Bradley was trying not to look mortified at Lea's comment and sat down next to her in the dry grass, nudging her shoulder.

"Do I get a say at all in sharing me, Miss?"

"No."

"Okay." Sometimes he was very aware of how much this girl had him wrapped around her little finger anyway and that she had to know it just as much.

Stefani's strategy seemed to be to ignore it entirely and to busy herself with the dogs jumping her like she was carrying around treats in her non-existent pockets.

"Who's going to film the screen test?"

"I'm not sure yet." Bradley squinted against the sun, trying to avoid seeing Stefani's expectant face looking in his direction. He hadn't gotten that far yet.

"I might know someone." She mentioned absently. "I've worked with him before and we just talked the other day."

"That sounds great." He was thankful for her offer, but couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive about calling up her contacts this early. It would mean involving more people and using the fact that she had managed to find a path through her life without making a lot of enemies and instead leaving behind a trail of positivity.

"Mom, are you going to have a test?" Emily's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Something like that." Stefani paused and gnawed on her bottom lip, throwing another quick look at Bradley. "Actually, that's exactly what it is."

He wasn't sure how to explain it either, but it sounded close enough. "We'll have to prepare for it a little."

"Daddy, you too?" Asked Lea with her eyebrows drawn far up suddenly.

"We might work on something together if it works out." Bradley explained as vaguely as possible.

"If we pass the test." Stefani added quietly.

"Okay. I can help. I'm good at tests. Stefi, can you tie my bracelet?" And that was the topic over for Lea, who was more interested in showing the bracelet dangling off her wrist off to Stefani. "Please." She added with a sneaky glance at Bradley.

Her father for once wasn't focused on how she'd often plainly demand things, but Emily had his attention instead, who was gripping at one of the dogs on her lap. The girl had been leaning against Ashley's side and her mouth that was usually going a mile a minute was tightly shut. The dog in her lap was squirming until she let go and she let out a deep breath.

Bradley watched her stare at himself and back at Stefani who was getting an elaborate explanation about each charm on his daughter's bracelet. Emily's expression was very similar to one he'd seen before and she pushed herself up from the grass without a word and walked back towards the house with her tiny hands balled into fists.

"She's upset." Ashley whispered with a nod towards Stefani who had gone red faced while Lea stared after her friend open-mouthed. She got up and cleaned her sticky food-and-watermelon hands on her dress, making Bradley groan inwardly. "I'll go talk to her if she's sad."

"Thanks, that's very sweet of you, but I should be the one doing that." Stefani sighed and marched after her before anyone could intervene.

A heavy weight settled in Bradley's chest and he glanced at Ashley while Lea let herself fall back next to him, her hand grabbing for his shirt pocket casually in search of his phone. Usually when the adults looked like this, it was a safe opportunity for unexpected screen time. "So this wasn't the best way to tell them."

"Obviously not." Ashley muttered under her breath. "Sorry. It's not been a good week with Stef back to filming."

Bradley pulled his hand through Lea's hair, not really wanting her to listen. "And now I'm over here making plans to take her away for my film again too."

"Yeah, you're not going to make yourself very popular." Ashley shrugged and began cleaning up the remainders of their little picnic.

"At least filming is still far away, we'll need a lot of time to prepare and I don't need to steal her away or exclude the kids entirely."

"Daddy's been home a lot. He writes." Lea added.

"That sounds very nice, Honey." Ashley turned to him. "The thing is, she's working on a new album too. It's not my business and she's an adult, but I hope you're considering everything when you make your plans. Because I need Stef to sleep sometimes so she can hold everything here together...and I need the kid to not melt down all the time."

As much as he wanted to spend more time here, it was clear he shouldn't stick around. After Emily came back outside later, he went on a search to say goodbye for the day.

This was how he managed to feel even more like he was an intruder again, because he found Stefani frantically cleaning up an already spotless kitchen.

"Stef, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned that so casually."

He had no idea this was a sensitive topic to such a degree here too, but he should have known. The way Lea kept going on about him leaving, he now guessed it was even worse here.

"It's alright." Stefani smiled at him in the most unbelievable way that would normally have him doubt her acting capabilities. "I'm staying in tonight after all. I'm only a surprise guest at this show, so...hopefully they won't take it too badly if I cancel on them this late. I usually never cancel."

"I think you're making the right choice there."

She put on her professional face he'd seen in interviews before. "I'd love to ask you to stay, I really want to talk to you about the script for the screen test, but I think we need an evening with just us."

"Yeah, we'll get going, I just didn't want to leave without saying goodbye. And I was thinking it might make it easier for both of us if we could have a test run...for our test. Does that sound insane? I think it would be easier to try what works without the cameras. And then we'll save some time when we actually shoot."

"That sounds good. Timewise. Do you mind doing that here? Just the test run, that is."

"Sure. We can film the actual screen test at my house." He had expected this much. Filming would take a few days and he couldn't really expect a crew to go in and out of Stefani's house with her daughter there.

"I'll ask my mom to stay here." Stefani spoke more to herself. "It's going to be a bit of a distraction and Mom doesn't mind spending time here at all."

"I was thinking about calling my mom for that week too. They really are life savers."

She swallowed heavily and rolled her eyes, turning away from him to pull something from the fridge. "Yeah, if they're not terrible at being a mom like I am, apparently."

That was a familiar knot he'd felt in his stomach before too, like he was failing and it couldn't go right.

"You're not though. Did Emily say that? You know they say all kinds of shit at this age. And I don't think it's going to stop." He tried to lighten the mood, but she was tense in a way that he knew she would end up saying something she would regret later on. "And you don't have to do it alone at all."

Something fell down in the fridge and she slammed the door shut empty-handed, rubbing her face with her palms. "This sucks. You know what, you're right, I'm not even really alone, I have all kinds of help. And I don't know how other people do it, people who don't have Ashleys and other people, but they still do a better job than me."

She couldn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes again and he instinctively wrapped her in a hug quietly and rested his chin on her messy hair, that always helped. And maybe this way she wouldn't end up feeling too regretful about being this open around him.

"And I keep messing it up. Did I mess it up even more when I agreed to this?"

"No, you didn't."

"I don't know if this was right. Sorry."

"We'll figure something out." He assured her because her shoulders were still trembling and he heard himself say that "we" too late. It wasn't really his place, but they were in this together already. She was soft and warm and he enjoyed having her this close and knowing she was trusting him this much.

Bradley knew about some ex boyfriends he had read about and he kept wondering if Emily could be one of theirs. And if all the secrecy was also there to keep them out of their lives, if being alone was better than having them involved. He wasn't sure who it was that she was keeping her child away from, the public or someone in particular.

He felt her arms moving to hug him back, her body going limp against his until she was ready to pull herself together. She laughed nervously and patted over his chest with her hand. "Sorry, I'm such a mess, I got your shirt dirty now."

That was the least of his worries when he looked down. "Don't worry, tears and makeup are nothing at all compared to all the other stuff I've had on my shirts over the years."