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“Meg wants you to do a makeup tutorial with her on her InstaPixel channel,” Carter told him.
Kingston grinned. “Sure. Maybe just before the next tour. We can frame it like a stage makeup thing. For guys, of course.”
“Of course.” Meg beamed.
She looked a decade younger today, her eyes twinkling and a perpetual smile on her face. It was amazing what the proper medical care and good friends could do for you. I couldn’t help but wonder how long she’d been dealing with heart issues she hadn’t wanted to deal with because of money. I really hoped I could make sure that never happened again.
There were some things money could fix, and that was one of them.
* * *
Carter hung out long after everyone else had left. He spent most of his time with Meg, but a good amount with Jeremy too. Presley seemed intent on memorializing the whole day in pictures, using both her phone and a fancier camera I’d never seen before. I wasn’t sure what it was about today that was so special, but I liked the idea that she wanted to get photographs of everyone. She was partial to Jeremy, of course, but also to me. Her favorite thing seemed to be pictures of Jeremy and me together, which made sense, but she took pictures of everyone who held him. She’d even made Kellan, Kingston, and Tommy hold him for photos.
“You doing okay?” I asked her as it got later in the day. Carter was walking Meg to her casita so she could lie down for a while, but it had been thirty minutes and he hadn’t come back.
“I’m wonderful,” she said, leaning against me.
My father was playing with Jeremy, so we had a little quiet time, which was nice after such a busy day.
“You think—” She’d just started to ask me a question when Meg and Carter came back in.
“Couldn’t sleep,” Meg said with a smile. “But Carter was busy making me laugh so that might have something to do with it.” She playfully elbowed him, and he pretended it hurt.
“Ow! Damn, woman. Take it easy on me. I’m not that strong, you know.”
“Well, you’ll need to toughen up if you’re going to hang out with me. There is no wuss in my game.”
They breezed past us, laughing and cracking jokes, heading for the kitchen.
“What is happening there?” Presley whispered.
“I honestly don’t know, babe. But whatever it is, she looks happy and he looks healthy. Something they both need. If them being friends can produce results like that in one afternoon, we need to leave it alone.”
“You have a point.” She stared after them. “It’s always been easy for her to make friends. Much easier than it’s ever been for me.”
“Why do you think that is?” I asked curiously. “You and I hit it off right away.”
“We did, but…” She paused, chewing the inside of her cheek the way she tended to do when she was thinking about something. “Do you think it was because you were exhausted from touring and needed a distraction?”
I shrugged. “Maybe? But at the end of the day, I could have gotten a distraction in the form of a woman almost anywhere. What I got from you went way beyond a distraction. Why do you think I was so angry when I heard you on the phone? You were more than a simple distraction. I was planning to get your number, maybe fly you out to a show. I wanted to see you again.”
“You did?”
How had we never talked about this before?
“I did. That’s why I blew up. It hurt to think you were like everyone else.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, leaning against me, her eyes filled with tears.
“No. Hell no. Don’t cry.” I wrapped my arms around her. “Babe, we both screwed up and now we’re past all that. And I never, ever want to make you cry. Please don’t. We started fresh, remember? We’re not going back to that. Okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“You and me, babe, we’re good.”
“I know.”
I kissed the top of her head, hoping she did know.
