Ash spun to face him just in time to catch a cold aluminum can in his left hand. He was about to tell his brother that it was too early to start drinking, even for him, when he caught sight of the wordsRaspberry Lime Sparkling Waterwritten in pink and green on the whimsically decorated aluminum.
“Oh,” he said instead. “Seltzer. The un-spiked kind.”
Boone cracked a can open for himself and thenstrode back into the living room, dropping onto an oversized chair kitty-corner from the couch.
“I tend not to drink when I’m with Kara. Also, I think it’s only decent to wait until there’s a p.m. after the time.” He nodded toward the couch to his right. “Why don’t you take a load off. Unless, of course, you’re just passing through.”
Of course he was just passing through. Ash Murphy didn’t belong in Meadow Valley anymore. He wasn’t sure he ever did, not like Boone and Eli at least.
“I am,” Ash admitted, making his way to the couch and sitting anyway. “I mean, I’m only in town until things in the press die down, and then…” His voice trailed off. And thenwhat? Make another record, he guessed, after rebuilding an image he still couldn’t figure out how to maintain even after ten years.
He sat but flinched when something hard poked him in the thigh. Peeking out from the cushion was the corner of a book. He pulled it free and produced a board book of Maurice Sendak’sWhere the Wild Things Are, and handed it to Boone. “I think this might belong to your swearin’ sailor in the other room.”
Boone laughed and dropped the book onto the arm of the chair, a sure sign it would end up in a similar spot in the not-too-distant future. “I’ve been wondering where that book ended up. That was Colt and Jenna’s gift for Kara’s first birthday.Oh!” His eyes widened. “Colt’s sister…Willow Morgan! Isn’t she the one who…?” But Boone had the decency not to finish that sentence.
Just the mention of her made the wound on Ash’s temple throb and the blood in his veins turn molten. He groaned at the simple sound of her name, at the irreconcilable way his body reacted to just the thought of her, and at the constant realization that if shehadkilled him with that vase, he probably would have deserved it.
“Can we talk about something else other than my tour?” he asked.
Boone shrugged. “Are you working on a new album?”
Ash pinched the bridge of his nose. “No,” he answered with a sigh.
“On vacation? Hiding out from the paparazzi after your divorce? Not that Iknewyou were getting a divorce, by the way. But I guess that’s par for the course since none of us knew you were getting married until Mom and Dad sent a reel thatthey’dbeen sent by your publicist.”
Ash took a sip of his seltzer, swallowed, and then let out a bitter laugh. “There it is,” he said.
Boone set his can down on the table between the chair and the couch and threw his arms in the air. “What the hell do you want from me, Ash? ”
“What da hell do you want fwum me, Ash?” a tiny, powerful voice called from Kara’s room.
Boone’s jaw tightened as he exhaled through clenched teeth.
Ash leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “I want you to be pissed at me if you’re pissed at me! I want you to yell at me or hit me or—I don’t know—crack a vase over my head instead of acting like you’re happy to see me when I’ve been such a shitty brother!”
“Shitty brother!” Kara called.
Boone growled and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes.
Ash stood. “I shouldn’t have come here.”
The door flew open, and a woman with a stylishly messy blond bun burst into the apartment. “Mama’s home!” she called. “Where’s my Supergirl?” She strode toward Ash, beaming, then stopped short of throwing her arms around his neck. “You’renot my husband,” she said, matter-of-factly. Then she threw her hands over her mouth. “Ashton? Oh my god. Is that really you?”
And then shedidthrow her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight just as Kara came running out of her room yelling, “Mama! Mama!” and “Shitty brother!”
“Murrrrphyyy!” Casey cried, letting her brother-in-law go.
But Boone was already up and out of the chair.
“Sorry, Babe. I really am. But Ash and I were just about to…do a thing. Be back in an hour or so,okay?” He scooped his daughter into his arms, spun her once, and then blew a raspberry on her cheek as the young girl erupted into peals of laughter.
“You better run,” Casey warned, holding her arms out for the daughter exchange. But then she jutted out her chin, placing her cheek in front of Boone’s mouth.
Boone obliged, kissing his wife and then his daughter before grabbing Ash by the elbow and dragging him toward the door.
“You boys better behave,” Casey told them as her husband opened the door. “And Ashton Murphy, you better come back here for a proper visit before you leave town again.”
“He will!” Boone called over his shoulder as he ushered Ash through the door, pulling it closed behind him.
