“Can we have a late lunch? Talk things over?”

“How did you find out I’d be here?” he asked. “How did you get my number?”

“I can’t actually remember… Can we just have a meal? A drink? Dessert later on?”

He laughed. “You don’t eat dessert, Cherise.”

“Please, can’t you call me Mother?”

“No, I can’t. That train left the station a long time ago,” he said.

She straightened her spine. “Are you staying at your grandmother’s house?” she asked.

He briefly wondered what that had to do with anything and then as quickly he realized family would start showing up wherever he was housed. He employed his considerable acting talents to behave as if bored. He looked at his watch and said, “You have sixty seconds to spit it out—tell me what you want from me. Otherwise, there is no conversation between us. I’m here on business.”

“I want a job in your film.”

“Well,” he said, smiling. “There’s a big surprise. And jobs for Blaine and Bryce, as well?”

“I’m not in the business of finding them work—we’re not in touch. I just want something to do, quite honestly. And if I could do it with my son…”

He took a step toward her. “You’re not in touch with them, yet they also had my cell number?”

“I can’t explain that. I have nothing to do with that.”

He whistled. “Amazing,” he said. “Sorry, Cherise, but we’re not going to work together. It would be a very bad mix. Have a nice day.” And he stepped past her into the office building. But his heart squeezed. That was his mother, and she was still not above using him. No wonder he was so f**ked up.

When he stepped into Jay’s office, Sean Adams was already there and rose to shake his hand. The first thing Dylan said to Jay was, “Your office is now off-limits. Cherise Fontaine met me at the front door, looking for work in a movie I haven’t even agreed to do. I think we’d better move this meeting to a more secure location or you might have every one of my extended family in the lobby. You have a leak.”

“Well, shit,” Jay said. “Come with me.”

“I hope there’s a back door,” Dylan said.

Katie had been cautious about how much time Dylan spent around her cabin while the boys were home so they didn’t start to think of him as a member of the family. If he was around for dinner or the evening, she shuffled him out the door by the time she was getting the boys ready for bed. But it didn’t take Andy and Mitch any time at all to notice Dylan was missing. They asked if he was coming over five minutes after they got home from summer program on Friday afternoon. Katie had talked to herself all day long about sucking it up; she did not want her boys to grieve his departure. “Well, funny you should ask,” she said with fake nonchalance. “Dylan had to leave town—he has to work.”

“When is he coming back?” Mitch asked.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I’ll be sure to ask him that if he calls. But, honey, if he’s out of town working, he’s very busy.”

“I don’t want to miss him,” Andy said. “When is he calling us?”

Oh, God, that shot her through the heart. He was not likely to call. All part of goodbye was admitting their relationship, such as it was, was over. He had to go where work led him and she had to get on with her life. That was a roundabout way of saying they’d go for the clean break.

But what she said was, “I’m not sure, sweetheart. But if he does, I promise to ask him if he’s coming back to visit.”

That brief exchange had prompted her to reach out to her brother. “I need a little backup,” she said. “If you have a little time this weekend, could you spend some with the boys? Anything that comes to mind.”

“Sure,” he said. “You and Dylan have some plans?”

“Well, that’s the thing—Dylan had to go to L.A. to work. Of course I knew this was going to happen soon. L.A. or Montana. The man has to earn a living.”

“Are the kids upset about that?”

“No, I wouldn’t say so, but they did have fun with him when he was here and they asked about him. I think it might be best to distract them. Do you mind?”

Conner, oblivious to what might be under the surface of Katie’s request, simply answered, “Be glad to. I love hanging with the guys. Think they’d like to go fishing?”

Katie let go a sigh of gratitude. “Sunday?”

“Sunday it is. You want to go?”

“I think I’d like to spend a little time with Les. Thank you for her, by the way.”

Conner chuckled. “My pleasure, but I didn’t exactly get her for you.”

Just what the doctor ordered, Katie thought. The boys were distracted by fishing with Uncle Conner and Katie had some girl time with Leslie. When Leslie suggested the front porch, Katie asked for the back porch, away from the curious eyes of neighbors who might pass by.

“Have you heard from Dylan?” Leslie asked right away.

Katie shook her head. “I’m sure that’s my doing. I suggested he had to do his thing and I should get on with my life. Les, I don’t fit into his life and he doesn’t really fit into mine.”

“Are you sure about that?” Leslie asked.

“From the first second I saw him, I knew we came from opposite worlds. He might be living in Montana and running a small airport, but he’s a movie star. All he had to do was pick up the phone and bam! Hollywood wants him back.”

Leslie was shaking her head. “He doesn’t seem like that kind of guy…”

“But he is, that’s the fact. He’s never going to be a regular guy who does ordinary work—he’s always going to be that guy that everyone wants, the guy with one foot out the door. And surrounded by a lot of irresistible women, I’m sure.”

Leslie straightened and leaned toward Katie. “Your feelings are hurt,” she said. “I don’t blame you, but I think you’re dreaming up roadblocks instead of bridges.”

“He told me he didn’t know when he’d see me again. And that I was the best time he’d ever had.”

“Well, that was dumb of him. I think he missed his cue to say he loved you.”

“Because that’s not in the script, Les.”

“I don’t usually do this, but… Call him, Katie. Call him and ask him how he is—tell him you miss him.”

“I can’t,” she said.

“Why not?”

“Because right now my heart hurts. If I call him and he doesn’t answer or return the call, my heart will be in tiny pieces.” She shook her head. “I’m so naive—I didn’t think after just a few weeks, I’d be in this kind of shape.” Then with glistening eyes she said, “Please don’t tell Conner. Dylan didn’t do anything wrong—it’s not his fault I let myself fall in love. He told me he was only staying a little while, waiting to hear about a potential job in L.A.—I knew that from the start. Honestly, I sent him away. He’s not the kind of man to put down roots.”

“He had roots in Montana… I’m just saying, maybe he didn’t really want to be sent away.”

“If he didn’t, I’ll hear from him,” Katie said. “But I haven’t yet. Not even a call to say he arrived safely.”

Katie didn’t like how much she thought about her time with Dylan, but she was determined to move forward. On Wednesday after summer program, she took the boys to McDonald’s. She told herself it was just a treat for them, not a walk into the past for her. But when they wanted to go to the bathroom and she said she’d take them, Andy said, “If Dylan was here, we could go in the boys’!” And she almost burst into tears.

Man, she’d really been living in a fantasy land. She had briefly thought both their lives were about to change based on a chance meeting. What a little girl she’d been!

One thing she could hold close to her heart—he had been very good to her. Generous, tender, funny and considerate. He didn’t act like the kind of guy who was using someone for sex, not that she had any experience with that. And when she could stop feeling sorry for herself long enough to be honest with herself, she had to admit, he never misled her. Never. She was determined to be a grown-up about this. It was brief, it was awesome, it was over.

And after that trip to McDonald’s, the boys stopped asking when he would call or come back.

The following weekend brought the Fourth of July and a town picnic, an event she hoped would help take her mind off Dylan. She met even more neighbors, got to know quite a few of the young mothers who took their kids to the summer program and relaxed in the shade of a big tree while her kids ran around with their new friends. But she couldn’t help wondering how Dylan was spending the holiday.

A couple of days later she drove to the grocery store while the boys were in school. She loaded up on basics—milk, cereal, bread and eggs. Standing in the magazine aisle, she glanced at the gossip rags. And there, looking back at her, was Dylan Childress, those bedroom eyes and sexy smile grasping at her. On one paper there was a headline that read Guess Who’s Back in Town? The next had a picture of him laughing, holding a drink, his arm about the shoulders of an older man described as his producer. Apparently there would be a movie after all. And the third front page picture was Dylan pressing his lips into the neck of a beautiful blonde, an actress who had briefly played his girlfriend in the old sitcom, Rough Housing, when they were both about fourteen. The caption was Old Flames Reunited?

Well. He’d moved on. She had been having trouble up to that very moment, but the sight of those pictures provided a terrific kick in the ass.

She left her grocery cart standing abandoned in the aisle and bought all three papers. So…he managed to slip back into his former lifestyle with ease. He’d gone to Hollywood to make a movie, to party, to hook up.

No wonder he hadn’t called. He’d been quite busy.

Eleven

After reading a script and having a few meetings with Jay and Sean about potential costars, Dylan put the contract negotiations in the capable hands of his grandmother’s current agent, Lee Drake. From this point on his conversations with Jay or Sean would not involve details of the terms of the contract.

They did have conversations about the script, about rewrites and wholesale changes to the story, other actors being considered. Although the agents were still talking, Dylan was aware of a ridiculous amount of money for his role as a badass biker dude who ends up being the good guy. “That’s my favorite part,” he told Adele. “I’ve been trying to end up the good guy for a long time now.”

“I don’t think you see yourself clearly,” she replied. “Not in terms of the script, but in life.”

It should not have surprised him that he continued to show missed calls on his phone log from Cherise, Bryce and Blaine after a week of ignoring them. He was nearly to the point of returning at least one of those calls if only to make the point that he was not taking their calls. But that choice was taken away from him while he was standing at the Starbucks counter waiting for his coffee.

“Dylan?”

Even though it had been many years, he recognized his stepsister’s voice. He turned and said, “Hello, Blaine. What a coincidence, running into you here.”

She shook her head and her pretty blond hair swished over her shoulders. “It’s not a coincidence. I’ve been looking for you.”

He figured as much. She must have followed him. But from where? He hadn’t been going to Jay’s office since that first day. They’d met in restaurants, lobbies, Jay’s or Sean’s homes, various venues not advertised or even recorded in appointment books or on BlackBerries.

“Do you have a minute?” she asked.

She was a beautiful woman and he remembered when he was just a boy that he had a terrific crush on her. She was his third stepfather’s daughter and spent lots of time at his home. Thank God she’d never given him the time of day; he’d been far too young to know how complicated she was. Now, at about forty, she was still stunning, difficult to comprehend given the problems she’d had since her teen years—prescription drug issues, some alcohol abuse, a few stints in rehab. He’d lost track of her marriages, or maybe he’d ignored them.

“Let’s get this over with. Can I buy you a coffee?” he offered.

“Skinny latte,” she answered.

When he handed her the latte, she tilted her head and said, “Patio?”

“After you.”

She led the way outside and sitting on the far side of the patio at a table, under the protection of an umbrella, was Bryce. Of course.

Bryce, only thirty-two, wasn’t holding up nearly as well. He looked bloated and bleary-eyed and Dylan was having trouble even remembering what his issues were. And in a flash of pity he recalled that Bryce had been only twelve when Adele took Dylan away. Blaine had been twenty and had already had many acting jobs, including a brief guest appearance on Dylan’s sitcom. But ages aside, these two and a few others from his family had been left to the dysfunction of Cherise and her ex-husbands, not to mention the instability of their peer group. They probably had no idea what a functional family looked like.

Dylan had a moment of feeling like the most emotionally stable member of the family and that was a first. He usually felt impossibly screwed up.

Bryce stood from the table and, with hands in his pockets, gave a solemn nod, eyes at half mast. And Dylan remembered—depression was his half brother’s shtick. Medication might account for his dazed appearance. “Sit down, Bryce. Take a load off,” he said, gesturing with his cup. “All right, you two. What’s this about?”