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The ride to Santa Monica took forever, and it was only about fifteen miles from the beach. We were in Thatcher’s truck, and he had the sunroof open, allowing the fall air to waft through the cab. I turned to see my handsome boyfriend, who’d rearranged his work schedule to accommodate my trip to Nate Ashby’s estate, smiling and humming along with the radio.

“Thank you for driving me to the meeting and agreeing to stay.”

My Thatcher was an amazing man. He seemed excited to be included this weekend, and as much as I loved him, I was worried about how shit would proceed once I told Nate Ashby I wanted out of the band.

“I’m happy to go along with you. Ashby’s compound is supposed to be amazing. I read that in Rolling Stone Magazine, by the way. Have you been there before?”

I laughed. “I was there when the band was getting together. It’s incredible. The whole touring crew has been invited for dinner. Our roadies. The band. Lerner and the management team from Sound Wave Studios. They’ll all be there.”

“Wow, that’s not intimidating at all. All of those people are going to look at me and say I’m not good enough for you.”

I laughed. “No, they’re not. They all know you’re my partner, and I’m excited for you to meet them. You know the band, and you know Lerner.”

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean everyone is going to like me. You think I’m perfect, so you don’t see my flaws. They might.” The smirk on his face made me laugh.

“I don’t think you’re perfect, Thatcher, and I do see your flaws. I love you in spite of them.” That made both of us laugh.

Thatcher checked the mirrors before he moved into the right lane. The turn for Nate’s estate was about a mile on the right, and traffic sucked this time of day.

“I’ve got something to talk to you about,” Thatcher said as he slowed to a crawl as we approached a stoplight.

“Okay. Shoot.” I stopped scrolling on my phone and gave him my full attention.

“The other day when I went to HQ to add you as my emergency contact, Ms. Benson—that’s the HR director—came up with an interesting piece of information. She said we could register for a domestic partnership and have nearly as many rights here in California as we’d have if we got married.”

“You, uh…married? You wanna get married?” I was sure my face had lost all color.

“Oh no! Not married. Register for a domestic partnership, maybe. I can put you on my insurance that way. It’s a good program through LA County, and it covers health, eye, and dental.”

What the hell was he talking about? Health insurance? He wanted to register as domestic partners, so I’d have insurance? That seemed kind of rash.

“Do you want to register as domestic partners? Seems kind of fast, doesn’t it? Uh, turn right up here.”

Thatcher flipped on his blinker and slowly turned onto the driveway at the entrance gate to Nate’s property. He rolled down the window and pressed the button for someone to open the gate. “Hello?”

“Hello. It’s JD Horn from Accidental Fire. I’m here to see—”

“JD? It’s Kit. Come on inside.” The gate slowly swung open.

I bit my lip as I stewed on the whole domestic partnership discussion.

We drove farther onto Nate’s property, and I directed him to pull around the back of the house to park next to Kit’s large vehicle. I glanced around to see Clancy’s old pickup parked in front of Nate’s huge garage, and Arlo’s SUV parked behind it.

“Looks like most everybody is here. Lerner doesn’t drive, so they probably took a rideshare, and I think Coaster, Will, James, and the rest of the guys aren’t staying the weekend. I think they’re just here for tonight’s cookout. It’s almost like a tradition.”

“Okay. Uh, I guess we better get inside. I’ll get the bags.”

Thatcher got out, but I sat there for a minute, my brain reviewing what he’d said about me being able to use his insurance. I wanted to investigate the situation more before I decided either way.

I followed Thatcher to the house and rang the bell. Nate’s nice housekeeper and cook, Chanice, had left him the year before. It’d been some sort of one-way love affair situation, as I recalled. I was sure Nate had hired a replacement by now.

Kit let us inside and hugged me before shaking Thatcher’s hand. I’d kept my brace in my duffel bag, not wanting to immediately draw attention to the accident. I was sure we would get into it at some point, but I didn’t want it to be the first cat out of the bag.

“Come on. Nate’s new housekeeper—a twenty-three-year-old Barbie doll named Kendra who will probably end up being my aunt at some point—made up all the rooms, so you can pick out whichever one you want. Go find one, leave your stuff, and come out onto the patio. That’s where the bar is set up.”

We went to the second floor and chose a bedroom in shades of blue with its own ensuite. We placed our bags on the bench at the end of the bed and went back downstairs and out to the patio to greet the other members of Accidental Fire.

Thatcher and I made our way around the gathering and grabbed drinks at the bar before I saw Lerner sitting at a table with Nate. I needed to speak with Lerner without anyone else around, so once I had Thatcher settled at a poolside table with Kit and the roadies, I sent Lerner a text.