Page 161 of Ever With Me

“Mommy said we had to check on you,” Audrey said, then put a hand on Maddie’s forehead. “Are you sick, Aunt Maddie?”

“Nope!” Maddie kissed her soft, chubby cheeks. “I’m good.” She stood as Kayla and Logan reached them. “I didn’t know you were coming into town today,” she told Kayla after exchanging a hug.

“I wasn’t.” Kayla searched her face. “Have you been offline today?”

Oh no.

Dread formed in the pit of Maddie’s stomach as she nodded. “Why, what happened? Tell me.”

“Audrey, Mr. Logan and Aunt Nami are going to take you to get some gelato, sound good?”

Naomi took the hint and scooped Audrey up. “What’s your favorite flavor? Chocolate? Mint chocolate? Oh, I bet you’ll love pistachio.”

“Ewwww . . . pishtachtio is yucky,” Audrey said as Naomi carried her off into the store.

Logan gave Maddie a backward glance, worry in his eyes.

This has to be about Brooks.

Maddie felt the blood drain from her face as she looked at Kayla. “What is it? Did something happen to him? Or is he dating someone?” Nausea roiled her stomach, every bad possibility assailing her imagination.

In some ways, the latter would be worse than the former.

The idea of Brooks moving on and falling in love with someone else was probably the worst thing she could imagine happening. It would certainly put a pin in Mike’s plans to exhort more money from Brooks with pictures of them. ..but it would break my heart even more than it’s broken now.

Kayla gripped her shoulders. “No, no, nothing like that.” She released a slow breath. “He put out a new single today. It’s called ‘Ever With Me.’ I’m pretty sure it’s about you. Logan thinks so, too. He was asked about it, and then released a statement that it has nothing to do with you.”

Relief sank all the way through her, replacing her fears with instant tears.

No, no. Don’t cry.

Not now.

She blinked them away and nodded. A single. She could handle a single. He was a musician, after all—new songs would be inevitable. “Oh, thank God. And that’s good, right? It means he figured out a way to get around the contract stuff. Good for him.”

Kayla hugged her again. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” She sniffled and pulled back. “Don’t worry. If he was dating already, I’d go find him and punch him in the face. I’ve been tempted to do that a half dozen times, anyway. But that would put me over the edge.”

Maddie swallowed back a tearful laugh. She sounded so much like Brooks sometimes, too.

“So I shouldn’t listen to this song, I take it?”

“I don’t know.” Sadness filled her eyes. “It made me cry, so I can only imagine what it would do to you. I think he’s still really in love with you, Maddie. And I’m so mad at him for doing this to you. To all three of us. Audrey misses Uncle Brooks so much. She doesn’t understand why he’s not FaceTiming as much as he used to.”

“He’ll probably let you in soon enough.” If Maddie knew Brooks and he’d really loved her as much as she believed, he had to be hurting. She hated he believed he needed to walk away to protect her, but there was no way he’d shut Kayla and Audrey out forever. “I doubt he’s ready to talk yet, that’s all. He wouldn’t have called you and given you his number if he wanted to cut things off with you.”

She’d been tempted to ask Kayla for that number—but Brooks had been clear, too. She wouldn’t intrude on his privacy just because she knew his sister.

Kayla scrunched her face. “You’re not supposed to be trying to make me feel better. It’s the other way around.”

“Like it or not, you’re like a sister to me now. Logan loves you, and so do I.”

Kayla laughed. “Like it? Getting into your Yardley sisters’ girls' club is one of the things I’m looking forward to the most about moving to Brandywood. If there’s room for a fifth sister.”

“There’s always room for a fifth sister. Maybe even a sixth if Jake ever gets around to finding a girl.”

Maddie stepped back from Kayla, her gaze going farther down the sidewalk. If she didn’t know any better, that man with the slick camera . . .

Shit.

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