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Then hastily dropped them. “I’d hoped to see you while we were both in New York, but I guess you were busy.”
    The jolt from her fingertips was still vibrating in her toes. “If you had called, I’d have managed it.”
    “I did call.” His eyes remained on hers, searching, even as he shrugged it off. “It was then I fully realized how big you’d become. I never got past the first line of defense.”
    “I’m sorry. Really.”
    “It’s no big deal.”
    “No, I would have liked to have seen you. Sometimes the people around me are too protective.”
    “I think you’re right.” He put a hand under her chin. She was more beautiful than his memory of her, and more fragile. If he had met her in New York, in less sentimental surroundings, would he have felt so drawn to her? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
    Friends was what he’d asked of her. He struggled to want no more.
    “You look very tired, Van. Your color could be better.”
    “It’s been a hectic year.”
    “Are you sleeping all right?”

    Half-amused, she brushed his hand aside. “Don’t start playing doctor with me, Brady.”
    “At the moment I can’t think of anything I’d enjoy more, but I’m serious. You’re run-down.”
    “I’m not run-down, just a little tired. Which is why I’m taking a break.”
    But he wasn’t satisfied. “Why don’t you come into the office for a physical?”
    “Is that your new line? It used to be ‘Let’s go parking down at Molly’s Hole.’”
    “I’ll get to that. Dad can take a look at you.”
    “I don’t need a doctor.” Kong came lumbering back, and she reached down for him. “I’m never sick. In almost ten years of concerts, I’ve never had to cancel one for health reasons.” She buried her face in the dog’s fur when her stomach clenched. “I’m not going to say it hasn’t been a strain coming back here, but I’m dealing with it.”
    She’d always been hardheaded, he thought. Maybe it would be best if he simply kept an eye—a medical eye—on her for a few days. “Dad would still like to see you—personally, if not professionally.”
    “I’m going to drop by.” Still bent over the dog, she turned her head. In the growing dark, he caught the familiar gleam in her eye. “Joanie says you’ve got your hands full with women patients. I imagine the same holds true of your father, if he’s as handsome as I remember.”
    “He’s had a few…interesting offers. But they’ve eased off since he and your mother hooked up.”
    Dumbfounded, Vanessa sat up straight. “Hooked up? My mother? Your father?”
    “It’s the hottest romance in town.” He flicked her hair behind her shoulder. “So far.”

    “My mother?” she repeated.
    “She’s an attractive woman in her prime, Van. Why shouldn’t she enjoy herself?”
    Pressing a hand against her stomach, she rose. “I’m going in.”
    “What’s the problem?”
    “No problem. I’m going in. I’m cold.”
    He took her by the shoulders. It was another gesture that brought a flood of memories. “Why don’t you give her a break?” Brady asked. “God knows she’s been punished enough.”
    “You don’t know anything about it.”
    “More than you think.” He gave her a quick, impatient shake. “Let go, Van. These old resentments are going to eat you from the inside out.”
    “It’s easy for you.” The bitterness poured out before she could control it. “It’s always been easy for you, with your nice happy family. You always knew they loved you, no matter what you did or didn’t do. No one ever sent you away.”
    “She didn’t send you away, Van.”
    “She let me go,” she said quietly. “What’s the difference?”
    “Why don’t you ask her?”
    With a shake of her head, she pulled away. “I stopped being her little girl twelve years ago. I stopped being a lot of things.” She turned and walked into the house.

Chapter 3
    V anessa had slept only in snatches. There had been pain. But she was used to pain.