“Fucking pervert!” Leif flicked a guitar pick at my head.
“I’m surrounded by children.” Danny groaned, rubbing at his temple.
“Speaking of, where’s Beau?” Lief asked, turning to Danny.
I frowned. “What does Beau have to do with children?”
“Didn’t you hear?” Ryker sat up and straightened his shirt. “The missus is preggo.”
“Oh.” My eyes widened. I had a hard time picturing Phoebe with a baby. She was so selfish and honestly, kinda mean.
“Yeah.” Ryker sighed.
The door ripped open and Beau stomped into the room, his long hair hanging wildly. “I got a call on the way over. I can’t stay. I have a family emergency.”
“Is Phoebe okay?” I asked in concern.
“What? Yeah, no. Phoebe’s fine. It’s, it’s…shit. I have a kid.”
“What the hell? How’d you go from pregnant to a kid already? I just found out about the pregnancy.” And last I saw there was no way Phoebe had been that far along.
“What? We’re not pregnant.” Beau frowned.
Ryker sat up. “But you said—”
“I said we werethinkingabout starting a family. But we haven’t. We’re not even really trying—I just found out I have a full-grown daughter. She’s twenty-two. Lives in Seattle. And her mom just died. I gotta get to Seattle ASAP.” Beau turned to Danny. “Can your assistant arrange a flight for me? Whatever will get me there today.”
“Yeah, sure. Of course.” Danny gestured to the door.
After the door closed behind them, Leif smirked at me. “Dude, his daughter is the same age as your wife!” He cackled, wiping his eyes. “Fucking epic.”
I scowled at the asshole. Unlike Leif and Ryker—who were also laughing at me—I didn’t see the humor.
With impeccable timing as always, his assistant, Ethan, popped his head in. “Hunter Adkins is here for his audition.”
I groaned. Like always with the Long Licks, the second everything started to look up, it all fell apart again.
* * *
That afternoon, after a surprisingly promising audition and jam session with Hunter, minus Beau, I stepped into my house and took in the delicious smells coming from the kitchen.
“Honey, I’m hoooome,” I called out.
“In here!” she answered. “I’ll be right out with your slippers and pipe.”
I grinned and all but ran into the kitchen, so fucking eager to see my wife.
I wrapped my arms around her from behind as she stood in front of the stove, stirring a huge pot of bubbling marinara sauce.
She leaned back into my embrace with a hum. “How was your day, dear?”
“Really good. Well, first really weird, then good.”
She turned in my arms, wound her arms around my shoulders, and gave me a smacking kiss. “What was the weird part?”
“Turns out Beau has a secret daughter he just heard about. He took off to Seattle to meet her.”
“Wow,” Saylor whispered. “That’s, that’s intense.”
