Satellite of Love (16 page)

“The Satellite is still in my garage,” she said when he allowed her to speak.

“The car?”

“Yes, silly. You said you wanted to store it at my house. I’ve been going out and starting it up every couple of days so the battery doesn’t die.” To be honest, she went out to sit in the car to remind herself that she wasn’t crazy. He did exist and she hadn’t made him up. For some reason, the telephone conversations weren’t as reassuring as sitting in his car, parked in her garage, listening to the engine purr.

He smoothed his hand over her hair. “You have to drive it around if you don’t want the battery to die.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can get a new battery if I have to. It’s not important.” Bear drew a deep breath. “Come on, let’s get the rest of your stuff.”

“This is it.” She toed the bag she’d dropped when he grabbed her.

He looked down. “You’re kidding.”

“I’m only going to be here for a few days.” Most of the past week, she’d considered what to bring. Jeans, tops, some long sleeves in case it got cold. She’d stashed a pair of nice shoes in there in case he wanted to go out. They were the ones he’d bought for her when they went to the concert. She’d also brought the dress he’d bought her.

“This is all you have?” He picked up the bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“Should I have brought more?” She chewed the inside of her cheek. She probably should have. If she wanted to spend time with him, she was going to have to start reading fashion magazines. That or make a trip to see Jenny for some advice. Provided Jenny still worked at that store and hadn’t quit to follow Trent on the off chance he wanted to keep her around.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s go. I have a surprise for you.” He took her hand and led her through the airport. She tried to take it in, but everything blurred together. Seven hours ago, she’d been leaving school, trying to get to the airport in time to catch her flight, but now her watch read only four hours later and the sun was still up. Her brain wanted to get ready for bed. Her body concurred, but with a different end in mind.

He used a remote to pop open the trunk of his car and dropped her bag in it then led her to the passenger side. The other teachers thought it was terribly romantic that he didn’t let her touch a door. When he climbed in the driver’s side, he stuck the key in the ignition, but didn’t start the car. Instead, he turned to her grinning.

“What?”

“I have a surprise for you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a credit card, which he handed to her.

“What’s this?”

“Look at it.”

She stared at the card. Mastercard. Platinum. Maureen Donnelly. “This isn’t my credit card. Why is my name on it?”

“It’s your expense account.”

“My what?”

“Your expense account.”

She flipped the card over and checked the back as if it would explain what he was talking about. “What do I need an expense account for?”

He shrugged. “Stuff. It’s only got a ten thousand dollar limit, but my office will pay it off every month and if you need more, let me know and I’ll get it taken care of.”

“What’s it for?” Ten thousand dollars? A month? That was almost a third of her annual salary. What in God’s name did he expect her to spend that much money on every month?

“Shoes and clothes and beauty shop. Girl stuff.” He shrugged again like it should have been obvious.

“Don’t you like the way I dress?” She
was
going to have to start studying fashion magazines. She should have known, based on her internet research over the past two weeks, that her second grade teacher look wasn’t going to work. No way could she afford to shop at that place where Jenny worked, if she still worked there. Of course, now that she had an expense account…

“I love the way you dress.” He kissed her cheek.

“Then why are you handing me money?”

“I’m not handing you money.” He frowned. “It’s an expense account. For expenses. I always give my girlfriends a credit card. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t understand why you’re giving me an expense account.”

“So you have money if you need it. I’m taking care of you, baby.”

She resisted the urge to remind him she could take care of herself and spent the time studying the credit card again as if its true meaning might have appeared on its surface.

He put his hands over hers, covering the card. “Maureen, I don’t care what you do with it. I don’t care of you spend it or if you toss it in the bottom of your suitcase and forget you have it. Use it for clothes or groceries or jewelry or house payments or coffee. I don’t care. Just let me give it to you.”

She nodded. For whatever reason, it was important to him that she take it, so she might as well. She didn’t have to use it. She really needed to talk to Jenny. “So do you have to rehearse all weekend too?”

“No, we take weekends off.” He started up the car and backed out. “Marc wants to get together for dinner tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”

“Sure.” An uncontrollable yawn escaped her.

“He’s probably going to interrogate you. He’s getting a divorce and it’s making him nuts. At least you won’t be stuck with Jason too. His girlfriend broke up with him a few weeks ago and he still hasn’t replaced her.”

She nodded and rested her head on the seat. She hadn’t slept much last night because she’d been worrying if she’d packed everything and how she was going to make her flight. When she did, her dreams had been filled with vivid images that woke her up reaching across the bed to find him. She should have spent more time worrying about meeting his friends. They couldn’t be worse than his brother, could they? Her eyes slid closed as he worked his way into traffic.

“Sandy needs to size you up too. Sorry.” He kept talking and his words blurred together until she felt his fingers brush her cheek. “I guess you’re pretty tired.”

“Pretty tired.” She caught his hand and pressed it to her lips. “But I missed you.”

“It’s gonna take a while to get home. Why don’t you try to sleep so I can keep you up late?”

“That sounds fun.” She let herself relax. She was here. She hadn’t missed the flight and if she’d packed the wrong stuff, Michael would be happy to take her shopping again. Everything after that first pizza was gravy, and this was some very nice gravy. A week here with him, away from the cold gray weather. If she did nothing more than hang out at his house waiting for him to come home, it would be lovely.

“Baby? Maureen?” He shook her shoulder. “We’re home.”

“Home?” She blinked and stretched. The car was parked in a two-car garage. In the other bay sat another blunt, heavy car in a color she could only describe as dragon spit green. Along the front wall stood a professional workbench. She yawned. “Did I sleep all the way here?”

“Yep.” He climbed out, popping the trunk.

She stretched and opened her door, but before she could climb out he was there, reaching for her hand to help her. He led her through a door into the kitchen. Small and neat, a table was crammed against one wall and a litter of notes on the fridge door. “I take it you don’t spend a lot of time at the grocery store where Tim Allen shops.”

“What?”

“You said you shopped at the same grocery store as Tim Allen, but I challenge you to eat a meal at that table.” She pointed to the table heaped with junk mail and miscellany.

“Oh, no. I eat out a lot.” He dropped her bag on the floor and gathered her in his arms. “I missed you so much,” he murmured, kissing her throat. “I wish you could stay forever. I wish I could stay forever.”

Maureen bent back in his embrace. She arched her neck for him, tangling her fingers through his hair. Breathing deeply, she inhaled his spicy, exotic scent. If she never made her return flight, that would be okay. If she could just stay here with him. “Me too.”

He leaned his forehead on hers. “The guys are all still pretty wound about the whole marriage thing.”

“Don’t worry about it.” No one at school even knew.

“What?”

As many times as she’d used the trick of getting in close to get the truth, she’d never had it used on her. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling. Over the phone she’d been able to keep her private drama to herself, but he obviously wasn’t going to allow it in person. “Everybody at school is pretty upset I came to visit.”

“Why?” He straightened, but only gave her a few inches between his eyes and hers. He still held her tight enough that she could feel his heart beating.

“Linda wasn’t happy when I told her who you really were. She said if you started out lying to me what would you do later?” That was the abbreviated version. Linda had been lecturing on that theme for the past two weeks.

“I explained that. I know it was a mistake.” Muscles tensed, he pulled her tighter, as if she might try to get away.

“I know,” she said, a finger over his mouth. “I understand. I can even see why you did it.”
Sort of
. “I just can’t make her understand.”

“And all the other teachers think the same thing?”

The other teachers? Kathy kept saying she had to make her own mistakes. Lauren couldn’t decide whether she was the luckiest woman breathing or an idiot. Kaitlyn wanted autographs. Everyone else fell somewhere in the middle. None of them thought the relationship was going anywhere. Hence the reason she hadn’t told them about the engagement. Why make things worse? “The vote is still out.”

“And my brother?”

His brother. “I talked to Nicky’s teacher and she thinks if for some reason Nicky can’t be in my class, he would do well in Kaitlyn’s so she’s going to note it in his record. Kaitlyn’s pretty young, but she’s a good teacher. Tony seemed pleased with that when I stopped at the garage Monday.”

“Did he say anything about me?” His lips pressed into a thin line.

She swallowed. She’d been hoping he had talked to Tony and not told her. A thin hope, but she’d been holding it with both hands. Apparently she wasn’t going to be able to Tinkerbell this into existence. “I told him I was coming out here. He said to enjoy the sunshine.”

He let her go and picked up her bag. “Let’s take this into the bedroom so you can relax.”

She followed him through the dining room, which had a drum set where the table should have been. Behind the drums, sliding glass windows overlooked a small yard with a kidney shaped pool. The living room boasted a dark blue couch and matching chairs, a rectangular coffee table and a closed television hutch. A short dark hall led past two closed doors. At the end, an open door led to the bedroom, also unremarkable, with a queen sized bed and a dresser. It was all very upper middle class. The clips of
MTV Cribs
on YouTube had misled her.

He set her bag on the end of the bed. When he turned back to her, his mood had brightened again. “Can we get to the serious reunion stuff now?”

“I need to hang up one thing before it gets too wrinkled.” She unzipped the bag and pulled out the pink dress. “I know you don’t like this one, but you bought it so I thought you might want to see me wear it.”

“I never said I didn’t like it.” He touched the material as if he were afraid his touch would stain it. “I just prefer you naked.”

She opened the closet and found a spare hanger. “Well, I figured there might be a couple of important introductions on this trip and naked might not make the best impression.”

“Hey, you’re pretty smart.” He peered in the bag. “Anything else you need to get out of here right away?”

“No.” She took it and dropped it on the floor in front of the closet. “You realize if you don’t keep me up I’m going to be awake at something like four in the morning.”

“Is that a challenge?” He slid his arm around her waist.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned backward, dragging him onto the bed on top of her. He pulled her to the middle of the bed, the weight of him crushing her into the mattress. Every night for the past two weeks she’d woken up from this sensation and been disappointed to be alone.

“You are so beautiful,” he murmured, kissing her throat.

“Well, it is a really nice dress.”

“No, I mean just you. Everything about you.” He lifted his head to study her, and she lay back on the bed, studying him in turn. The setting sun made him a shaggy silhouette haloed in gold. “You’re beautiful. Your face, your body, your personality, your sense of humor. Being with you makes me feel so damn good.”