She stares at me, like instruction is insulting. Hmm, I wonder if Chrissie would send Lourdes to me. Lourdes likes me. The kids like Lourdes. She’s toured with Chrissie. Why didn’t I think of that before I left?

Kaley starts moving toward the metal steps.

“Stop,” I say. I wait until they are all looking at me. “Same routine as last time. We walk off the plane. Say nothing to anyone and climb into the car they direct you to.”

Kaley rolls her eyes. Then she exhales. “We already know this,” she snaps. Hey, she’s talking to me again. “You don’t have to repeat everything a thousand times. This is nothing new. We’ve traveled with Mom. You keep telling us exactly what she makes us do.”

Oh. I keep my face stripped of reaction. “Good. I won’t do it again.”

Krystal nods.

Ah, approval. For some reason I want to pick her up. I lift her in my arms and kiss her on the cheek and we hang back while the others disappear to the tarmac.

I step into the open door and Krystal jerks and tightens her hold on me when the cameras explode. I do a fast scan of the scene in front of me. Good, everyone else is in the black SUV.

Oh crud, press and microphones. I should have sent Krystal ahead with the rest of them. Len and the guys are already there. I can bypass and just leave.

The second my foot touches land, the activity around me kicks up another notch, and the air is flooded with my name being shouted.

Oh damn, is that Jen cutting her way through the crowd toward me? I didn’t know she was traveling with us on this leg of the tour. But yep, it’s her. Short tight dress, Dolce & Gabbana whiff closing in, and an I’m up for anything smile on her face even though I’m standing here with my daughter.

Fuck.

She ignores Krystal and fixes her eyes on me. “You have to take a few questions before you leave, Manny. Let them gets some pictures. It’s a big deal you’re in Mumbai. You don’t want the press to be bad. You don’t want to insult them.”

Bad press?

Really?

After the Kaley debacle, how could it get worse than it currently is?

As I walk toward them, the nonstop flashes from the photographers are blinding. I get to the microphones and then realize I forgot to put Krystal down and send her off to the SUV.

I start pointing and answering questions. Halfway through I wonder what’s going on here. It’s almost like they like me. Nah, the press has hated me for thirty years.

What the fuck is happening here?

I shift my gaze to Krystal.

She’s got Chrissie’s smile on her face.

She’s charming.

A camera hog.

They are being polite to me because of her.

“That’s all, everyone,” I say, stepping back from the microphones.

“That went good, I think,” Krystal announces in her sweet, serious, imperative way.

I fight not to smile. “Really? You think I did well?”

The way she nods makes me laugh. I set her on the ground and she scampers to the black SUV.

I climb into the car. Shit, it’s packed with the usual people who surround me when I’m on tour. Security. PR. My assistant. And fuck, there’s Jen caressing me with her eyes from the seat beside the driver.

I shift my gaze to the nanny from hell. Is that a flirty glint in her eye? Old bat, I’m not interested in you either.

I start to laugh as I pretend to listen to my assistant going through the schedule.

“We have to do all that today?”

I look over my shoulder to see Krystal on her knees, arms spread across the seat at my shoulders, staring at the tablet being held in front of me.

“I have to. Every day I get a schedule like this and you get to have fun.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

No, Krystal, it does not. Touring is not all parties and fun, no matter what people read and believe, and no matter how successful a band gets. It’s a grind of endless work, even with the seven-day hops we have on this leg of the tour. And this much working won’t be good. I don’t need the kids disapproving of another thing. Like a father who drags them somewhere they don’t want to be and is never there.

How much of this shit can I cross off the list before someone screams? I take the stylus from my assistant’s hand and start scratching through things.

“Manny, what are you doing?” she asks, panicked and with dread.

“The only parts of the schedule I’m doing are the things I don’t cross off. When we’re done with this, email it to me.”

When I’m finished it looks like I scribbled across the screen with a marker. I hand it back to her as Krystal starts tugging on my shoulder.

I turn in the seat.

She’s pointing out the window, shocked and overwhelmed.

“Look,” she says.

People are lining the streets with signs, screaming. We’re just a few blocks from the hotel. Not surprising.

I shrug. “It’s nothing to get worked up about, Krystal. Just ignore it.”

She makes an impatient gesture with her hand.

“No! It’s Kaley. Everywhere.”

I lean over my assistant so I can see the signs better. The way she says everywhere almost makes me laugh until I figure out what Krystal is excited about and it’s not funny.

Oh no.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

It is Kaley.

Everywhere.

Mixed all through the crowd turned out to see me.

Signs being held with her picture or notes for her. I Love Kaley. Bring back Kaley’s World. Speak truth to Power. It’s impressive. I frown. Fuck, I’m the power in that last slogan. How the hell did I get to be the bad guy and the one not cool?

How did she manage to have fans in Mumbai on the day we landed here?

“Kaley, are you tweeting and blogging again?” I snap, eliciting an interesting collection of stares around me.

The only one who didn’t hear me is Kaley.

Eyes closed.

Earbuds.

She’s decided it’s time to tune me out for the ride to the hotel.

I turn to Krystal. “Has she been blogging and tweeting?”

Krystal shakes her head. “She can’t. Mom only let her take her phone and the cameras. Mom turned off the data and didn’t get her enough international airtime for her to waste it getting into any trouble. She has practically no contact with the world. That’s why she’s angry about being here. She can’t text and call Bobby all day every day like she usually does. You’re ruining her life.”

Brilliant, even in this I’m the bad guy. I’m not the one who thought of limiting the phone for her. Still, good move, Chrissie. Oh, definitely with what I’m seeing through the windows.

Chrissie would be blown away by this.

“Stop the vehicle,” I order, startling everyone—except stoic, walling-out-the-world Kaley. I tap my assistant. “Can you move, please?” I can feel stares from every direction as I start snapping pictures with my phone. I don’t look up. “OK, we can go now.”

I start to text as the SUV moves forward again.

Me: In Mumbai. Just landed. Look what greeted us. Can you believe it, Chrissie?

I attach the photo and hit send before I realize what I’ve done. I haven’t talked to Chrissie since I left California. That message is going to come across random enough that it will probably hurt her, but my first impulse was to share this with her and I did it without thinking it through.

Ding.

Chrissie: Is that on the street in Mumbai? Are those signs? Bring back Kaley’s World. Really? Laughing…not. Pretty unbelievable. But I can top that. Can you believe this, Alan?

A video. I wait for it to load. Ah…a smile rises, consuming my face. Khloe. Oh fuck, I miss her. Surrounded by kids and I still miss the one not here. My eyes are locked on the screen until the short clip is over.

Me: You win. Yours is more incredible. When did that start?

Chrissie: Our lazy girl decided to start crawling this afternoon. Nonstop. Very determined. Sometimes I turn her around in the other direction because it annoys her and she makes the funniest face. Her expression looks exactly like yours when she’s irritated. I laugh so hard sometimes I can’t take it. Then I turn her around again.