“Who was that?” I asked.

“No one. Just a friend.”

“A friend-friend or a friend?”

“Just a friend. Hang on, changing rooms. And we were talking about you, partner of David Ferris, world famous lead guitarist for Stage Dive.”

“A friend that I know?” I asked, curiosity now fully aroused.

“You are aware of the picture of your ass making the rounds, aren’t you?”

Cue the squirming. “Uh, yeah. I am.”

“Bummer. Haha! But seriously, you look good. Mine wouldn’t have looked half as nice. Bet you’re glad you walked to campus last semester instead of driving all the time like lazy ol’ me. That sure was some night you had in Vegas, missy.”

“Let’s talk about your friend instead of my butt. Or Vegas.”

“Or we could talk about your sex life. Because we’ve been talking about mine for a couple of years now but we haven’t much been able to talk about yours, girlfriend,” she said in a glee-filled singsong voice.

“Evvie! Want a soda?” Mal shouted as he sailed past on his way to the kitchen, having emerged from below.

“Yes, please.”

“Who is that?” asked Lauren.

“The drummer. They’re doing some work in the studio downstairs.”

Lauren gasped. “The whole band is there?”

“No, just Mal and another friend of David’s.”

“Malcolm is there? He’s really hot, but a total man slut,” she supplied helpfully. “You should see the number of women he gets photographed with.”

“Here you go, child bride.” Mal passed me an icy-cold bottle, the top already removed.

“Thanks, Mal,” I said.

He winked and wandered off again.

“None of my business,” I told Lauren.

She clucked her tongue. “You haven’t been on the internet to find anything out about them, have you? You’re flying totally blind in this situation.”

“It feels wrong checking up on them behind their backs.”

“Naivety is only sexy up to a point, chica.”

“It’s not naivety, chica. It’s respecting their personal lives.”

“Which you’re now a part of.”

“Privacy matters. Why should they trust me if I’m stalking them on-line?”

“You and your excuses,” Lauren sighed. “So you don’t know that the band started touring when David was only sixteen? They got a gig supporting a band through Asia and have pretty much stayed on the road or in the recording studio from then onward. Hell of a life, huh?”

“Yeah. He said he’s ready to slow down.”

“I’m not surprised. Rumors about the band breaking up are everywhere. Do try and stop that from happening if you can, please. And get your husbo to get his shit into gear and hurry up and write a new album. I’m counting on you.”

“No problem,” I said, not sharing that David was writing me songs. That was private. For now at least. The list of things I didn’t feel I could share with Lauren was growing exponentially.

“I wanted you to crush that boy’s heart so we could have another album like San Pedro. But I can tell you’re going to be difficult about that.”

“Your powers of perception are uncanny.”

She chuckled. “You know there’s a song about the Monterey house on that album?”

“There is?”

“Oh yeah. That’s the famous ‘House of Sand’. Epic love song. David’s high school sweetheart cheated on him while he was touring in Europe at age twenty-one. He’d bought that house for them to live in.”

“Stop, Lauren. This is … shit, this is personal.” My heart and mind raced. “This house?”

“Yeah. They’d been together for years. David was gutted. Then some bitch he slept with sold her story to the tabloids. Also, his mother left when he was twelve. Expect there to be some issues all round where women are concerned.”

“No, Lauren, stop. I’m serious,” I said, nearly strangling the phone. “He’ll tell me things like that when he’s ready. This doesn’t feel right.”

“It’s just being prepared. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“Lauren.”

“Okay. No more. You did need to know those tidbits though, seriously. Events like that leave a permanent scar.”

She had a point. The information did explain his accusations regarding my leaving and the strength of his reactions to that. Two of the most important women in his world had deserted him. Though finding out this way about his history still felt wrong. When he trusted me enough to tell me, he would. But I hadn’t had enough of a chance yet to earn that sort of trust from him. Personal information didn’t just roll off the tongue at the first meeting. How horrible to have it all set out there on the internet just waiting for people to look it up and mull it over for their entertainment. So much for privacy. Little wonder he’d been worried about my talking to the press.

I took a sip of the soda then rested the cold bottle against my cheek. “I really want this to work.”

“I know you do. I can hear it in your voice when you talk about him—you’re in love with him.”

My spine snapped to attention. “What? No. That’s crazy talk. Not yet, at least. It’s only been a couple of days. Do I sound in love? Really?”

“Time is irrelevant where the heart is concerned.”

“Maybe,” I said, concerned.

“Listen, Jimmy has been dating Liv Andrews. If you meet her, I definitely want an autograph. Loved her last film.”

“Jimmy is not the greatest. That could get uncomfortable.”

She huffed. “Fine. But you are in love.”

“Hush now.”

“What? I think it’s nice.”

Mutterings from Lauren’s mysterious friend interrupted my rising fear.

“I’ve got to go,” she said. “Keep in touch, okay? Call me.”

“I will.”

“Bye.”

I said “bye”, but she was already gone.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“You’re frowning.” David walked up behind me slowly. His head cocked to the side making his dark hair fall over the side of his face. He tucked it behind an ear and moved closer. “Why are you doing that, hmm?”

I’d been putting together dinner. I’d found pizza crusts in the freezer so I took them out to defrost and started cutting up toppings and grating cheese, while worrying about what Lauren had told me, of course. The house didn’t seem so welcoming anymore. Armed with the knowledge that it had been bought with another woman in mind, my feelings toward the place had shifted. I was back to feeling like an interloper. Horrible but true. Insecurities sucked.

“Gimme.” From behind me he snagged my wrist and brought my hand to his mouth, sucking a smear of tomato paste from my finger. “Mm. Yum.”

My stomach squeezed tight in response. God, his mouth on me that morning. His plans for us tonight. It all felt like a dream, a crazy beautiful dream that I didn’t want to wake from. Nor did I need to. All would be well. We’d work things out. We were married again now, committed. He snaked an arm around me and pressed himself against my back, leaving no room between us for doubt.

“How are things going downstairs?” I asked.

“Real good. We’ve got four songs shaping up nicely. Sorry we ran a bit over,” he said, planting a kiss on the side of my neck, chasing the last of the bad thoughts far away. “But now it’s our time.”

“Good.”

“Making pizza?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I help?” he asked, still nuzzling the side of my neck. The stubble on his jaw scratched lightly at my skin, feeling strange and wonderful all at once. He made me shivery. Right up until he stopped. “You’re putting broccoli on it?”

“I like vegetables on pizza.”

“Zucchini, too. Huh.” His voice sounded slightly incredulous and he perched his chin on my shoulder. “How about that?”

“And bacon, sausage, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes and three different types of cheeses.” I pointed the chopping knife at my excellent collection of ingredients. “Wait till you taste them. They’re going to be the best pizzas ever.”

“Course they are. Here, I’ll put them together.” He turned me to face him, rearing back when my chopping knife accidentally waved at him. His hands fastened onto my h*ps and he lifted me up onto the kitchen island. “Keep me company.”

“Sure thing.”

From the fridge he took a beer for him and a soda for me, since I was still avoiding alcohol. Tyler and Mal’s voices drifted through from the lounge room.

“We working again tomorrow?” Tyler called out.

“Sorry, man. We gotta head back to LA,” said David, washing his hands at the sink. He had great hands, long, strong fingers. “Give me a couple of days to sort shit out down there then we’ll be up again.”

Tyler stuck his head around the corner, giving me a wave. “Sounds good. The new stuff is coming together well. Bringing Ben and Jimmy back with you next time?”

David’s brow wrinkled, his eyes not so happy. “Yeah, I’ll see what they’re up to.”

“Cool. Pammy’s outside, so I gotta run. It’s date night.”

“Have fun.” I waved back.

Tyler grinned. “Always do.”

Chuckling quietly, Mal ambled in. “Date night, seriously … what the f**k is that about? Old people are the weirdest. Dude, you can’t put broccoli on pizza.”

“Yeah, you can.” David kept busy, scattering peppers around the little trees of broccoli.

“No,” said Mal. “That’s just not right.”

“Shut up. Ev wants broccoli on the pizza, then that’s what she gets.”

Ice-cold lovely sweet soda slid down my throat, feeling all sorts of good. “Don’t stress, Mal. Vegetables are your friend.”

“You lie, child bride.” His mouth stretched wide in disgust and he retrieved a bottle of juice from the fridge. “Never mind. I’ll just pick it off.”

“No, you’re going out,” said David. “Me and Ev are having date night too.”

“What? You’re f**king kidding me. Where am I supposed to go?”

David just shrugged and scattered pepperoni atop his steadily growing creations.

“Oh, come on. Evvie, you’ll stand up for me, won’t you?” Mal gave me the most pitiful face in all of existence. It was sadness blended with misery with a touch of forlorn on top. He even bent over and laid his head on my knee. “If I stay in town they’ll know we’re here.”

“You’ve got your car,” said David.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Mal complained. “Don’t let him throw me out into the wild. I’ll get eaten by f**king bears or something.”

“I’m not sure they have bears around here,” I said.

“Cut the shit, Mal,” said David. “And get your head off my wife’s leg.”

With a growl, Mal straightened. “Your wife is my friend. She’s not going to let you do this to me!”

“That so?” David looked at me and his face fell. “Fuck, baby. No. You cannot be falling for this shit. It’s only one night.”

I winced. “Maybe we could go up to our room. Or he could just stay downstairs or something.”

David shoved his hands through his hair. The bruise on his poor cheek, I needed to kiss it better. His forehead did that James Dean wrinkling thing as he studied his friend. “Jesus. Stop making that pathetic face at her. Have some dignity.”

He cuffed the back of Mal’s head, making his long blonde hair fly in his face. Skipping back, Mal retreated beyond the line of fire. “Alright, I’ll stay downstairs. I’ll even eat your shitty broccoli pizza.”

“David.” I grabbed his T-shirt and tugged him toward me. And he came, abandoning his pursuit of Mal.

“This is supposed to be our time,” he said.

“I know. It will be.”

“Yes!” hissed Mal, getting gone while he was ahead. “I’ll be downstairs. Yell when dinner’s ready.”

“He’s got a girl in every city,” said David, scowling after him. “No way was he sleeping in his car. You’ve been played.”

“Maybe. But I would have worried about him.” I tucked his dark hair behind his ears then trailed my hands down to the back of his neck, drawing him closer. The studs in his ears were all small, silver. A skull, an “x” and a super tiny winking diamond. I hadn’t noticed it before.

He pressed his earlobe between his thumb and a finger, blocking my view.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

“I was just looking at your earrings. Do they mean anything special?”

“Nope.” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek. “Why were you frowning earlier?” He picked up a handful of mushrooms and started adding them to the pizzas. “You’re doing it again now.”

Crap. I kicked my heels, turned all the excuses over inside my head. I had no idea how he’d react to my knowing the things Lauren had told me. What would he think if I asked about them? Starting a fight did not appeal. But lying didn’t either. Withholding was lying, deep down where it mattered. I knew that.

“I talked to my friend Lauren today.”