Satellite of Love (18 page)

“I can’t, Monday. I have a mani pedi on Monday and I teach a strip class on Monday and Wednesday.” Nichole applied more eyeliner, flicking the ends into exotic tails with practiced fingers.

“A what?” She tossed the towel in the wicker basket at the end of the counter. Maybe she should touch up her makeup too. When they left the house, Michael told her she looked fine, but based on Nichole, perhaps she should have worn more.

“A strip class. It is so much fun and really good exercise.” Nichole slapped herself on the rear. “You wanna sit in? Rosie is in Vancouver shooting so there’s a free pole and the boys always like the results.”

With Nichole’s comment, the scrambling for an excuse to miss the strip class stopped.
The boys always like the results
. Would Michael? Was he comparing her to Nichole and wishing she was a little more like that? But he’d spent a whole week with her unvarnished and he’d seemed to like it. Of course, that was back home. Maybe in his regular environment, he wished she were a little more wild.

Fishing a single out of her wallet, she cast another glance at Nichole. If that’s what he wanted, he was with the wrong woman. This might be her only trip to California.

“I’m going back to the table,” she said, dropping the single in the attendant’s basket and hoping it was enough. She couldn’t really read enough out of the woman’s murmured thank you to tell.

“Ah hah,” Nichole answered, applying lipstick like a fine artist.

Michael was alone at the table, hunched over his wine glass. When she reached to pull out her chair, he jumped up to get it for her.

“Where’s Marc?” she asked.

“Smoking.”

“He smokes?”

“Only when he’s stressed.” He draped his arm across the back of her chair.

“And he’s stressed now?”

“He’s getting divorced, he’s dating this bimbo, he’s appointed himself my father.” He sighed.

Bimbo. That sounded promising in a twisted way. She put her hands on his cheeks. “You know he’s only doing it because he wants what’s best for you.”

“You’re best for me.” He covered one of her hands with his and turned his face so he could kiss her palm.

“We’ll have to give them time to see that.”

He traced a small circle on her hand with his tongue. “Or we could bail and go home and have sex.”

A shiver of delight ran beneath her skin. He was never shy about wanting her. Twelve years of spending most of her time with small children, and she’d almost forgotten what that was like. “You’re being a bad boy again.”

“That’s why you like me.” He grinned.

“Oh, you two are so cute together.” Nichole stood behind her chair with a blissful expression. She slid into her seat. “So, Maureen, do you want to come to my class?”

“What class?” He laced his fingers through hers.

“Nichole teaches a strip aerobics class on Monday and Wednesday,” Maureen said. “She wanted to know if I’d be interested in sitting in.”

Michael’s lips quirked as if he’d just eaten something he suspected was spoiled. “If that’s what you want.”

“I’ll have to see what my schedule is like,” she told Nicole. “I know Michael wants me to meet everyone while I’m out here and I don’t know when they’re going to be available.”

“There’s the band and the techs and they’re going to be busy all week. Then there’s Brian’s wife, Bonnie. She’s a bitch. And Ty’s girlfriend, Liddy. She’s sort of an airhead.” Nichole ticked them off on her fingers. “Annabelle is pretty nice, but she works all week. I don’t know Tori very well, but she seems nice, but you know I think she’s on the set all week this week because she got a guest part in some show. Kim is always busy with her kids. Are you going to introduce her to Jason’s sisters? The ones who live here? You could just go into the office to meet Tessa, but Connie might be difficult to get to. She’s always pretty busy.”

Maureen gave up trying to remember names. Hopefully, when the time came she’d be able to keep them straight. About the same time as the waiter and his assistant with their meals, Marc arrived at the table. He didn’t appear any less forbidding but didn’t say anything, either. She wished he would. The interview had been better than this icy silence. She had no doubt the meal she was eating was one of the best she’d ever have and she might as well have been eating an old canvas sneaker. Michael had hunched his shoulders, either to deflect Marc’s chill or Nichole’s constant chatter. Unwinding him tonight would take some doing. She could only hope tomorrow’s meeting with his manager would go better.

* * * *

Michael parked on the front yard of a tidy little home in the hills. A few cars already crowded the drive. “So you know how to work the GPS?” he asked.

“Yes, but I don’t see why I need it. I could just hang out at your house.” After a couple of excursions through Malibu, the thought of trying to navigate Los Angeles made her head ache.

“You didn’t come all the way to California to sit around my house all week.” He climbed out and she waited for him to come around the car to open her door.

She wasn’t in a big hurry to get out anyway. If the rest of Michael’s friends were going to act like Marc, she’d rather stay home. Her own home.

No, she wasn’t quite that put off. When Michael opened the door to help her out, she remembered why she was here. Being around him made her feel like the most beautiful, fascinating woman on the planet and she wasn’t going to let a few naysayers get in the way. She straightened her t-shirt while he closed the door. From a five star restaurant to a backyard barbecue. He thought they wanted to rattle her, but she hoped it was more along the lines of fitting her into their normal lives.

He opened the front door and walked in. A wiry man with long dirty blond hair jumped up from the couch.

“Dude! This the new woman?” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Ty. She’s hot. Congratulations on the engagement.”

She shook his hand. “Thank you.”

“Sandy’s out back.” Ty gestured with his head. “You want something to drink?”

“Nothing right now, thank you.” She folded her hands together. Total acceptance shouldn’t be throwing her as much as this.

“Come on.” Michael tugged her hands apart. “Let’s go see Sandy.”

They walked through the living room and kitchen, and it wasn’t what she expected either. The house was small, tidy and stunningly suburban. While she didn’t make a habit of following lifestyles of the rich and famous, she’d expected them to be living in something a bit more palatial. He stopped to chat with a few people, introducing her each time, but the names evaporated the moment he said them. There weren’t a lot of people there and she knew she should have been able to remember who was who, but couldn’t.

In the backyard, he led her to the grill, where a stocky older man held court with a long-handled spatula in his hand. “Hey, Sandy,” Michael said.

“Michael. And this must be your lovely lady friend.” Sandy switched the spatula to the other hand. “Nice to meet you. You’re not a vegetarian, are you?”

“No. I’m generally omnivorous.”

Sandy laughed. “Good. I’ve got brats and burgers. What’s your poison? Michael, get your lady friend a plate.”

Michael left to do his assigned task, and she had to resist the urge to snatch at the back of his shirt to keep him close. On the phone, he had said Sandy was as adamant he was making a mistake as Marc. So why was the band’s manager standing in front of her smiling like Santa Claus on summer vacation?

“Relay for Life,” he said.

“What?”

“Your t-shirt. When I started teaching, the big thing for charity was donkey basketball. Beastly animals. Never did what you wanted them to. A lot like the boys, as a matter of fact.”

“You were a teacher?” Michael hadn’t come out of the house yet. Where had he gone for those plates? China? About fifteen people lounged around the yard, added to the ten or so inside. Ages ranged from children to Sandy’s age, which had to be mid-sixties.

“Didn’t Michael tell you? I was their high school business math teacher. Brian, Jason and Michael’s, anyway. Michael says you teach second grade. How did you happen to meet him again?”

“His brother is my mechanic and my brakes were squeaking. He was at the garage when I took it in.”

“Ah.” Sandy half turned to the grill. “He said you had no idea who he was when you met him.”

“I didn’t. My interests tend to be things nine-year-olds are interested in. Dinosaurs, Disney movies. I never was much of a music fan.”

Sandy selected a burger and put it on a bun. “What will you have? I know Michael will have a burger.”

“A burger is fine.”

Michael appeared and handed her a plastic plate, searching her face. He gave her a reassuring little smile and she returned it. Sandy didn’t appear to hate her, but how could she be certain?

Sandy put the first burger on Maureen’s plate and a second on Michael’s. “You saw the table with the rest of the food by the back door and Cal is sitting under the tree,” he told Michael.

“Yeah, I don’t get enough of that guy all week.” Michael put his arm around her waist. “Come on, Maureen.”

He led her to a table laden with dishes.

“We weren’t supposed to bring anything, were we?” she asked. Of all the dumb mistakes to make, not bringing a covered dish to a barbecue.

“No. Sandy usually orders what he wants and if you want to bring something, fine.”

“You should have told me. We could have brought potato salad or something.”

He gestured to the table. “Maureen, there’s three different kinds of potato salad on this table. You want to go for four?”

“No, but I’m sure I could have thought of something.” She chewed her lip. She had a lentil salad recipe half memorized.

He put his arm around her shoulders. “Don’t sweat it. Nobody is going to kick you out for not bringing something.”

“They’re already searching for reasons to dislike me.”

He kissed her cheek. “Nobody is going to latch onto this. What looks good?”

The killer corn bread would have been good too. “Do you know a lot of vegetarians?”

“No, why?” He picked a potato salad and scooped some onto his plate.

“Sandy asked if I was a vegetarian.”

“He’s manning the meat. I think Tessa is veggie at the moment and Cal and Kim and their kids, but otherwise everybody is a carnivore. Well, Candy goes through self improvement phases, but I don’t think she’s here today. She and Ty are on the outs again, or still. I’m never sure. Try some of this. It’s Connie’s and it’s excellent.” He pointed out the salad he’d put on his plate. “It’s got bacon in it. See, not vegetarian.”

Maureen took a sampling of food and then wondered who had brought what dishes. Would they be offended if she didn’t try what they brought? Who did she have to worry about offending other than Sandy? And the other guys in Michael’s band? And the guys who worked at his management office and with the band? Who at this party didn’t fall under one of those headings? Maybe she should have become a vegetarian last week so she’d have a good excuse to skip a few things because no way she could try everything and she didn’t know who would be bothered if she didn’t.

“What?” he asked.

“What?” She met his eyes.

“You look like you’re gonna have a nervous breakdown.” He frowned. “What’s up?”

“I’m starting to wish I was back at dinner last night. I never realized how many social land mines there were at a backyard barbecue.”

“There are no social land mines. You’re getting all worked up over nothing.”

“Hey, Bear. S’up?” A pretty dark haired woman in denim shorts and a yellow t-shirt stopped beside him.

“Nothing much. Tessa, this is Maureen. Maureen, Tessa, our lawyer.”

Tessa held out her hand. “Nice to meet you. I heard you were dating someone new.”

“Yeah, will you tell her no one is going to ridicule or shun her for not bringing anything?”

“Michael!” She clenched her teeth.

Tessa laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Maureen. Boys will be boys. How long will you be in town?”

“A week. I have to be back for school a week from Monday.”