"Aaron?"

He turned his head and looked at her, and for the first time, he showed signs of irritation. "I'm trying to do the right thing here, Viv. I'm trying to be supportive."

"But?"

He stopped pacing and slapped his hands down at his side. "What is it that you want from me? You want the supportive big brother? I did that."

"I know you did, and I'm thankful for it, but I can tell you've got more on your mind. I hate how things have been strained the last couple of weeks. I've missed you." She walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "But I also need you to be honest with me. I may not like what you have to say, but we've never lied to one another."

He looked down at her and his expression went from irritated to compassionate to wary. "This is all the stuff I was afraid of."

"What?" she gently urged.

"I know Matt's lifestyle. I know he thinks he's happy right now, but it was only going to be a matter of time before he got restless. It just happened sooner than I thought. When I talked to him last week-"

"Wait. You talked to him last week? He didn't mention that."

Guilt was written all over his face before he looked away.

"Aaron? What happened? What did he say to you?"

"If Matt didn't talk to you about it, there's probably a good reason. And again, I think the two of you need to talk when he gets back." He paused. "He is coming back, right?"

Panic had her by the throat for a second before she remembered their earlier conversation. "I asked him to go and pick up dinner for us before I got on my call. He's just out getting it. He'll be back."

"Oh. Okay."

It was his quiet acceptance, oddly enough, that made her snap. "I want you to tell me what the two of you talked about last week."

"Viv-"

"No!" she cut him off. "I'm serious. If it had gone well, the two of you would be talking again. But you're not. That tells me you argued some more and I want to know why! Spill it, Aaron!"

He walked over and sat back down on the sofa and looked up at her sadly. "Matt came over to see me. He made the first move to make things right. Only...I wasn't ready to deal with it. I told him he wasn't good enough for you, that I knew he didn't have staying power, and that I particularly knew he didn't want to stay here in town and make a life for the two of you."

She groaned as she listened and sat down on the opposite end of the sofa.

Aaron gave a helpless shrug. "I told him I didn't believe he was serious, so he asked me what it would take to see that he was being honest."

"And what did you tell him?" she asked with annoyance, unable to believe the two men who meant the most to her in the world were being so damn stubborn with one another.

"I told him he needed to deal with his father, that he needed to go and see him and put that ghost to rest."

Vivienne immediately jumped to her feet. "You did what?" she yelled. "Are you out of your damn mind? Why would you do that? Why would you even suggest such a thing?"

"Don't you see?" he yelled back. "His father is the reason he never came home! He's the reason he doesn't want to be here. How the hell do you expect to have a life with him here if he can't move on from that part of his life?"

"Who the hell are you to tell him that he even has to? And you of all people, who knows most of what he went through at the hands of that man, should never ask such a thing of him."

"I had..." Aaron stopped and looked at her oddly. "What do you mean I know most of what he went through?"

She was beyond furious with her brother. And Matt. It boggled her mind that this had all transpired a week ago and Matt hadn't mentioned it to her. Clearly he wasn't big on sharing things, something she was going to talk to him about when the two of them were alone later.

"Do you remember the story you told me? The one about the last time Matt saw his father?"

"The night of the big fight? Of course I do."

"Well, you don't know everything," she said snidely and picked up her forgotten glass of wine and finished it.

"What are you talking about?" he snapped, his irritation clearly rising.

"It wasn't just a fight that night. His father held a gun to his head and threatened to kill him," she said, pleased by the shocked look on his face. Nodding, she stepped in close to him and repeated the story Matt had told her. "So think about that. Would you want to go and make peace with the twisted psychopath who threatened to kill you?"

Aaron paled. "Holy shit," he hissed. "Matt never said a word... That night...I asked him what had happened, but he never said..." Then he groaned.

"He still has nightmares about it, Aaron," she said, some of her anger ebbing. "Not that long ago he told me he'd stay here-for me. But maybe it was all too much. With you pressuring him and all the memories..." She sat back down on the sofa and felt the tears building again. "It's no wonder he jumped at the first opportunity to leave."

She looked over as Aaron sat beside her. Vivienne rested her head on his shoulder.

"You still don't know that for sure," he said softly. "We don't know the whole story."

With a huff, she shifted, pulling her legs up to curl against her. "I hate waiting."

That made Aaron chuckle.

"Yeah. I know. But he's just getting dinner. He'll be back soon."

"Small-town living at its finest," Matt murmured as he scanned the small liquor store for a bottle of decent champagne. It had been a while since he'd had to do this for himself, and now that he thought about it, he had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for. Deciding on the most expensive one he could find, he grabbed the bottle and walked up to the counter to pay.

"Oh my gosh," the guy behind the counter said with a big grin. "You're Matty Reed!"

Panic hit Matt for a second as he realized he wasn't wearing a hat or glasses or anything to cover up who he was. And then it hit him-he didn't need to. He was okay. Everything was going to be okay. The story of him playing onstage with Riley had hit the papers, and there was no mention to his Broadway failure-only praise for the amazing show they'd put on. Putting a smile on his face, he reached out to shake the kid's hand. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

"Oh man, this is so freaking cool! No one is going to believe this!" He fumbled around for a minute before pulling out his phone. "Would you mind taking a selfie with me?"

"No problem," Matt replied. "Why don't you come around the counter so we can get a good shot?"

The kid jumped the counter and immediately put his arm around Matt and had the camera angled for the shot. Once he was done, he thanked Matt profusely, making Matt laugh.

"Are you sure you're old enough to work here?"

"I get that a lot. I'm Andrew, by the way," he said, still grinning from ear to ear.

"Nice to meet you, Andrew." Matt pulled out his wallet as Andrew rang up the champagne. "Hey, is there still a florist over on Webster Street?"

"Sure is. New people took it over about three years ago, totally rehabbed the place and made it bigger. You can't miss it."

Taking the bag and the receipt, Matt thanked him and walked out, feeling good. He still hadn't called in their dinner order yet, so he had some time to go and pick out flowers for Vivienne. In the time they'd been together, he realized how much she had done for him and how little he'd done for her. That was about to change.

The offer to do the shows with Riley was everything he had been dreaming about-but he wanted Vivienne to go with him. Maybe he should have talked to her first, before giving Riley an answer, but he had been so excited that he hadn't been thinking completely straight.

What if she doesn't want to go? he thought. Hell, Matt had no idea what he'd do then. He would be disappointed, no doubt, but surely they'd come up with a compromise. They had to. They were good together and always seemed to find a way to make things work. Maybe she'd come with him to some of the shows, and they'd go back to her place during the breaks. Matt knew enough about the tour that the dates were fairly spread out, so it wasn't like he was going to be gone for weeks on end.

Okay, they could make this work.

He drove through town and made a left onto Webster and drove past some familiar sights-the dry cleaner, the butcher, and the dentist's office where he'd gone while he was growing up. This was home. Every one of these places had a memory attached to them that made him smile. Turning into the parking lot on the right, he saw that the florist was definitely larger than the last time he'd been here. Back then, it had been a single storefront, but now it was easily three times the size and was called...Reed's Floral Gifts.

His heart squeezed hard in his chest at the same time the rest of him went numb.

It was a coincidence.

It had to be a coincidence.

The smart thing to do would be to simply pull out of the parking spot and leave. No one would know he had ever been here and Matt would simply push it out of his mind.

But he couldn't. Now that he'd seen it, he had to know.

As far as he knew, the only Reeds in town, ever, were him and his parents. His mother was gone, and Matt knew for sure that he didn't own the place, so that could only mean one thing. And he almost laughed at the absurdity of it. His old man, the twisted alcoholic, owning a flower shop? It just couldn't be.

With a deep breath, Matt climbed from the car and stared long and hard at the sign. It wasn't as if Reed was an unusual name. And he had been gone for more than a dozen years. There was a very real possibility that it was just a coincidence. For all he knew, it was a chain and they all had this name.

Still...he couldn't quite shake the unease that was keeping him from moving.

"Do you want to buy some flowers?"

Matt looked down and saw a little girl of about seven or eight years old staring up at him with blue eyes the size of saucers. She had light brown hair and was holding on to the leash of a French bulldog puppy. Crouching down to pet the dog as it sniffed Matt's shoes, he smiled at her. "As a matter of fact, I do want to buy some flowers."

She smiled at him, obviously pleased with his answer. "That's good. We haven't had a lot of customers today."

The comment made Matt chuckle. "So...you own this place?" he teased, and when she giggled her entire face lit up.

"Noooo," she said, still laughing. "My parents do. But I have to come and hang out here after school and on the weekends. Murphy comes with us too."

Matt looked down at the dog and gave him a good scratch behind the ears. "So I'm guessing this is Murphy."

"Uh-huh. He's a really good dog and my best friend." She glanced at Matt. "Do you have a dog?"

"Nope...but I always wanted one."

"So maybe you should get one," she said simply.

"Carly!" a woman's voice called from behind them.

"Uh-oh," Carly whispered. "That's my mom. I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

Matt quickly stood up and waved to the woman who was eyeing him warily.

"I'm gonna be in so much trouble..."

Murphy started to whine beside them. "You should probably take him for a walk. I'm going to go buy some flowers." They waved to each other as Matt walked toward the store and the woman. When he was no more than a few feet away, her eyes went wide.

Ah, so she recognized me, he thought. Not a bad thing. He was used to it.

Then she paled.

Okay. That was new.

"You're...you're..." she stammered, and Matt realized she was a lot older than his normal fans. Not that it mattered. He was used to women being nervous around him and a little tongue-tied, but this one looked like she was about to get sick.

"Hey," he said softly, placing a hand on her arm. "Are you all right?"

"I...I need to go inside," she said quickly and all but ran into the store.

Matt followed, but once inside, he began looking around. The place was huge. He couldn't remember ever seeing such a big display of flowers. They were everywhere. Some were real, some were silk, and there seemed to be something for every occasion.

"You've got some great stuff here," he called out. "I'm looking for something for my girlfriend." It hit him that he had no idea what kind of flowers Vivienne liked, what her favorites were, and frowned. "I'm not sure what exactly she likes, but I'd love to do something a little different than just a bouquet of roses. What do you suggest?"

Silence.

She probably was checking on her daughter or getting some water-maybe calling or texting a friend to say that Matty Reed was in her store. He almost laughed at the thought. Now that things were back on track and he wasn't the laughingstock of the entertainment world, it didn't bother him to think of more fans coming out to see him.

Matt continued to browse and came across several displays of lilies. The colors were vibrant, beautiful. He opened the door to the display case and smelled them and thought, Perfect. Yeah, these were the flowers he wanted to get for Vivienne. Now all he had to do was find little Carly's mom and- "Hello, Matt."

The last time he'd heard that voice, it had been in a nightmare two nights ago.

Slowly, he turned around and had to fight the urge to be sick. Matthew Reed Senior. Yeah, he was a junior, but he'd never used it. The face was the same for the most part, but it was older. The hair was grayer. And there wasn't any of the cocky defiance Matt remembered.

For the life of him, Matt couldn't make himself utter a single word. His throat went dry and his tongue suddenly felt like it was the size of his fist.

"I'd heard you were in town," his father said, his voice oddly gentle, almost contrite.

And Matt had to wonder who had tipped him off. Until today, no one had acknowledged him by name. He wanted to know who he'd heard it from, who had ratted him out, but still he couldn't make himself speak.

Standing before him was his every demon. This man was the reason for every bit of self-doubt, insecurity, and feeling of worthlessness he'd ever had about himself. But looking at him now, all Matt saw was a stranger, a shell of the man from his worst memories.

As if sensing the direction of Matt's thoughts, his father took a step forward. "Matt...I..."

Matt took a step back and saw the sad acceptance on his father's face.

"Daddy! Murphy peed and pooped. Can I give him a treat?" Behind them, Carly walked in with the dog. Her cheeks were rosy and she was doing her best to hold on to the dog's leash so he wouldn't take off running around the store. She spotted Matt and grinned. "Did you buy your flowers yet?"

It hit him like a punch in the gut. This little girl was his sister. Well...half sister. And he looked from her to his father and sneered. If this son of a bitch- "Why don't you get Murphy his treat, Carly?" The little girl scampered off, leaving them alone.

Matt cleared his throat and knew he had to speak. There was no way he could go back in time and change anything that happened to him, but he could certainly make sure that nothing happened to that sweet girl. He stepped in close to his father-menacingly close. "If I ever so much as hear a whisper that you even thought of hurting that innocent little girl, of tormenting her like you did to me, I'll make sure you pay," he sneered.

And right before his eyes, his father seemed to shrink-his shoulders sagged and he hung his head. "Matt," he whispered. "I...I don't even know what to say. Or where to begin." Lifting his head, he looked at his son. "Not a day has gone by that I haven't wanted to die for what I did to you. To your mother."