He gave a smile completely devoid of any joy. “So fucking great the lead vocalist went solo and our drummer joined another band.”
Nell’s jaw dropped, her face bloodless. “The band broke up?”
“Yeah.”
His sister still gaped.
“Got decided late last year. Once we finished the tour with Stage Dive we were splitting. I’ve had time to get used to it. Let it go. It’s fine.” He ignored her reaction, turning instead to me. “How are you doing, Lydia?”
“Hey. Hi. Good.”
“I take it you already met my sister. Come inside. There’s coffee for you too.”
“Okay. In a minute.” A glint of metal beneath some leaves caught my eye. Carefully, I dusted off the antique silver necklace my grandmother had given me for my twenty-first.
I hung the pendant around my neck, fingers fiddling with the clasp for a moment before it locked into place. Forget Chris and his family. I’d find my feet. They were nothing to me now, less than nothing. They were so subpar-nothing I didn’t even know how to describe just how zilch they were. Moving on.
“Babe, why’s your stuff all over the yard?” asked Vaughan.
“Pardon?” I blinked, returning to earth.
“Your stuff, it’s everywhere.” He downed the last of his coffee in one long gulp, his gaze fixed on my face.
Gah. Like he didn’t have enough to deal with without more of my drama. “Yeah, sorry,” I said. “I’ll get it cleaned up.”
“Lydia, stop,” he ordered in a stern voice. Then his gaze softened. “What happened here?”
“Samantha delivered my belongings.” I said, carefully retrieving my best black mascara from the bush of death. The thing basically consisted of a big evil ball of thorns beneath a couple of leaves. It was Satan’s shrubbery. Any more scratches from it and I’d look like I’d been in a cat fight. Close enough to the truth.
“You’re fucking kidding.” He wandered down the steps toward me.
“Wish I was.”
“Hey.” He gripped the back of my neck with his free hand, rubbing it far more softly than he’d done his own. The calluses on his fingers were rough, making for such a different sensation than Chris’s soft hands. “This petty bullshit is the worst she can do. Ignore it. You’re better than this.”
“I don’t know. Given half a chance, I’d really like to shoot her out of a cannon and forget to put up the safety net.”
“That seriously the best you could come up with?”
“No. Give me more time. It’s early.”
Sweet baby Jesus, his laugh. It was so low-down and dirty. I hadn’t even said anything worthy of such a sound. Disturbingly, I couldn’t remember what Chris’s laugh sounded like. Had I ever even heard it? No memory leaped to mind. What a sad and sorry statement about his life and the part I’d played in it. And while Chris’s problems were most definitely his own, I and mine needed a damn good looking over.
I needed change. Now.
I also needed to stop making comparisons to Chris. He was out of my life. Gone. The end.
Vaughan tipped his chin toward the house, still laughing. “Go grab your coffee and cake. Then you can tell me more revenge fantasies. I want blood and gore, Lydia. Covered in honey and eaten alive by bull ants, that sort of thing. Go wild.”
I smiled and headed for the house, my mood about ten tons lighter for having seen Vaughan’s smile.
“Not cake, palmiers,” corrected Nell.
“Whatever they are, they taste like magic,” he said.
His sister snorted.
“It is good to see you, sis.”
Sure enough, a second coffee and large brown paper bag sat on the kitchen counter. “The Bird Building” was stamped in black ink on the front. It was a place in midtown, not an area I’d had a lot to do with. In the real estate business, Ray and I had mostly focused on residential dwellings, with him covering the big-money mansions. Chris had dealt with the commercial properties.
My coffee was delicious, I didn’t bother heating it up. Years in offices had taught me to ignore temperature. The palmiers turned out to be elephant ear cookies covered in cinnamon sugar. Pastry so perfect and light it basically melted on contact with my tongue. Absolute bliss.
I took my breakfast outside and sat on the steps.
“What’d you need to talk to me about?” he asked his sister.
Nell gave me a brief glance. Awkward.
“I’ll eat inside, get out of the sun for a while,” I said around a mouthful of deliciousness, hardly spitting out any pastry flakes at all. Screw common courtesy. These palmiers were amazing.