“Come for dinner at our house on that Monday.”

  That brightened her mood considerably. Unless Gloria would also be in attendance.

  “Louis is coming too, bringing his boys.”

  A heavy weight of the unspoken lay between them. Harlow had long ago given up expecting her brothers to understand the difference their mother had made between them her whole life. All they saw was that she got to go on tour with their father, that she went to a very good school and had regular contact with their stepmother and baby sister. To them it was on Harlow to patch it up. To Harlow, it shouldn’t be her job to make her mother, a grown woman, not be dreadful, distant, and cold as fuck.

  She had asked. She had tried. More than once. But eventually, she just gave up. Because she had her own life to live and parents and other family who did love her and want her around. And because she had to protect her heart from the repeated attacks that always came from Gloria if she was in Harlow’s presence for more than two minutes.

  So Harlow wasn’t going to ask her brother if their mother was coming to dinner. That would be up to her mother because she was done carrying that particular burden.

  It still hurt. So she did her best to look on the bright side and be grateful for the mother she had in her aunt, who’d given up years of her life to help raise Harlow, and for her dad, who had always been there for her. Her brothers…well…she loved them both, but they lived in suburban Atlanta and she was on the west coast so they didn’t see each other very often. She wasn’t invited to family events on that side, not by her aunts or cousins or even her maternal grandparents. So it was when she was in Atlanta, or when they were in LA to do theme parks and they came to visit with their dad and she came down from Seattle.

  “Perfect. Can’t wait to see you all. Should I bring anything?”

  “No. Mindy has it all handled. Can you find the house okay?”

  “Yes. I’ve got the address. I’ve been there before so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Hector laughed. “Okay, good.”

  “Oh, and if you want, I can get you and Mindy and Louis tickets to one or both nights in Atlanta to see the show.” She hadn’t decided one way or the other as to whether she’d invite them, but as she’d just blurted it out, the choice was made, and she had to hope it worked out.

  “I don’t think we can swing both shows around work and the kids, but the Tuesday night show would work. Thanks.”

  She made a note on a pad of paper at the nearby desk.

  “I’ll see you all for dinner that Monday then.”

  “Great. Uh, you can bring someone to dinner with you, Mindy says. Or two if your bandmates want to come. But, we saw the pictures online so I’m guessing you have a boyfriend. He’s welcome.”

  Pictures? Ugh. Harlow wasn’t the only one who’d seen the photos of them together apparently. “Thanks,” was all she said. She spoke to him a while longer before disconnecting and wandering back into her room.

  All her friends stared at her when she came back. “Everything okay?”

  “Yes, fine. I was just talking to my brother about seeing him next week when we’re in Atlanta.”

  Nora’s eyebrows rose, but she said nothing. Harlow knew she would though, once they were alone.

  “That’s nice. I didn’t know you had family in the south,” Maddie said. “How old are they?”

  “They relocated with our mother back when I was like seven or so. Hector, the oldest, he’s got a wife and three kids. Two boys and a girl. Louis is divorced and he shares two sons with his ex. They’re co-parenting and it seems fairly successful. They’re thirty-one and twenty-nine. My brothers, not their kids.”

  “I don’t have brothers, but I have male cousins and Miles is like a brother since our families are all so close. My dad has three brothers and they’re all married with kids so there are cousins all over the ranch where they all live. I love to hang out with them up in the farmhouse my grandparents built. They’ve spoiled us all terribly, thank goodness,” Maddie said with a laugh. “If you weren’t already hooked up with Miles, I’d totally introduce you to a few of them and they’d love me for it forever.”

  Poppy snorted. “I think Miles is enough to handle without adding Hurley cousins to the mix. Also, I think he’s already called her. I don’t make the rules, Maddie.”

  “Called her like she’s the front seat? Not that you’re biased,” Maddie said with a wink.

  Harlow laughed.

  Poppy snorted. “Ha. I am totally biased because Miles is amazing. He’s a great brother and I like the way he is when Harlow is around. Plus have you seen them together? It’s ridiculous how gorgeous they are.”

  A blush heated Harlow’s cheeks at the praise. Maybe she’d ask Miles if he wanted to go to dinner with her at Hector and Mindy’s place. Or maybe that was stupid, and she should invite no one to be there to see if something went bad because Gloria showed up. But the kids would be there, and she seemed to love her grandsons, at least the few times she’d seen her mother with her nephews. Harlow hadn’t met her niece yet. She was only eighteen months old, and Harlow had sent presents and checked in on her health and life regularly even if at times she felt like a stranger in her own family.

  It was sad that Hector had a daughter only slightly younger than their sister Ryder, but neither of her brothers had seemed that interested in a relationship with her. But damn it, she couldn’t take ownership of what her brothers, both grown people, did or thought. It wasn’t her job to raise her brothers into men who were caring and loyal to their family as a whole instead of just one person.

  “What’s the plan today?” Harlow asked as she deliberately set that aside.

  “Free play until four when we head to the venue,” Poppy said. “Want to go to Bourbon Street? Do some touristy stuff?”

  “Yes! As long as we can go to Royal Street so I can check out the galleries. I’m looking for something for the walls in our bedroom,” Nora said.

  Maddie cheered. “Yay! Let’s meet back here in forty-five? Then we can go out and have lunch and then be back in plenty of time.”

  When Poppy and Maddie left, Nora closed the door and turned back to Harlow. “Is she going to be at this dinner?” Meaning Harlow’s mom.

  “I don’t know. He said Mindy, his wife, was making dinner and that Louis would be there with his sons too. No mention of anyone else.”

  Nora said, “I can see on your features that you’re not going to ask any of us because you think you have to face this on your own. But you don’t. And if she’s there, it will be awful. She won’t want to resist the chance to berate you and make you feel bad. You need someone at your side because your brothers are too weak when it comes to her. I’ll go with you.”

  “Thank you.” She hugged Nora. “But you hate her and she knows it. Which is a nice thing for me because she deserves it. But it’ll be uncomfortable for you and everyone else. And honestly, I’ll be mortified if she starts something. At least if no one else is there I’ll be the only one embarrassed.”

  “You have nothing to be embarrassed about! That woman is shit. She is terrible and awful, and I’d like to high five her face. She could be a good mother, support you, be proud of you, love you. That’s what mothers are supposed to do. She is unnatural.”

  So relieved to have a friend like Nora, Harlow hugged her again. “Thank you. For right now I’m going alone. But I will think about everything you said.”

  “Okay. I’m going to get dressed for the day. You do the same. Let’s day drink,” Nora called out as she went next door.

  “I’ll need a nap if I do,” she muttered but that wasn’t really an argument against day drinking.

  “You’re trying to steal my girl, Pop,” Miles groused at his sister when she returned that afternoon after she’d spent hours and hours with Harlow. But was he invited? No. Did he really want to be or was it about missing Harlow and feeling totally off balance because of it?

  “She’s totally adorable, so I might if I wanted to, and she wasn’t all moon eyed over you. But I did steal her for the day, and we shopped, and day drank and bought art. I regret nothing. We even found a few funky clothing places where we picked up some used and new stuff. She’s fun. I’m getting to know her too. Mum and Dad will want to know details and I can tell them all positives. And you’re with her every night after the show. There’s enough Harlow Martin to go around.”

  “I should go down there to see how she is,” he said.

  “She’s napping. I told you there was day drinking. We’ll all see one another when we leave for the venue at four. Now I’m going to lay down awhile to rest up for tonight too.” She bent to kiss the top of his head and dropped a white bag full of fresh beignets into his lap.

  “Those are from Harlow. We stopped for a snack to fortify ourselves and she got extras for you,” she called out as she left.

  “Are you spying on me for Mum and Dad?” he called out but she either didn’t hear or wasn’t going to reply so he just growled to himself as he opened the bag and the scent of fried dough hit and made him feel better.

  Still, he considered as he ate, making a huge mess with powdered sugar, it’d be better to have eaten these with Harlow.

  And he said so when they got into the van just a few hours later to head to the arena. “Thanks for the beignets. I’ll probably be sorry later, but I ate them all in one sitting.”

  She laughed. “I did too. Plus, I had a lot of rum. The nap has revitalized me. Now I’m ready for more food after the show is over. Everywhere is open late here, which is pretty flipping awesome.”

  “Wait for me. I want to come too. I mean if you don’t already have other plans,” he amended.

  Harlow nodded, clearly pleased. “Okay. There’s this restaurant we checked out earlier today and made reservations for tonight. Chef’s table because he’s some friend of your family?”

  “Ah! Yeah. Two of my aunts are into art which is how Cora Silvera came into our lives. She runs a family gallery in Seattle. Her husband is a chef. That’s how Poppy must have gotten the name of the chef here.”

  A group rather than just the two of them so he’d be sure to broach the subject of one-on-one time again more in advance of the next city. Until then he had to share her with her friends and his too.

  He looked over to her as she listened to some stupid story Omar told them all for the dozenth time. But she hadn’t heard it before and the smile on her face said she enjoyed it and so that was nice.

  Nice. Well. Whatever.

  He wanted them to all get along. Because he liked it that they got her, that they understood why—beyond the obvious good looks—he liked her so much. If they could see why he dug her so much, they’d relax about the new relationship Harlow and Miles were building.

  As Miles had taken a seat next to her in the back row, he took her hand and she leaned a little bit closer to him, squeezing his hand.

  “Poppy said you all had a good day today.”

  “We did. I had to let my aunt know I was having some stuff shipped to her house and that I’d pick it up after the tour ends.”

  “Yeah? What’d you buy?”

  “A bunch of stuff at this funky new and used clothing shop. I have a friend, one we all went to school with,” she said, indicating her bandmates, “and she makes outfits for tours and appearances, that sort of thing. I’ll send the clothes to her and I’ll go see her the next time I’m in LA to get an idea of what she’ll create for me. I also bought a painting, a small one of a street scene. I have an alcove in my house. I want to put it there.”

  “That’s a cool way to remember where you’ve been.”

  “It is. That alcove is where I put various things I pick up while traveling, Stones, picture frames, I’ve got ornaments and glass of all types. The painting will be perfect there. Eventually after that one fills, there’s another alcove on the other side of my living room.”

  “When I’m home and you’re home at the same time, I want to see it. Your actual and metaphorical alcoves.”

  She snickered, but he couldn’t say much more as they’d arrived and Omar turned back to talk to Miles as they all loaded off.

  He kept her hand as they walked from the van to the double doors leading to the backstage areas they’d use. And he never heard the sound of pictures taken with someone’s phone.

  CHAPTER

  ELEVEN

  “What are you doing tomorrow?” Miles asked her as they lay curled up in his bed a few nights later. They’d had the first of two shows in Atlanta and the following day was totally free.

  “Nothing until the evening.”

  He paused, wanting to ask what she was doing in the evening even though it wasn’t his business.

  “Want to go exploring? I’ve been in Atlanta multiple times but usually because I’m here to perform. I don’t know much about the city otherwise,” he said.

  “How about thrift shopping? There are several thrift stores I want to hit. My brothers live here so I have a general idea of where everything is.”

  “Okay, that sounds fun. Can we do lunch and stuff too?”

  “Sure. Buying things makes me hungry.”

  That made him laugh and pull her a little closer so he could kiss her shoulder.

  “You’re going to need to uh, mute yourself a little. Downplay all that Miles Brown. Otherwise, you’ll get recognized within five minutes.”

  “Mute myself?”

  “Yes. Wear a cap and some sunnies. That way you’ll look more like one of your fanboys than yourself.”

  He harrumphed which only made her giggle and then roll from bed.

  “I think if you stayed all night here but brought a change of clothes with you, you could leave in the morning, and no one will know you slept in my bed except me, and I really like that idea.”

  She looked at him, taking a long leisurely visual stroll from his toes to his head, both of them. “Okay. That might work. But not tonight because I don’t have a change of clothing. I’m doing yoga in the morning with Nora and Poppy so they’ll be waking me up at nine. That’s six hours from now. I need the sleep and we both know if you and I are naked in the same bed, neither of us is getting any rest.”

  That was true and he couldn’t deny it. He couldn’t keep his hands off her when they were together this way. He could barely resist not touching her in public and had forgotten why he shouldn’t, and they’d held hands more than once in front of others. Usually just the other band members, but still.

  They needed to have a conversation about next steps in their relationship. He hated having to hide it. He wanted to put an arm around her shoulders after the show ended. Wanted to be able to kiss her when the mood struck.

  “We’ve got media tomorrow, but we should be back by the time you’re done with yoga. Then we can head out?” He’d have a car service reserved for their day. So they could have lunch drinks and not have to haul their purchases with them all afternoon.

  He got up to walk her to the door, trying to mask his annoyance that they were still doing this. Annoyed by himself. There’d never been any of this with the others who came before Harlow.

  And still, he found himself backing her against the closed door and kissing her senseless. Told her all he felt about her that way until he stepped back, satisfied by the dreamy look she wore.

  “Goodnight, beauty. I’ll see you in the morning. Text me when you get back to your room.”

  After they’d finished their workout, Nora, Harlow, and Poppy took a swim and then came back to Harlow’s room to have some juice and chat for a bit. Maddie was off doing media that morning so it was just the three of them.

  “I have to get ready for my day with Miles,” Harlow told them and darted into the bathroom for half an hour to shower and put on some makeup.

  “You look cute,” Poppy said when she came out a while later. “Miles already thinks you’re gorgeous, but there’s no harm in reminding him.”

  “Are you asking him to go with you tonight?” Nora asked like it was totally cool to bring that up in front of Miles’s sister.

  “Ooh, invite him to what? He’s got great manners even if he comes off like a big head sometimes,” Poppy said.

  “Big head?” Miles’s head seemed to Harlow to be in pretty much perfect proportion to the rest of him.

  “Our Mum calls it a swelled head. Like you know, when a person knows how handsome or talented they are, so they let it go to their head? When I was little, I just called it big head. My brother knows he’s a good musician. He knows he’s talented and handsome. But he’s also still grounded most of the time.”

  “My brothers live here in Atlanta. I’m going over to my oldest brother and his wife’s house for dinner tonight,” Harlow said.

  “They said you could bring someone,” Nora said.

  Harlow looked at her friend like she wanted to lock her outside the room.

  Naturally Nora ignored that and continued talking. “Harlow didn’t grow up around them, or their mother, who dumped Har off with her dad when she was two. So, dinner there is complicated because they act like it’s impossible to see why their mother is a fucking monster. But she’s an absolute horror show. And Harlow is too nice to them and doesn’t want to make waves. So, I think she needs to take a backup with her. Someone who will protect her. It can’t be me, according to Harlow, so it should be Miles. If she took Brian they’d start asking when she stole her best friend’s boyfriend.”

  Harlow just sighed. There was really no way to rein Nora in when she was protecting someone. And she was right on the mark about what would happen if she took Brian.

  “I definitely think Miles should go. In fact, I think if he hears you went alone and finds out how terrible it might be for you, it’ll make him sad. Not that you should let your partner rule your life that way,” Poppy added. “But he digs you so much. And he’s really good at saying stuff that isn’t an insult on its face, but it so totally is.”

  “The songwriter in him,” Harlow said with a laugh.