“Maybe he’ll change his mind,” Owen said.
“And maybe we’ll tell him to fuck off,” Gabe said.
“He’s obviously struggling. Look at him.” Kellen rose to his feet and pointed at the screen. Couldn’t they see the tension right before them? Or maybe he was the odd one for recognizing it so easily. “Look at his posture.”
When Owen and Gabe looked at him as if he were discussing an imaginary friend, Kellen sighed. They really didn’t see it. Did either of them ever pay attention to how Jacob normally behaved?
“He was acting off before Adam left, you morons. I’m telling you, something is going on with him that he didn’t share with us.”
“Obviously,” Gabe said. “But that’s no excuse to stab your friends in the back. He just up and left.”
“Adam also fucking left,” Kellen shouted, since calm discussions didn’t get through to Gabe.
Gabe punched the sofa’s arm and growled, “And the three of us are left here holding our dicks.”
Kellen couldn’t argue that fact. The three of them were totally screwed if Jacob and Adam never reconciled. And Jacob was the key to settling their differences. Adam was too self-centered to put anyone before his own agenda.
“Jacob has only fucked us over this once; Adam has left us high and dry dozens of times,” Owen said.
Kellen smiled at his friend—who always sided with him, always had his back—but Owen’s attention was fixed on Gabe, so he offered no return smile. Jacob had left, but only because Adam had added the final straw. Jacob needed their backing right now, not their animosity. Adam needed support as well. Hell, Kellen could use a little reassurance himself, and he was sure he wasn’t the only man in the room feeling that need. They had to come up with a way to get everyone back together and on speaking terms, or this band really would be over.
“I think we have to support him until he figures out what he wants,” Kellen said, figuring Gabe wasn’t ready to hear that. He’d never seen the guy so angry before.
“I’m not supporting his insanity.” Gabe jerked to his feet and covered his head with his ball cap. “We put all our faith in him, and he left us. Without a word, he left.”
Gabe’s anger was a front for his hurt, Kellen realized. Jacob had hurt Gabe by leaving, by potentially breaking up the band, and Gabe didn’t know how else to react.
“You need to think this through before you go off, Gabe,” Kellen said. “You could make things worse.”
“Stop being so goddamned even-tempered, Cuff! This doesn’t piss you off? Not even a little?”
Kelly shook his head. “It makes me sad.” Which hadn’t been his first reaction. Like Gabe, he’d been pissed, but Kellen was past anger now and falling into despair.
Gabe glared at Owen, who grimaced. “And I suppose you’re in agreement with your friend here. You two practically share a brain.”
“Maybe Julie is sick,” Owen said, and immediately Kellen’s heart sank. Julie being sick would be terrible, but it would explain Jacob’s rash behavior.
Gabe’s rage finally ratcheted down a notch. “Why would you think that?”
“He’s been adamant about spending time with Julie lately. Scheduled the entire tour around his visitation days. So maybe something is terribly wrong with her.”
“It could be that,” Kellen said. He hoped not from the depths of his soul and searched for any reason to discredit the idea, because thinking Julie was sick was too agonizing to face. “But I don’t think he’d hide that from us.”
Gabe was standing over them with his fists on his thighs—a divisive force in the room. Except nothing would ever divide Kellen and Owen. Not even Gabe’s temper.
“Will you sit down?” Kellen said to him. “We need to figure this mess out.”
“We need to get Shade back,” Owen said.
Kellen loved that they were thinking the same way—not that it surprised him. He smiled and nodded at Owen, but noticed that Caitlyn was doing a good job of offering her silent support to Owen, so turned back to Gabe.
“Maybe I don’t want him back,” Gabe said, but he sat.
“Which of us do you think he’d be most likely to listen to?” Kellen asked.
“Gabe,” Owen said. “But not if he goes there all pissed off like he is now.”
“I’m not pissed off,” Gabe said.
“Riiiight,” Owen said, rolling his eyes, and Caitlyn giggled.
“Why shouldn’t I be pissed off? The fucking dolt has destroyed my career just like that.” Gabe snapped his fingers. “If Sole Regret is really over, what am I supposed to do with the rest of my life? I don’t have a fucking plan B, okay? I don’t know how to proceed.”
Kellen caught movement out of the corner of his eye and for an instant, he thought Sara had risen from the grave to stand crying in the doorway, but it was Lindsey. He would likely never get used to how much she resembled Sara, but now when he looked at her, he didn’t see Sara. He saw a pretty young blonde trying to sort out her life. To that he could relate.
“Are you okay?” Owen was instantly on his feet, squeezing Lindsey’s slight shoulder and looking her over with concern. “Are you in pain? Is it the baby?”
Kellen didn’t miss the way Caitlyn stiffened when Owen touched Lindsey, but Owen didn’t see her reaction.
“Is Sole Regret really breaking up?” Lindsey asked.
She was crying over that? Now that Kellen thought about it, there would be a lot of upset fans when news of the band’s demise spread.
“We hope not.”
Lindsey hugged Owen, who cringed and tried patting her without actually touching her. He glanced at Caitlyn, but she just shrugged. She probably recognized that Lindsey wasn’t a threat for Owen’s affection. If that was his baby, though, Kellen hoped Caitlyn realized there would be no way that Owen could give up his child.
“It’s all my fault.” Lindsey sniffled. “I show up pregnant, and you all start arguing and then Adam leaves and now Shade is gone and . . . and . . .”
“This has nothing to do with you,” Gabe said. “Adam has been unreliable and self-absorbed since the day I met him.”
“But he left to be reliable for Madison,” Kellen reminded him. “Selfless for Madison.” Stepping up to help another person was a big step in Adam’s personal growth, even if his action negatively impacted the band.
“How very nice for Madison,” Gabe grumbled. “How utterly devastating for the rest of us. Did Adam even admit he was in the wrong when you talked to him?” he asked Owen. “Because when I talked to him, all he wanted to know was what Jacob had done.”
Owen shrugged. “He admitted he should have told us where he was going. He seemed sorry.”
“But he didn’t say it.”
Owen shook his head. No surprise there, but Kellen knew Adam felt deeply, no matter how much he tried to hide his emotions.
“Adam’s always been unapologetic,” Kellen said. “It doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel remorse. He just doesn’t express it.”
Owen looked down at Lindsey. “We’re going to do whatever we can to keep Sole Regret together. No more crying over this.”
Well, at least three of the band members wanted to fix this shitstorm. If it came to a majority vote, they’d win, but they couldn’t force Shade to sing. Couldn’t force Adam to play.
Lindsey wiped at her face with the back of her hand and nodded. “I came to tell you dinner is ready and overheard you talking about the band.”
“I can’t stay.” Gabe stood and inched toward the door. “I’m going to see if I can find out some real information. Maybe I can corner Jacob outside the news studio if I hurry.”
Owen bumped fists with Gabe. “Keep us posted.”
“Once things settle down, I want a backgammon rematch,” Caitlyn said.
Gabe stopped retreating and grinned over his shoulder. “Eager to lose again?”
“Oh, I’ll be winning this time,” she promised.
Kellen smiled to himself. He real
ly did like Caitlyn. She was a good match for Owen. Kellen wondered if his own good match was having a nice time in Prague.
“We’ll see about that.”
After a quick wave, Gabe left. Should Kellen have tried to stop him? If Gabe confronted Jacob while he was angry, he would probably make Jacob defensive, and he’d be acting like that unbendable oak again. But at least Jacob would know that his bandmates weren’t going to accept his decision without a fight. Kellen preferred to have a plan and a united front before confronting Jacob. He wanted to put more thought into what he’d do before he acted. He was sure he and Owen could come up with a strategy if left to their own devices.
“Are you staying?” Owen’s question drew Kellen from his thoughts.
“Free home-cooked meal?” Kellen sniffed at the delicious aromas wafting through the house. “Fried chicken, if I’m not mistaken. Do you need to ask?”
Owen chuckled, and Kellen followed Lindsey back to the kitchen.
At the table, Kellen sat across from Owen. He was surprised that Caitlyn was capable of releasing Owen’s hand long enough to pick up her fork. He had a hard time watching their tender affection. Kellen supposed it was because seeing the couple together made him miss Dawn. She should be landing across the globe within a few hours and could take her phone off airplane mode. Those long trans-Atlantic flights were going to put a damper on his communication with her. He knew she wanted to be with him—supporting him through this crisis—and he could feel her in spirit, but she still wasn’t there in person the way Caitlyn was.
Kellen waited for Owen and Lindsey to say grace. He wasn’t Christian and apparently neither was Caitlyn. Her eyes met his and then darted downward in respect as Owen thanked God for their meal and Lindsey gave off an aura of reverence. The rest of the meal was far less uncomfortable.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to touch raw chicken ever again,” Lindsey said. “I never used to have a weak stomach. Or mood swings. Or stretch marks.”
“Or such a swollen face, I’m sure,” Caitlyn said, with a sweet-as-honey smile.
Kellen struggled not to laugh as Owen loaded up his plate with mashed potatoes. Did he really not see that Caitlyn was beside herself with jealousy?
Lindsey’s eyes widened. “You can tell?”
“Of course not,” Caitlyn said. “Well, maybe a little, but I’m sure you’ll lose all that extra weight when the baby is born.”
“I like curvy women,” Owen said, offering Caitlyn an approving wink.
Based on her scowl, Caitlyn didn’t seem to appreciate his compliment, but the woman did have amazing curves in all the right places. Personally, he preferred Dawn’s tall, lean form, but he could clearly see why Owen was so turned on by his dark and sexy engineer.
“This is the best fried chicken I’ve ever had,” Owen said, digging into his second piece. “Don’t tell my mom I said that.”
“That’s quite a compliment,” Kellen said to Lindsey. “As far as Owen is concerned, his mom is the only woman who knows how to cook properly.”
Lindsey beamed, and Kellen was surprised her wide smile didn’t make him long for Sara. In fact, he noticed he wasn’t thinking about Sara much at all. Not the way he had been fixating on her every time Lindsey caught his eye in New Orleans. But that was before his wonderful weekend with Dawn. Before she’d helped him begin to move forward.
By the time everyone had finished, Kellen’s sleepless night was catching up with him. He couldn’t have stifled his yawn if he’d tried. “Good food leads to really good naps.”
“You’ll have to take the couch,” Owen said. “Lindsey’s got the guest room, and Caitlyn and I will be napping or not-so-napping in my bed.”
“We can finish what we started before your mom showed up,” Caitlyn said, her tanned face flushed.
Lindsey cringed. “I won’t be able to hear you two going at it, will I?”
“That’s a definite yes,” Caitlyn said, and Kellen bit his lip to hold in a chuckle. He wasn’t sure how vocal Caitlyn usually was, but with Lindsey within earshot, she’d likely scream Owen’s name at top volume.
“Well, that’s my cue to start the dishes,” Owen said, rising from his chair.
He leaned over Lindsey as he reached for her plate. “Have you gotten any job interviews yet?” he asked her.
She released a morose sigh. “Not yet, but I’ve had a few good leads—most telling me to come back in six months. The problem is that no one is going to offer me a job when I’m going to need to be on maternity leave very soon.”
Kellen knew it bothered her to be out of work. Or at least it seemed that way. The longer he was around her, the more he started to believe she hadn’t shown up late in her pregnancy because she wanted a handout. She wanted a father for her baby. Emotional support. And he knew from experience that when you were broke as fuck, it was hard to feel stable in any capacity. Not being able to offer your newborn baby stability had to be a frightening proposition.
“I don’t have a problem with you waiting to find work until after the baby is born,” Owen said.
Kellen grimaced and shook his head. That wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to be useful. Wasn’t that obvious? Was he the only guy paying attention here?
“I have a problem with it,” Lindsey said. “I’m not a mooch.”
Caitlyn collected their drinking glasses and headed for the kitchen. “I might have some contacts in Austin that could help you out,” she said over her shoulder. “I’ll look into it when I return to the office.”
“That’s nice of you,” Lindsey said with a smile.
“Have you thought about temp work for now?” Kellen suggested with an encouraging smile. “Maybe an agency has an assignment that will last a couple of months. And then you can find something permanent later.”
“That’s a great idea, Cuff!” Lindsey placed the dishes she carried into the sink and offered him a nice hug.
Something inside his brain clicked. He could take a bit of the burden off Owen and help him take care of Lindsey. Why not?
“Have you been to the doctor?” he asked, suddenly worried about her well-being. Before, all he could see was how much she looked like Sara. All he could dwell on was how guilty she made him feel. But he didn’t feel that way at all now. And he was starting to see why Owen put up with her. She needed their help. And the Mitchells had instilled in him a response to her need as much as they had their biological sons.
“Joan took me to meet her ob/gyn yesterday. We scheduled a thorough appointment for Friday. I’m going to have an ultrasound and everything.”
“And a paternity test?” Kellen asked. He figured Owen wouldn’t pressure her about it, so it was his responsibility to remind her as often as necessary.
Lindsey glanced at Owen, and then Caitlyn. Her face turned red. “If I have to.”
“If it’s not Owen’s baby, do you still plan on staying here?” Caitlyn asked.
“I suppose I’ll have to leave.”
Lindsey looked at Owen, her desperation tangible, and even before he spoke, Kellen knew what the big softy was going to say.
“She can stay here.” Owen shrugged. “Even if it’s not my kid.”
A loud clang from the direction of the sink gave Kellen a start. Apparently Caitlyn didn’t know Owen quite as well as he did. Or maybe she hoped Owen would abandon the young woman if Caitlyn was passive-aggressive enough.
“I’d accuse you of being an idiot,” Kellen said, “but your family took me in and made me feel welcome, so I can’t insist you offer Lindsey any less.” He smiled at Lindsey, and said, “I can help you out too.”
“But it’s definitely not yours, Cuff.” Lindsey rubbed her belly protectively.
“I don’t have to be responsible to want to help you, do I?” Kellen asked, because in reality he wanted to help Owen—to relieve some of the burden troubling his friend. And if the baby was Owen’s, Kellen hoped the child would be part of his life too. He always thought he’d make a good uncle.
>
Caitlyn’s passive-aggressive loading of the dishwasher intensified as she jammed silverware into various slots with as much noise as possible.
Lindsey hugged Kellen again, this time nuzzling into his bare chest. “Thank you so much, Cuff. You’re almost as nice as Owen is.”
“Almost.” Kellen winked at Owen, who seemed confused about Kellen’s sudden change of heart. Kellen hadn’t yet had time to talk to him about his weekend or how he was finally moving on after losing Sara. The part about Kellen being sexually attracted to his best friend? Well, he’d be keeping that little secret all to himself, even though he did finally recognize it for what it was.
The baby was something he could share with Owen beyond their