Ty tried to quash his disappointment. He had hoped this trip would be a chance for them to talk, to work through their issues and get their relationship back on track. “Okay, no problem. I’ve got it covered.”
Luc laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure you’ll be fine, but I’m still gonna go with you on this trip. I wanna be there in case you need back up.”
Luc was more than his boss, more than a mentor. He’d become a valued friend and as someone who knew Avery, he valued his input where she was concerned. “Okay, are you planning to meet me at the airport?”
“No, I’ve got a meeting with some sleazy agent and his client this afternoon. You’ll be hooking up with Trey in L.A. tonight. Avery sent you the itinerary, right?”
“She sure did.” Her email was direct, to the point, complete with her company signature. Anyone reading the directive would think they were client and publicist, nothing more. Not lovers, not even friends. “I’ve got everything I need.”
“Great, well you won’t be performing until tomorrow night so you can hook up with Trey and rehearse tonight. I’ll fly in tomorrow morning. You’ve got that radio interview at 11:00, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool, I should be there in time for that. Okay, if you need anything just give me a call.”
“Will do, thanks. I’ll see you in the morning, Luc.” He pressed the button to disconnect the call as he turned down the private road to the Easton’s ranch.
It had been a few weeks since he’d seen Melanie and he couldn’t wait to hold her in his arms again. Nightly phone calls and emails couldn’t compare to seeing the way her face lit up when his truck pulled into the driveway. She had always been the one bright spot in his life, no matter how bleak things seemed. She would wrap her little arms around his neck and make him believe that everything was going to be okay. He couldn’t imagine his life without her. The thought that Abby still had the ability to walk back into their lives and limit his access to that little girl terrified him. In his heart, she was his, but legally, he had no right to claim her as his own.
She was waiting at the door and ran down the stairs as soon as she saw him, her arms outstretched, waiting for him to scoop her up and spin her around until they both got dizzy.
His heart stammered when he saw her and the problems of the last week just melted away at the sight of her gap-toothed grin. “Hey, there’s my girl.” He scooped her up and kissed her soft cheek, burying his nose in her berry-scented hair. “I’ve missed you so much, baby.”
“I’ve missed you too, Daddy.”
Just the sound of that word on her lips always made his heart expand, filling his chest. “How’ve you been, honey?”
She laid her head on his shoulder. “Okay, I guess. I was worried you wouldn’t come though.”
Guilt assailed him. It had been too long since his last visit, but his life had been a whirlwind of studio time, interviews, rehearsals, and public appearances in the past few months. “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to visit for the past few weeks, sweetness, but I’m here now. Why don’t we go inside and you can show me that new puppy your grandparents got for you.”
She bounced in his arms, her blue eyes shining with excitement. “Daddy, wait ‘til you see him. He’s the cutest thing ever.”
He smiled and kissed her cheek. “He can’t be cuter than you.”
She rolled her eyes and giggled. “Of course not. He’s a dog, silly.”
George and Marilyn Easton appeared at the door, smiling at their granddaughter’s admonishment. They held the door open for them and stepped back until Ty had set Melanie on her feet again.
Marilyn held her arms open to Ty and he stepped into them without hesitation. She had been like a second mother to him growing up and their shared love for Melanie had only served to strengthen their bond over the years.
“It’s so good to see you, darlin’.” She pulled back to look at him, a smile lighting her soft features. “We are so proud of you.”
Melanie tugged on his hand. “We heard your song on the radio this morning, Daddy. Did you write it?”
He thought of his inspiration for the song, Avery. He hoped his daughter wouldn’t question him about what motivated him to write the ballad. “I sure did, sweetness.” He knelt down in front of her. “Did ya like it?”
She nodded her head as she wrapped an arm around his neck. “Uh huh, my friends like it too. They want to know if they can have your autograph.” She tilted her head to the side and looked at him. “Are you famous now, Daddy?”
He laughed and squeezed her around the waist. “I don’t know about that, sugarplum.”
She frowned. “I don’t think I want you to be famous.”
He looked up at her grandparents and noted the concern etching their features. “Why’s that, honey?”
“If you’re famous, you won’t have time to come see me no more.”
His heart broke at her innocent declaration. This little girl had already been abandoned by her birth parents. There was no way he would ever do anything to add to the burden she’d had to bear. “You really think you’re gonna be able to get rid of me that easily, sweet thang?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him with all her might. “I don’t ever want to get rid of you.” She buried her face in his neck. “You’re not gonna leave me too, are you?”
He looked up at his in-laws, blinking back the tears blurring his vision. They too were visibly shaken by their granddaughter’s distress, though they didn’t look as blind-sided as he felt. Melanie had never questioned his commitment to her before, but he’d never allowed three weeks to pass between visits before either. Sunday afternoons had always been their time together and he cursed himself for allowing anything to interfere with that. He would never give her reason to question him or his devotion to her again.
“Baby, I’m never gonna leave you. I love you. You know that, don’t you?” He gripped her shoulders, prying her away from him so he could look into her eyes.
Her bottom lip trembled and tears slipped down her plump cheeks. “I know you do, but you’re gonna be a big singer now. You’ll have to travel all over the place, my teacher said so.” She bit her bottom lip. “How do you know you’ll still have time to come see me?”
He squeezed her hard, holding her tight against him. “Honey, I’ll always make time to visit you, I promise. You’re one of the most important people in the world to me, Mel.” He kissed her cheek. “I can’t imagine my life without you.”
She kissed his cheek, dampening it with her tears. “I love you,” she whispered. “You’re the best.”
He had to swallow the lump in his throat before he could speak. “No, you’re the best.”
She smiled and slipped her hand into his as she stood up. “Come, I want to introduce you to Max now.”
He winked at his in-laws. “I can’t wait to meet the infamous Max.”
After a brief visit with Max, George found them in the barn. “Mel, your grandmamma needs your help packing up those cookies for your daddy to take with him on the road.”
She jumped up and wiped her hands on her pink jeans. “Oh, I almost forgot.” She looked up at Ty. “You won’t go anywhere, will you?”
He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right here, I promise.” Apparently satisfied with his response, Ty watched her skip all the way from the barn to the house. After shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, he turned toward his father-in-law. “Is everything okay with her, George?”
He took his cowboy hat off, setting it further back on his head so Ty could see his face. “She’s been a little out of sorts lately. I think she’s been missin’ you.”
Ty sighed, settling himself on a bale of hay near the horse stables. “I wish I’d known. I should’ve picked up on it when we talked on the phone. Damn it, the last thing I want is to make that little girl question the way I feel about her.”
George smiled, hooking an arm over the metal railing. “No one would ever question that. You’re a good dad, better than most.”
“Thanks. I’ve always tried to do right by Mel, but I feel like I’ve failed her.” He propped a boot on another bale of hay. “Maybe if we’d had more time together...”
“Hey, you did the best you could. Sure as hell more than my daughter’s ever done.” His green eyes hardened. “I’m ashamed of that girl, Ty. We didn’t raise her to be an irresponsible, money-grubbing...”
His words trailed off and Ty wondered whether he felt guilt for being disloyal to his only child. “Have you heard from Abby lately?”
George settled his hat down and bowed his head, kicking at the straw with his snakeskin boot. “Only time we ever hear from her is if she wants somethin’ from us. She’s broken her mama’s heart, not to mention Melanie’s.”
Ty shook his head. There was nothing he could say to excuse Abby’s behavior so he chose to remain quiet.
“I get the feeling there’s somethin’ you wanna talk to me about, Ty?”
George was right. The time had come to tell him he was ending his farce of a marriage. “I’m divorcing Abby, George.”
The older man closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t say I didn’t see this day comin’. I knew it was only a matter of time before you’d want your freedom.”
“My parents have decided to sell off most of their ranch, so they’ll be able to pay off the loan as soon as the deal with their neighbor’s been finalized.”
“That something they want to do, or are they doing it because they feel they have to?”
Ty plucked a piece of straw from the bail, twisting it between his fingers. “No, they’re ready to retire. They wanted to keep the ranch in the family, hoping one of their boys would want to follow in their footsteps, but all of the burden’s been fallin’ on J.T.’s shoulders and he’d much rather be ridin’ bulls than runnin’ a ranch.”
George chuckled. “That boy sounds like me at his age.”
“Anyway, I hope you can understand why I need to do this.”
He looked Ty in the eye. “I get the feelin’ there’s more to it. Somethin’ you’re not telling me?”
His father-in-law had always been a man he looked up to, someone he trusted and respected. “There’s a woman.”
George gently stroked one of his horses. “I thought that might be the case. Must be serious?”
“I’d like it to be, but the fact is, it can’t go anywhere as long as I’m married.”
“No, I guess it can’t.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, George. You know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and my family...”
George held his hand up to silence Ty. “I should be thanking you for everything you’ve done for my granddaughter.”
“I love that little girl like she was my own. I don’t give a damn what some paternity test says, you know that.”
“I do know that. In fact, Marilyn and I have been talkin’ about it and we’d like to name you as Melanie’s legal guardian, should anything happen to us.”
Ty frowned. “You know I’ll always be there for Mel but wouldn’t her mama have a problem with that?”
George shrugged. “I’m not saying you wouldn’t have a fight on your hands, but we all know what kind of mother my daughter has proven to be, and I can’t tell you how much it pains me to say that. My wife and I wish things could be different. We’ve been waitin’ eight long years for Abigail to step up and be the kind of mama that little girl deserves.” He sighed. “Like you, we can’t wait any longer.”
“I understand.”
“We just wanna know that our little angel will be taken of, should something happen to us.”
Ty stood and extended his hand. “I’m honored you would ask. You know you can count on me.”
George smiled and took his hand. “That I do, son. Thank you.” He covered Ty’s hand with both of his.
“You’re a good man, Ty, a good man and a damn fine daddy.”
Avery was buried in work when a knock on the door forced her first break of the day. “Come in,” she called out.
Luc poked his head in the door. “Hey, pretty lady.”
She rubbed her eyes and waved him inside. She’d been burning the candle at both ends ever since she fired her assistant and it was finally starting to catch up to her. “Hi, Luc, come on in. Take a load off.”
He stepped inside and pulled a face that bespoke his disapproval. “What the hell, Avery? You still haven’t replaced Lisa? I told you that you were crazy to fire that girl without having a replacement lined up.”
“And I told you it was a spur of the moment decision. I can’t have an employee I don’t trust in my office jeopardizing my business.”
He sat down in the chair across from her. “I still can’t believe Ty would be into her. Are you sure you didn’t misinterpret what you saw that day?”
She tossed her pen down on the desk, watching it bounce over a stack of papers. “The man was half naked and they were all over each other, Luc. According to Lisa, he made the first move.” She shrugged. “I don’t know whether he came on to her or the other way around, not that it matters. The bottom line is if I hadn’t walked in when I did, he would’ve been doing her on the desk inside of five minutes.”
Luc crossed a leg over his bent knee. “I don’t know. It just doesn’t sound like the Ty I know. That guy is totally into you.”
She reached into her desk for a bottle of pain relievers and popped the top, depositing two capsules into her hand. “Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think you do, Luc. I know I sure as hell didn’t.”