[[[all of my flaws]]][[[part ii]]]

22.

The talk with Lily had done wonders for how I felt. I could relax now. She wasn't mad at me. She wasn't secretly plotting to tell the world about us. She wanted to be friends and that was fine by me. I even woke up the next morning feeling fresh. Feeling like I could take on the world. I might have lost Emma but there was the added relief that I didn't have to tell her I was married.

Of course I was still devastated about Emma. I still felt utterly lost without her. It was never easy being dumped. And even worse so whenever I turned the tv on, her music video seemed to be on every channel. I turned it off with a sigh and ate my cereal in silence, Will glancing at me from the corner of his eye. I was glad that he didn't question me.

'What are we doing today?' Woody asked his sister.

'Don't need to be at sound check until 5 and Mark isn't here today.' I was glad that Mark wasn't coming round that night. I was in no mood for his sly digs about Lily. He'd text me after the night he realised who Lily was, asking what the hell was going on. When I'd ignored him he had begun winding me up by saying I was sleeping with her on the side. I couldn't deal with him saying such things when Emma and I had only just split. 'So...seeing as we're at the beach, let's go get fish and chips for lunch and make sandcastles.' She said with grin.

'Can we get an ice cream Mum?' Kyle asked.

'If you're good boys.'

'Yay!' He squealed just like a child, making us all laugh. Lily rolled her eyes but laughed nevertheless. I'd already noticed a change in her. She seemed far more chilled out. I didn't envy her job at all. She was first to rise in the morning and last to bed at night, all the while trying to round us up and keep us happy. We had a lot of down time actually, but she was always on her phone, the laptop, or running errands and dealing with problems. When did she get to have a day off? I'd never given it much thought when Dick had been here, but with our tour manager being someone I knew and had once loved, I felt somewhat protective. I hoped she wasn't working too hard.

She ended up having to rent a car as the tour bus was too big to drive into town. She had gone to pick it up and I was shocked when she drove up along side the bus. The three guys were just pulling on their shorts, since the sun had made a late October appearance.

'You can drive now?' I asked her, getting in behind her.

'Yep.' She grinned.

'Told you that you could do it.' I whispered, just as Woody got in next to her. I caught her eye in the rear view mirror, but she didn't seem angry that I'd bought up the past. She seemed almost smug.