He hugged her and stepped back after he sniffed her hair.

“I can cook fairly well so I can help with breakfast, too.”

“Baby steps, Vaughan. Let’s just go bit by bit.”

“Don’t you trust me?”

She cocked her head and looked him over. “Depends on the issue.”

He frowned. He wanted to argue, but he couldn’t. He had no ground to stand on because he had failed her. He’d have to prove himself.

“Fair enough.”

* * *

“WELL, LOOKS LIKE I’ve missed some stuff,” Ross said as he came into the kitchen. His tone had a lot of anger and tension in it, which meant what? That he was mad about Vaughan in general or that he’d eavesdropped?

“Good morning to you, too. What stuff?”

“You have a new lodger, I see.” Ross gave a jerk of his head, indicating Vaughan.

This was a sort of angry she hadn’t seen in Ross before. Terse. Clearly agitated. It wasn’t as if he’d walked in on them doing anything untoward at all.

“We do. Vaughan is going to stay in the guest room while Maddie recovers.” Kelly decided to just ignore his snit and move on.

Everyone shifted, uncomfortable, and Kelly stood there, staring at them both. Her life used to be a lot more simple.

“Is there a problem?” Vaughan asked Ross.

Kelly hit her enough point. “Why are you asking him? This is my house.”

Both men looked to her, surprised. As if they were shocked she had an opinion about something happening in her own damned kitchen.

Kensey and Stacey came downstairs before anything else broke out.

Kelly dried her hands. “I’m going upstairs to finish getting ready. We can ride to the hospital together, Vaughan.” She bent to kiss Kensey, who had already caught sight of her dad and headed his way.

Ross followed her up the stairs and into her room. Ross was nearly perfect, but his anger tended to be passive-aggressive and she realized she had no energy to play along. This was extra annoying and she wasn’t interested. If he wanted to say something he needed to do it without some big pouty game.

He sighed dramatically a few times but she pretended he was one of the girls and ignored it while she changed into a nicer shirt.

Ruthlessly, she only allowed herself enough time at the mirror to make sure the ponytail she’d redone was neat.

Finally, Ross met her as she came back into the bedroom from her closet. “He’s here too much.”

“Vaughan? The guy whose kid is in the hospital?”

“He doesn’t give a shit about them. He wants to use them to get close to you. They’re tools to him.” It was such a hateful, wrong thing to say she physically took a step back. Ross noted her reaction and sighed, agitation in the sound.

“That sort of thing demeans you, me and Vaughan, too. Whatever his faults, he absolutely does care about them. He’s supposed to be here when they need him, and the things you just said really piss me off.”

“You didn’t even ask me if he could stay here.”

“Uh. No, I didn’t. Mainly because I didn’t know about it until this morning. He told me he was going to stay in Portland while Maddie was healing up and that he wanted to be helpful with the girls. Am I supposed to say no? That’s a haul for him. I have a big house. His children live here. It made sense to offer.” And she didn’t need to run it by him! He hung out with his ex and her family all the time.

“I’m uncomfortable with him being here.”

Kelly didn’t want him uncomfortable. Or upset or sad or any of that. “Why?” She sat on the edge of the bed.

“He’s your ex-husband.”

“You sleep at your ex-wife’s house at least four times a year. You hang out with her and her family every weekend.”

“That’s different.”

“Why is that?” She hated to keep asking why, but she just wasn’t getting his deal when he did the same thing.

“My kids are there!”

“And mine are here.”

“I don’t want him staying here. And you do.” He said it like he’d never imagined such a thing.

“Well, we aren’t going to agree on everything.” She needed to break the engagement. She should say it right then. It wasn’t fair to either of them. But she had enough drama right then. She just wanted to get her kid home from the hospital. And as annoyed as she was, there was no call to be hurtful. When she broke it off it didn’t need to happen in a house where Vaughan was.

“If you let him stay here we can’t be together. It’s me or him.” Ross couldn’t have known it, but he’d tossed the ultimatum out in a way nearly identical to Vaughan, when he’d tossed out his go ahead and divorce me then if you’re so unhappy eight years ago.

Well, that just made her mad all over again. “You had your ex-wife stay at your house for three weeks when she got a nose job. And she has family in town. I never said a single thing about that.” Though, boy, she’d wanted to a few times. His ex-wife was one of those superhelpless types. He was constantly fixing things at her house. If her internet went down she called him about it. For three weeks she’d camped in Ross’s bedroom while Ross slept in the guest room and paid for daytime help when for heaven’s sake she’d had a nose job, not a liver transplant.

But this was the mother of his children, and Kelly had trusted him to make the choices he thought were best for his kids. And he wasn’t doing that for her.