"I thought he was going to move on from that."

"So did I. She has no chance of ever making it in the business and yet she somehow keeps convincing him to work on projects with her. I'm telling you, Matt, it's like everyone can see it but him."

"She's going to kill his spirit if nothing else."

"Exactly."

"So what do we do?"

"Honestly?" Riley asked. "I don't think there's anything we can do. He's a grown man, and if he hasn't listened to any of us by now, he's not going to."

"So we're supposed to sit back and let him crash and burn?"

"Isn't it what we've all been doing in one form or another?"

Shit. Riley had a point. They were all stubborn bastards who had to learn their lessons the hard way and on their own. "I guess."

"Look, for what it's worth, all this crap with you is dying down. Mick is doing damage control and the tapes they're releasing seem to be the key to shutting down the rumors."

"I hope so, Ry. I really do. I'm going out of my mind."

"So use the time wisely."

"What the hell does that even mean?"

"Use the time to write some music. Think of the future. We'll all end up back in the studio together eventually. It would be great if we had some well-planned-out music ready to go."

"You know that's not my strong suit. That was all you and Julian."

"Bullshit," Riley quickly said. "You contributed just as much as any of us. Don't sell yourself short. Don't let these reviewers get in your head. You're a kick-ass musician and a talented songwriter. Go do what you do best!"

Matt laughed. "Ease up with the pom-poms. Sheesh. That was a little too 'go, team, go!' for me."

"Hey," Riley said with a laugh of his own, "it's what I do."

Matt waited a few seconds before he said, "Thanks, man. Seriously."

"I wish there was more I could do."

"You're doing plenty-more than I did when you were the one down."

"Yeah, well...it's partially my fault too. I didn't want to reach out to anyone. I'm glad you called me, Matt."

"Do you think I should call the guys?"

"I don't think it can hurt, but I don't think it's going to help much either. It may make you feel better just knowing you tried but...just don't put too much hope in them responding. They're both dealing with their own crises."

"I hear ya."

"Listen, Matt, I gotta go. Savannah and I have a plane to catch and the car's going to be here to pick us up in about twenty minutes and I'm nowhere near ready to go."

"How'd you convince her to fly again? I thought she hated it."

Riley chuckled. "It's a short flight and a private plane. Every once in a while she agrees to it, but once we land, it's back to ground transportation for a while."

"You're a good man," Matt said, and he truly meant it. "Be safe out there, Ry. And again, thanks."

"Anytime," Riley said, and Matt could hear the smile in his voice. "Don't hesitate to call me again if you need me. I'm always here to listen, even if you just need to vent."

"I will. Now go. I don't want you to get in trouble with the wife for not being ready on time."

"Such an ass," Riley teased before he said good-bye.

Matt stared at the phone in his hand for a solid minute, smiling the entire time. It was good to know he had friends supporting him.

For the first time in weeks, he felt mildly optimistic.

"You're joking, right?"

Vivienne suppressed a grin as she shook her head. "Nope."

"But...this is..."

"A closet," she finished for him.

Matt eyed her warily. "So these four boxes are all for this one closet?"

She nodded. "If you need me, I'll be unpacking in the kitchen." Turning to walk away, she stopped when she heard Matt laughing softly. "What's so funny?"

"You."

She turned and faced him fully. "Me? What did I do?"

"You just thought you'd toss some ridiculous task at me like a closet and get yourself off on a technicality."

Rolling her eyes, she crossed her arms and did her best to seem bored and unaffected. "There is no technicality. You asked me to trust you with a task and I did. You're unpacking the linen closet while Aaron unpacks my office. I chose the kitchen. That is what you asked me to do, right?"

"You're something else," he said, laughing a bit harder now. "You chose the biggest task, with the most boxes because you didn't trust me or Aaron with it."

Damn. Vivienne hadn't realized how transparent she was. All day she had been feeling so smug about her plan, and it had taken all of three minutes for Matt to see through it. "Are you saying you can't handle unpacking a closet?" she asked, hoping to distract him.

"I think I can handle a closet," he said, mildly defensive. "Linens. Towels. Whatever. It's not exactly brain surgery."

"Good," she replied. "Then if you'll excuse me, I have my own boxes to attend to."

"If I get done before you do, I'm coming in there to help," he taunted as she walked away.

Doing her best not to react, she simply called out a word of thanks as she made her way down the stairs and to the kitchen.

Looking at all of the boxes stacked against the wall had Vivienne smiling. Rubbing her hands together, she was anxious to get started. This was her thing-organizing and unpacking and making sure everything had its place. Its perfect place.

She cast a wary glance over her shoulder, wondering what kind of havoc Matt was wreaking on her poor linen closet. Forcing herself to focus on her own task, she reminded herself that whatever he did, she could fix after he was gone and no one would be the wiser.

"Okay, let's do this," she murmured as she opened the first box. Cabinet liners and racks and organizers. This was the key to making everything work. Every drawer, every cabinet had to be lined for protection. That in and of itself was a big task, but the end result would be well worth it.

Music began to play from somewhere in the cottage, and she wasn't sure if it was from Matt or Aaron but either way, she was thankful for it. It was the perfect background for her task. Carefully, she measured and cut and placed the liner everywhere it was needed. Once that was done, she moved on to putting her new flatware bins in their drawers and then all of the new racks for lids and baking sheets in their rightful places.

A look at the clock showed it had been an hour already. She looked around and realized she hadn't heard a peep out of her brother or Matt. Aaron she could understand. He was hooking up all of her electronics-computer, phone, Internet-in her office and around the house, but Matt only had a closet. A giggle escaped her at the thought of one of the biggest rock stars in the world sitting upstairs folding towels and sheets.

It was probably a good thing for his ego to remind him of what it was like to be a regular person again.

"Okay, next box," she said and turned and moved it across the room.

Baking pans. Just the sight of them made her smile. As someone who had been food blogging for years, it was important for her to have top-of-the-line cookware and bakeware. Out of the two, she preferred cooking, but every once in a while she would test out her baking skills and was pleasantly surprised with the results.

Each piece was placed lovingly in its new spot so that if anyone were to open the cabinet, it would look neat, clean, and organized. Stepping back, Vivienne smiled with satisfaction. "And that's how it should be." Closing the doors, she immediately went and carefully cut the tape lines on the box and collapsed it so she could transport it easily back to her town house and put it back together for the next load.

And that was her pattern for the next six boxes. Every pot, every pan, every lid had its place. And it was glorious.

Another hour had passed. Where the heck were the guys? After quickly and neatly stacking all of the collapsed boxes by the front door, Vivienne went in search of them. In her office, everything seemed to be completed. All that was needed was her furniture. The same was true for the equipment in the living area. How had she not even heard Aaron in there? The main floor was one open room; only her office was separate. Walking up the stairs, she found a stack of collapsed boxes and still no sign of Matt or her brother. What in the world?

Unable to suppress her curiosity, she opted to check out the linen closet before continuing to search for the guys. Pulling open the door, she stopped and stared with wonder.

Towels were folded neatly and color-coordinated-just as neatly as she'd packed them.

The bedsheets were folded perfectly and separated by set-just as she'd placed them in the box.

Spare pillows were on the top shelf beside her two spare blankets. The pillows were fluffed and the blankets stacked with the same precision.

On the bottom shelf were three bins with cleaning supplies, and they were all lined up by size, their labels facing forward. On the floor were her humidifier and air purifier-both still in their boxes with pictures facing forward, so anyone searching for them could see what they were.

She was impressed.

Seriously impressed.

Maybe Matt wasn't quite as useless as she had pegged him to be. True, this hadn't been a difficult task, but she'd imagined him sort of tossing things haphazardly on the shelves and calling it a day.

"Aaron?" she called out. "Matt?" No answer. Vivienne walked into her bedroom and bathroom and saw no sign of them. With no other choice, she went back down the stairs and then stepped out of the house and noticed the two men walking toward her. "Where were you?"

Aaron chuckled and then looked at Matt. "I told you she didn't even notice us leaving."

Vivienne looked at them both curiously. "When did you leave?"

"About an hour and a half ago," Matt said. "You were so engrossed in talking to yourself about the wonders of cookware that you didn't hear us calling out that we were going to order dinner and would be back soon."

"Soon? It took you an hour and a half to get dinner?" she asked rather than admit she hadn't heard a word either of them had said earlier.

Aaron shrugged and then motioned to the boxes in his hands. "Pizza. I would have been back sooner, but a bunch of football players from the high school came in and they were running behind."

She looked at Matt. "Did you go with him?"

He shook his head. "Uh...no. I hung out and waited for Aaron to get back." He looked uncomfortable admitting that. He paused. "So, you're hungry, right?"

As if on cue, her stomach rumbled. Vivienne blushed. "Does that answer your question?"

Both men chuckled.

"You want to eat at your place or mine?" Aaron asked.

"Why don't we eat outside again, on your porch? I still don't have any furniture."

With nods, they all turned and walked back over to Aaron's. Matt went into the house to retrieve drinks and napkins.

Once he was out of earshot, Aaron asked, "So? Did the closet and the electronics meet with your approval?" He was teasing her and had a grin on his face as he set up the pizza boxes.

"Well...I haven't tested any of the computers or televisions yet, so I can't really say."

Aaron laughed. "That's my girl. No need to overdo the praise." He shook his head. "And the closet? Was it all done to your satisfaction?"

Vivienne looked beyond Aaron and into the house to make sure Matt wasn't nearby. She lowered her voice. "I was impressed. I figured he'd dump stuff and run. But everything looked perfect." When Aaron started to comment, she immediately put her hand over his mouth. "But if you tell him I said that, I will deny it!"

When she lowered her hand, they both laughed. "What's wrong with letting him know he got it right?"

"I don't think your friend needs to have his ego stroked. It might be good for him to get used to doing things without praise." It wasn't meant to be snarky, but she had a feeling that was exactly how it came off.

"Or," Aaron quickly said, "it might be nice to tell him how happy and thankful you are because he's been getting kicked around a lot these last few weeks."

Well, damn. She hadn't thought of that, and she immediately felt bad. "You're right. I can't believe I didn't think of that myself. I'm normally a pretty compassionate person."

"Pretty compassionate? Viv, you are the queen of compassion. That's why I can't understand why you're so antagonistic toward Matt. He's a good guy, and we've been friends for what seems like forever. He's not a stranger, and he's always been nice to you. So what gives?"

Hell, there was no way she could tell her brother her attitude was a defense mechanism because she was embarrassed over something that happened years ago and was a nonevent, if she were being honest. So she'd kissed Matt-and so he didn't remember.

Okay, that still burned, but she was working on it.

"I...I don't know," she said evasively. It was rare that she kept any secrets from her brother. With parents who were essentially absent, each was all the other had. But this was just something she felt she needed to keep to herself. Aaron was a good man-a good friend and a good brother-and the last thing she wanted to do was put him in the middle of an awkward situation. "I guess I'm just a little out of sorts and-"

Just then, Matt stepped back outside, his arms full of a variety of drinks. He looked at the two of them as if he suspected he was interrupting something. "Um...sorry."

"For what?" Aaron asked, his tone light again. "It looks like you grabbed one of everything in the refrigerator!"

Matt smiled and stepped closer, putting the bottles on the table. "Well, I wasn't sure who would want a beer or who would want soda, and then I saw the bottled water..." He shook his head. "I figured it would be safe if I just brought out a few of everything and let you all decide what you want."

"Thanks, man," Aaron said and then motioned for them all to sit down.

For the next few minutes, they were all too busy eating to talk, and Vivienne took the time to chastise herself. She was a grown woman and she was behaving like a child. A lot of it was because of her own bruised ego. Just because she remembered their kiss and it had rocked her world didn't mean it meant the same thing to Matt.