Paris parked her Subaru where the tourists would park on Main Street. Looking down the street, she saw a couple of paparazzi stalking her shop. It wouldn’t be wise for her to go there just yet. Plus, she had to get through this and get to the airport. Dashing down Main Street, she headed to the modern gallery area, to Sterling Pennington’s Gallery.

Her assistant always asked her if she ever got a bit star struck when she dealt with all these big names, and the truth was she didn’t. Part of her, all these years, had rationalized they were just like Logan on some level. Just people. People with histories and heartbreaks and pasts. Granted, many of the billionaires, movie stars, and country singers she associated with for their events were definitely the intimidating type. They all were clearly self-assured and knew their minds, but they were just people at the end of the day.

Of course she thought of Logan. After last night, things would be different. Butterflies thrummed in her gut. Wouldn’t they? She wouldn’t see him again until tomorrow night at the opening event for All-Stars, where he was scheduled to greet the public.

At the gallery door she put herself in work mode, telling herself that she would fix this issue with Sterling and Montana. Before she could open the door, it was opened for her and out stepped Texas Waters, larger than life with his six-foot frame, boots, belt buckle, and leather jacket.

The bad boy of country music pulled her into a hug. “Paris Ford has come to save us,” he said, pulling back and wiggling his dark eyebrows at her. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “You look great.”

Every part of her froze. Texas Waters had charisma, she would give him that. She’d been so vulnerable last year at Montana’s concert. She’d only gone to the event because she had to make sure it went smooth and the crowds were under control. After Texas had gotten off the stage and they’d spoken for a couple of minutes, he asked if she wanted to join the crowd and enjoy Montana’s concert with him from the pit.

Maybe it had been because of his blond, broody looks, or maybe it’d been because of his bad boy ways. He’d let out a low whistle and complimented her summer dress and boots. She didn’t really know what caused it, but before she knew it, she’d been swept away with Texas, swaying to Montana’s songs. She’d always been a big fan of country music.

She knew she’d only let Texas kiss her that night because Logan had taken the stage and announced his engagement to Kim. Kim had come out on stage with her augmented breasts, three-inch heels, and jean miniskirt, and they’d done a really horrible make out session that ended with the crowd caterwauling with those stupid wolf howls. The kiss she’d shared with Texas had been pretty good.

Now, he grinned at her seductively. “I told you I’d be coming back for more this year.”

Montana, Sterling, and Hunter walked out behind him, Montana clapping softly. “Well, there you are, Ms. Ford. I thought we’d have to scare you out of your rabbit hole. At least so poor Texas here could see you.”

All the thoughts about how normal it was to work with famous people fled from her mind.

Texas wore a stupid grin. “Your people kept telling us you had to leave town. Well, what can I say? I needed to see you.”

Her heart fluttered and she had to admit, Texas Waters was a bit intoxicating. But then she got it.

This was a setup.

Sterling let out another low laugh and came to her side, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. “How are you faring, Ms. Ford, with Logan unleashed somewhere?”

It was strange for her to hear Sterling Pennington ask this question like it would be a normal conversation between them. They weren’t friends. No, they were acquaintances for this whole event. Of course, sometimes she would see him at different events she put on for swanky movie people who were in town. Last year she’d done a Masquerade Ball for Harold Swenson out on his ranch and he’d been there. She’d noticed a few months later Sterling had married the girl he’d come to that party with, but none of that made Paris and him friends.

“Umm … wait a sec. You guys really aren’t fighting?”

Montana waved them into the gallery, out of the heat. “Here, let’s go talk, Ms. Ford. We know the paparazzi have been going pretty crazy looking for Logan and looking for you.”

Until this point, she hadn’t realized it would be this bad. Sure, Michelle had been calling her and having a fit and she’d seen a little stint on the internet, looking for Logan, with Kim going crazy. But this? She didn’t understand it. They went into the gallery, where it was much cooler.

Cameron Cruz shook her hand. “I didn’t want to stage a coup, but these yahoos talked me into it. Of course Montana said you would have to surface if he demanded that he speak with you.” He winked at her. “Man, that guy has an ego the size of Texas.”

That sent them all into laughter.

Hunter James was there as well. He shook her hand. “Hey, I’m the one from Texas. I think I get to have an ego the size of Texas.”

She relaxed, taking in a large breath of air and centering herself. This was fine. Of course she had to juggle a lot of big personalities. This was an All-Stars Event. She had to deal with all the big dogs. That’s what Shane called them, anyway. “Well, thank you, gentlemen, for making me feel so flattered that you would go to all these extremes to get a chance to talk to me, but let me get it straight. None of you are in a fight or threatening to leave the venue?”

Sterling pointed at Montana. “I’m sorry, Ms. Ford. It’s Montana’s fault, really.”

Montana laughed with the others. “I’m sorry.”

The door dinged and Cooper Harrison hurried in. He wore a work T-shirt, khaki shorts, and Tevas, and looked a bit like a mountain man. “What’s the emergency meeting?” he asked, out of breath.

The rest of them burst into another large round of laughter.

Montana came forward and shook Cooper’s hand. “Well, we had to get a chance to see Ms. Ford, here.”

Cooper shook his hand and then shook all the rest of their hands. “Oh brother.”

Texas gently put an arm around her and pulled her into him, a bit possessively. “Hey, let’s help the woman out.” He turned to her. “No, we’re all fine. It’s going to be a great event this year. But c’mon, Paris.” He put his other hand over his heart. “Are you going to fall back in love with Logan and leave me?”

His dramatics got a round of snickers.

Though she knew her face was on fire, she gracefully gave him a narrowed look. “Well, Mr. Waters,” she said, making sure to keep it formal, “do I look like the kind of woman who would fall all over myself for an old boyfriend?”

That sent the group of men snickering.

“That’s right,” Hunter called out gruffly. “My wife would say you always got to make that man sufficiently beg before he gets back into your good graces.”

Montana cleared his throat and put his hand up to stop the jesting. “Okay, we are wondering, have you seen Logan? Is he okay?”

Lying had never been her strong point, but she didn’t even flinch or blush. She didn’t know what happened to her calm, collected self, but she lost her cool. “You all should be ashamed of yourselves, wasting my time and using this as an opportunity to do nothing more than gossip about a fellow All-Star. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll expect you gentlemen can keep it together until the event.”

Just as she reached for the door, Texas grabbed it, holding it open for her. “Oh, let me get that, I want to walk you out.”

The group of men said parting words, which she didn’t stop to acknowledge. Part of her—although knowing this type of thing was part of the job—was livid. How dare they! Get her to come out of her “hole,” is that what Montana had said? The nerve! She had her son to worry about. She shouldn’t be messing with these idiots. She booked it down the steps of the gallery and down the street the opposite way from her office toward the tourist parking lot.

Texas was on her heels. “Hey. Paris. I wanted to talk to you.”

She wasn’t stopping. Rude. Double rude. What, did they think Logan would be surfacing if she surfaced? Was this a ploy? Ugh! Famous people! It’d been the thing she had ranted and raved to Shane about when she wasn’t in a good mood.

Texas took her by her arm, just above her elbow, and stopped her. “Paris, wait.”

It hurt to be stopped so swiftly. “What?” she demanded, her mind already in a frenzy. “I have to pick my son up at the airport.”

Texas frowned. “Hey, I’m sorry about that. I really did want to see you again. I’m sorry about all that. It was rude. They shouldn’t have concocted that scheme.”

She shrugged him off and started for her car. “I’m sorry, Texas. I … it’s not going to work out right now.”

Texas kept pace with her. “I get it, Paris, you’re helping an old friend out at the moment.”

None of them had believed that she wasn’t with Logan. It was pointless to deny it. “Yeah, something like that.” She didn’t have time for this.

Texas exhaled. “I just, it’s been a rough year for me, too. I thought maybe we could get to know each other better, but I get it.”

She halted, remembering reading something about him last year. Something about his father getting diagnosed with cancer.

He bumped into her, and both of them stumbled before he caught her to prevent them both from falling. “Oh, sorry.” He pulled back.

“I’m so sorry to hear about your father,” she said.

A slow smile played at his lips, but his eyes glittered with tears. “Thank you.”

She reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. “I have to go get my son.”

“I know. Go.” He nodded. “It’s cool.”

Suddenly, a camera guy popped out of nowhere and snapped a picture, and then reporters swarmed around them, asking questions.

“Ms. Ford, did you know Logan was at the cemetery? Do you have anything to say about the last time he was in town and you were together at the cemetery? Mrs. Ford, are you dating Texas Waters?”

Her heart raced. “What?” She honed in on that reporter and Logan being at the cemetery, but the reporters were disorienting her, crowding in and asking her questions. Cameras flashed.

Her phone buzzed in her hand. She saw it was her father and answered it, worried it would be something about Ty. “Dad?”

“Kim is going to the cemetery. You have to save him, Pear.”

Her mind was whiplashed. “What?”

“Logan went to the cemetery to forgive his father. And Kim just vlogged she’s going there. She is in Jackson. You have to go save him from that woman.”

Ty. Logan. Kim. Logan at the cemetery. She cringed, not knowing what to do. His father. His father. His father. Yes. That is what had started it all. The unraveling. The thing that had finally undone Logan, starting on the same track of his father, ruining Logan. Ruining everything.

Texas took her arm. “How can I help?”

Some of the paparazzi kept taking pictures of them, while others moved to their cars. They were like sharks, smelling blood and wanting to get in on the feeding frenzy. Then, she had an idea. She started running back to the gallery.

Texas was next to her. “What?”

“We need to borrow Sterling’s helicopter and use all that star power to get to the cemetery and help Logan.”

“Explain.”

“Logan went to the cemetery to forgive his father and Kim heard about it and is heading there.”

Texas digested the information, then sprinted ahead of her, calling out as he took the steps to the gallery two at a time. “I’m on it!”

He burst through the doors, with Paris following him. The men looked stunned.

Paris hurried and explained, then felt tears on her face as she pleaded with them. “He doesn’t need to be caught in this storm of press at the cemetery. He doesn’t remember anything. He doesn’t, and this, the death of his dad … it really sent him into a spin back then. And Kim is insane.”

Montana swaggered next to her, giving a nod. “Of course we’ll save him.” He turned around, barking out. “Sterling?”

Sterling was already heading up another level of stairs. “I’m already letting my chopper guy know he needs to start her up now!”

The other men all moved into action, calling people.

Hunter James was next to her. “My people will go there and help contain the press while we get him out of there.” With Montana at one side and Texas at the other, they rushed out to the back of the gallery.

Paris had known there was a chopper behind the building. She heard it when Sterling would go somewhere sporadically, and the whole Main Street would pause and watch the great Sterling Pennington chopper off, like some movie set or something. This time when she heard the blades start, it was her heading toward it.

Hunter was there and Cooper and Sterling hopped in, and of course, Montana and Texas. It was a large chopper. Cooper hopped in too, flashing her a grin. “Those guys deserved that ribbing back there; they shouldn’t have played their prank. It was rude.” He handed her a helmet like the ones everyone else was already wearing. Sterling was talking in the microphone to the pilot, and before she knew it Montana had her strapped in and the wind was rushing through them and they were sailing over Jackson toward the cemetery. The men were discussing where to land.

She could see Logan standing by a grave and the paparazzi swarming him, but they hadn’t encroached too close, yet. She was grateful, but knew that soon they would start asking all the tough questions. She didn’t know how Hunter had coordinated it, but a Suburban was in the field next to the cemetery and they were landing and rushing into the Suburban, then riding to the cemetery.

She caught sight of Kim walking across the cemetery grass toward Logan, and pointed to her. “No!”

When the Suburban pulled up next to the grave, all the men got out. As if they knew exactly what to do without coordinating with each other, they spread out. Montana intercepted Kim. “Well, look who we have here!” The hive of paparazzi swarmed to the bigger star power walking in the opposite direction.

She heard reporters calling out. “Montana, is it true Lily is suing the city of Jackson? Hunter, are you really buying a horse track in Colorado? Cooper, are you and London going to ever get married? Sterling, are the rumors true? Is Sayla pregnant? Texas, are you ever going to quit working with Montana and go it alone?”

Overwhelmed by the goodness of these men that had just gone into battle with her, and right after she’d chewed them out, she started walking to Logan. He didn’t seem to pay attention to any of the show, only stood there, his arms crossed, staring at his dad’s marker.

He was wearing Shane’s UC Berkeley shirt and she wondered if he didn’t have any clean clothes. Then she thought of how Shane was supposed to wear those clothes when he’d come to the cabin. He’d never done that—come to the cabin for a quiet weekend. It’d never worked out. Like everything else in their marriage, it was a bit unreal, like it had never been meant to work out.

The t-shirt wasn’t big enough for Logan. It stretched, making Logan look more hulkish than he naturally was. More muscled. The tattoo of the wolf peeked out at the edge of a sleeve.

Paris stopped next to him. “Logan, Kim’s here.”

As if woken from a dream, he smiled at her. He turned to see the crowd, then swung back to the grave, his face set in concentration. He studied the grave marker. It read, “Beloved Father.”

She didn’t move, tried to block out all the paparazzi mess going on near, but not too near.

“Beloved.” His fist clenched. “I should scratch that part off.”

She didn’t know what he was thinking, but they needed to leave.

Logan didn’t wait for her to reply. He just reached out, his hand in the air, his hand poised so she could choose to accept it or not.

She reached for it. It felt intimate, taking his hand, his fingers interlacing with hers like they used to. Possessive. Semi-vulnerable. In high school, when you walked the halls with your fingers interlaced, it was a statement. Now her heart was breaking at the way Logan looked at her.

Tears were in his eyes. “I think I can forgive him, Pear. I think so. Can you forgive me?”

Warmth filled her at his sincerity. This was the Logan she loved.

“I ruined everything. But I don’t want to be like him. I don’t want to keep ruining everything. I want to spend the rest of my life making everything up to you.”

She couldn’t stop herself; tears flooded down her cheeks and she trembled. She fell into Logan’s arms and he held her close. He smelled like her laundry detergent and Irish Spring. It was so many things swarming her senses. It was them.

“I love you, Pear.” He squeezed her tighter. “But let’s go!”

Then, she heard her name. “Paris. Logan. This way!” Texas was waving them over to the Suburban.

She didn’t know how they did it, but the group of All-Stars was there, surrounding them, taking them to the Suburban, but Montana was holding on to Kim, who was yelling out, “Logan!”

They got into the Suburban and rushed to the helicopter. Texas put his hand out to Logan. “I’m Texas. Nice to meet you.” Logan shook his hand, and then the others were introducing themselves.

Hunter James had a phone to his ear, barking out orders. “Get Montana and take him back to Jackson. Get the red Mustang and take it to Sterling’s gallery.” He turned to Logan. “Is that okay?”

Logan looked a bit baffled. “Yeah.”

The rest of the men laughed.

Logan stared into her eyes. “You did this. You saved me.”

It touched her, how he was now. How he wanted her forgiveness. She nodded.

Logan jolted in his chair. “Ty. You’re supposed to be at the airport.” He turned to Hunter. “Can we give the lady a ride to the airport to pick up her son?”

Hunter grinned. “Heck yeah! We’ll even give her son a ride home in the helicopter if he wants one.”

Paris couldn’t believe what was happening. She was terrified because she knew Shane would hate this kind of reception. She looked at her phone; it was barely one and she would be close to on time. She quickly texted Shane. I’m almost there. Please wait.

Immediately, he texted back. Fine. I’m only waiting because Ty has missed you so much.

More worry. What would Shane do when he saw Logan?

A couple of minutes later they arrived at the airport and the pilot descended onto the tarmac. She wondered if maybe Logan could just wait in the helicopter. Man, her life was ridiculous.

Before they finished landing, Logan leaned over and asked her, “Do you want me to just wait here?”

Gratitude washed through her, and she marveled that he really was the old Logan. Kind, considerate. He knew what she would be facing. She nodded, feeling relieved, but still unsure how she would bring Ty back to the helicopter without Shane realizing it.

As they climbed out of the helicopter and Logan asked them all to wait, she realized she wouldn’t have to worry about hiding it from Shane, because he was already on the tarmac, scowling, with Ty and Shari in tow.

“Mom!” Ty yelled from the wheelchair he was in.

She rushed to him, hugging him fiercely. “Baby, are you okay?”

“We get to ride in a helicopter?” Ty asked.

“Yeah.” She tried to have enthusiasm in her voice, but she heard Shari’s intake of breath and looked up to see Shane’s face.

It was the face he always wore when he spoke of Logan: one of repressed anger and hatred. “Perfect.” He turned to her and gave her a withering glare, letting her know she would pay for this. He patted Ty on the head. “See ya, bud.”

Ty wasn’t paying any attention. “Mom! Look, there’s Logan Slade!”