the bus, I find I can’t. We have one more gig tomorrow night, and then we fly home.
And I can’t wait to be home with my girls.
The last four months have had their good times and their taxing ones, just like every tour, but the four of us have agreed to a two-week break when we get back before we hit the studio again. We’ve been writing songs and focusing forward since we know this studio time is coming, and Capital Kingsmen is amped up to get our next record in the works.
It’ll be different from our previous ones. One of us is a father now. Another is engaged and about to be one. Life is pretty much as usual for Tommy and Brett, but I do feel like what I’ve been through has made me a better songwriter, and the guys agree. We’ve got some good, emotional shit going on this next one, and I can’t help but feel the excitement that comes with making new music.
And so, two days later, before I even step foot inside my home, a wave of comfort fills my chest just pulling into the driveway. It’s something that’s been missing for the last four months, that feeling of solace and contentment that only comes from being home. And it’s not the physical house, though I do appreciate that, too.
It’s the people inside.
When I open the door, I smell spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove, and Luna holds up a poster that says Welcome Home Daddy in bold purple letters with random scribbles of crayon decorating it. Dani fists a ribbon holding a few helium balloons that read Welcome Home, and they’re smiling at me when I walk through the door.
Luna’s smile widens as she drops the poster and runs straight at me, and I kneel down to catch her before I scoop her up into my arms and kiss her all over her face to the soundtrack of her sweet giggles.
My eyes meet Dani’s, and even from a short distance, I feel all the heat still there between us. I think it’s always been there between us, but now it’s amplified by about a million percent and it joins the ranks with the feelings