with firm affection, “because I’m not going anywhere. We’ll talk when you get back. Give my love to the boys.”
I ended the connection before Ross could say anything else. Then, I turned off my phone and tried to make sense of the conversation I’d just had.
“Hey.” I felt Jace’s gentle touch on my shoulder, rousing me from my thoughts and making me wonder how long I’d been standing there, lost in my thoughts. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” I forced a smile. It wasn’t too hard to do with Jace touching me. “No worries.”
He searched my face, those golden eyes looking far deeper than I wanted them to. For a moment, I thought he was going to say something else, but he didn’t.
“It’s starting to rain, so the guys are bringing everything inside.”
I glanced out the window and saw that the sun that had been shining so brightly earlier was gone, replaced by gray clouds, and a light rain had begun to fall. One by one, everyone filed into the house, arms laden with food and drinks. I directed them to put everything into the kitchen and then pointed to the guest rooms where they could change out of their bathing suits. I realized I was still wearing mine as well and excused myself to do the same. I felt Jace’s eyes on me, but he didn’t follow.
When I returned a few minutes later, it was to find them wrapping up leftovers and doing the dishes. As much as I appreciated it, they were guests in my home and therefore shouldn’t be doing that. Before I could say so, however, Jace once again appeared out of nowhere and guessed my thoughts.
“Let them do this,” he said quietly.
The look in his eyes was pleading, and once again, I found myself caving. I wasn’t about to stand around and do nothing, however, so I joined in, and in no time at all, we had everything taken care of.
“Thanks for everything,” Dave said.
“You’re not leaving, are you?”
Kurt shot a glance at Jace. “We don’t want to overstay our welcome.”
The skies had darkened, and the light rain had become a steady downpour. In LA! Three months of nothing, and then the day I host a cookout, bam! Was the universe conspiring against me or what?
Maybe I was being selfish, but I wanted them to stick around.
“Don’t be silly,” I said and then realized maybe they were just being polite. “Unless, of course, you have something else to do.”
Chaz laughed. “Yeah, right. This is the most fun we’ve had since we got to LA.”
“I thought Ted was taking care of you.”
Kurt shivered. “Um, yeah ... about that. Not to be ungrateful or anything, but can you call the kid off? He’s like a strung-out Chihuahua on meth.”
Dave groaned, and Jace looked away, but I felt my lips quirking at Kurt’s description. He wasn’t wrong.
“Most guys like him.”
Again, it was Kurt who answered. “Yeah, well, maybe fifteen years ago we would have.”
“Yeah,” Chaz said, grinning widely. “’Cause we’re so much more mature now.”
“Right. Got it. I’ll handle Ted.”
“Thanks,” Dave said appreciatively.
“So, how about hanging out here? We’ve got a big flat screen, a ton of DVDs, and some streaming services. There’s even a popcorn machine.”
The kids whooped and looked to their parents with hope. “Can we?”
“Yeah, we like it here.”
“You had me at flat screen,” Chaz said, smiling. “You sure it’s okay? They can get pretty loud.”
I laughed. “You haven’t met mine, or you wouldn’t be asking. The house is too quiet without them.”
At eight and thirteen, Dave’s boys reminded me so much of Brian and Tommy at those ages—all arms and legs and big eyes. And Chaz’s little girl was so cute—five years old and very clearly the apple of her daddy’s eye.
Then, I looked at Dave’s and Chaz’s wives, feeling a momentary flash of envy. I hadn’t missed the way the guys looked at them with love in their eyes. Clearly, fame and fortune hadn’t prevented them from having families and being happy. Somehow, they made it work.
I realized then that I’d unfairly prejudged them, allowing my own experiences to cloud my judgment. The men of Dark Wing were charming, overgrown boys, their wives and kids surprisingly ordinary. Like Jace, they were all very down-to-earth—nothing like the stereotypical rockers I’d come to expect.
After showing them where everything was—the men were as thrilled as the kids with Brian and Tommy’s assortment of gaming systems and equipment along with a pinball machine, pool table, and air hockey—I went into