Page 4 of Reckless Encore

“And why is that?” She raised her brows higher and higher, hoping he would hurry and spill the information.

He focused back on the road, then shot a quick glance to his rear-view mirror. “Ty may have mentioned the two of them were fighting.”

“Fighting?”

He lowered his voice. “Don’t tell him I told you.”

“And whydidn’tyou tell me?”

“You’ve been working long hours preparing for the tour. And when you get home, you’re exhausted. I didn’t want to give you something else to stress over.”

Oh, God.

This was exactly what she hadn’t wanted to happen.

Tyler was a good kid. Good grades, good friends, good head on his shoulders. Her gorgeous baby boy had turned into an entirely self-sufficient young man. But she knew the day would come when her focus would stray too far into work for her to see the problems forming in his life.

“You should’ve told me.” She dropped her phone back into her handbag. “You know he internalizes everything. If they’ve had a fight, he’ll be reliving it over and over, trying to analyze where they went wrong.”

“Don’t get angry. Kids bicker all the time.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Not Tyler and Sophie. They never fight. Unless you’ve been keeping that from me, too.”

Ryan sighed. “I haven’t been keeping anything from you. He just started slinking around the house, and when I asked him about it, he told me they were fighting.”

“And what did you say?”

He shrugged. “I said, ‘okay.’”

“Okay?” Her eyes bugged. “Did you at least ask him if he was all right?”

“Sure, I did. He said he was fine.”

She bit her tongue and turned to face the passenger window.Finewas not an appropriate answer. Everybody knew that. Everybody except her husband.

“He’s almost eighteen, Leah. If he’s struggling, he needs to learn to ask for help.”

But who would he ask for help when both his parents were touring the country without him for three months? After all these years, Reckless still couldn’t be trusted to have their manager work off-site. She needed to stick right up their ass in an effort to contain the dramatics, which meant the upcoming tour could be a problem.

Making plans for Tyler to stay with Alana and her teenage kids, Beth and Chase, for a few nights a week wouldn’t be enough. Her son would still be alone for the majority of the time. Self-sufficiency only went so far when you were a teenager living on your own.

“Stop thinking about it,” Ryan warned. “I know exactly what’s going on in that mind of yours.”

“Then you should’ve told me sooner. I would’ve been able to prepare.”

“For what? One little fight with Sophie doesn’t instigate teenage Armageddon. I bet they’re best friends again by the end of the weekend.”

She didn’t reply. Hypothetical hope wasn’t her thing. She liked evidence and proof. And the current evidence of a heartbroken boy in the back seat was proof enough that her son was far from fine. “What if things aren’t fixed by the end of the weekend? What then? I don’t want to leave him home alone if he’s struggling to deal with—”

“With a teenage fight? You’re going to quit the tour because of something that is probably a silly argument?”

She shot a warning look at her husband for the rising volume of his voice. In return, he clutched the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip.

“You’re already flying back and forth each week to keep an eye on him,” he grated. “You’ve also got your spies on the payroll.”

“The cleaner and the cook aren’t really spy material.”

“Leah,” he pleaded. “You need to let this go. He’s a great kid. If he’s going through something, I’m sure he’ll tell us if he needs help.”

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