Satellite of Love (25 page)

“You can’t marry this guy. You don’t even know him.”

“It’s not a done deal, Linda. I don’t even have a ring. He asked, I said yes. We didn’t run off to Vegas yesterday.” Run off to Vegas. Why couldn’t she have thought of that Friday night? They could have skipped Disney for Vegas and gotten hitched. He would have been all for it.

“I’m surprised you didn’t.”

“If I’d thought of it in time, we would have. Where is your car, Linda?”

Linda shook her head and stalked into the parking deck. “So what is it about this guy?”

“I love him.” She bit back a sob. Love was such a tiny word for such a big emotion.

“Okay, but does he love you?” Linda didn’t look back.

Maureen felt safe in letting misery bow her mouth. She pictured him standing in the airport, shoulders slumped, waving to her from the wrong side of the security checkpoint. He might be standing there still. Yesterday he’d spent the whole day at Disneyland with her. He’d never gone there before and had indulged her every whim all day long. Last night they’d spent all night indulging one another. Every time she looked at him, he’d been studying her with focused concentration. If he paid that much attention in rehearsals, he would have a lot fewer bruises. “Yes.”

Something in her voice must have made Linda stop. When her friend turned back, Maureen closed her eyes and let her bag slide to the floor.

“You really love him,” Linda said.

She nodded, covering her face with her hands.

“Oh, sweetie.” Linda put her arms around her and she sagged.

She still felt torn to shreds. The woman at the airport before she got on the plane said sleeping would help. If this was helped, then they’d have had to take her off the plane in a stretcher if she hadn’t slept.

“I’m sorry,” Linda said. “If he really loves you that much it’s meant to be.”

“But what if he doesn’t? What if he’s not working with the same definition?” Sobs shook her. “What if a groupie gets her hooks into him? What if Marc convinces him to break up with me? What if he changes his mind?”

“Don’t be silly.” Linda stroked her hair. “I’m sure he loves you as much as you love him.”

“I’ve never loved anyone like this before. I feel like I’m broken.”

“You probably haven’t, but I swear to you, you can get through it.” Linda pulled her up until she got her feet under her again. “Let’s get you to the car and calmed down enough to call him and let him know you landed safely.”

“You think I’m being stupid, rushing into this.”

“No.” Linda brushed her hair off her face as if she were one of the kids instead of an adult. “I think for the first time in your life you’re being a little impetuous and I can’t deny you that. Come on. I have a box of tissues in my car.”

* * * *

“Jesus, Bear, walk on your own feet, will you?” Rudy scuttled a few steps ahead as if that would help. He’d already done it three times between the bus and here and Bear still kept stepping on his heels.

“Where the hell did you hide her?” Bear scanned the venue. It was one of those outdoor deals. Most of the stage was already set, but instruments weren’t out yet. Seven people crowded around the mixing board and he couldn’t tell if any of them were Maureen.

Last night on the phone she’d been full of stories about the last day of school and the amazing haul of barrettes and coffee cups she’d gotten. No indication that she wouldn’t be here today to tell him all those stories again in person, but he’d had vivid nightmares all night about getting here and finding out she’d changed her mind about coming or somehow gotten bored and gone home.

“I didn’t hide her. She’s right— Shit.”

“Lost her already?” Marc said. Jason and Ty snickered. Brian veered off in the direction of the dressing room.

Bear followed Rudy’s gaze to a section of seating up at the back of the pavilion. An empty section.

“Well, she was right there twenty minutes ago.” Rudy pulled a radio off his belt. “Has anybody seen Maureen?”

In the crackle and hiss of the radio, Bear couldn’t make out any of the answers so he dropped his duffel and started for her last known location. At least she’d made it. If she was in the same city, he was way ahead of the past five weeks. On one of the seats he found a paperback novel, an empty Coke can and a hair elastic with a purple silk rose on it. He slid the elastic around his wrist and turned back to Rudy. Rudy had the radio up to his mouth as he walked up the steps.

“…care if she volunteered. I needed her to stay put for ten more minutes and you guys have her running around like a goddamn gopher.” Rudy moved the radio away from his mouth. “Joe sent her to check on the catering guys and Perry swears he saw her headed to the office.”

“Michael!” Her voice echoed through the sound system followed by a whine of feedback.

Bear spun toward the stage. She stood at the edge next to Brian, a microphone in her hand like it was a live snake, and she was wearing the Tesla t-shirt she’d stolen from him when she left LA. Brian took the microphone and set it on the stage. Taking Maureen by the hands, he lowered her into the waiting arms of Joe, the lead lighting tech. Bear bounded down the steps wanting to yell at them to keep their hands off his fiancee, but seconds later she was in his arms and it didn’t matter anymore. She tasted like heaven and smelled like fresh squeezed lemons. “You got it,” he said when he had to come up for air.

“What? The case of body wash? Yes.” She tangled her fingers through his hair, staring at him like she couldn’t quite believe he was there. “You know it takes me about six months to get through one bottle. I now have enough to last me a decade.”

“Good. When you run out, I’ll buy you more.” He kissed her again. The tangy sweet scent made him think of lemonade. He was never going to look at lemonade the same way again.

“Do the two of you need a few minutes alone in the dressing room?” Jason asked.

The thought had crossed his mind, but Maureen wasn’t a groupie and he wasn’t going to start treating her like one. No matter how much he wanted her.

“Whatever you need, you’re going to have to do it someplace else,” Joe said. “We have work to do.”

He pulled her up into the seating area. “When did you get in?”

She led the way back to where she’d left her book. “Earlier this afternoon. I’ve already been to the hotel and dropped off my stuff. I picked up this book in the gift shop this morning.” She held up the paperback, which she was half finished with.

“I’ll try to keep you entertained a little more.”

She put her arms around his neck and her warm soft body curved against his. “I hope so.” Her lips met his again and all thoughts of lemonade and not treating her like a groupie evaporated. There was almost enough privacy between the rows of seats.

“Mr. D’Amato to the stage, please. Mr. D’Amato to the stage.”

Almost, but not quite enough privacy. Onstage, Ty swung a microphone around by the cord as he talked to Jason, who already had a guitar in his hands. They were never ready to sound check this fast. Every day there was a minimum of forty-five minutes fucking around before they could get down to work. Today when he wanted a little time, they were all right on the ball. The bastards. “I’m sorry, Maur. I’ve got to get to work.”

“It’s okay.” She brushed a kiss across his cheek. “I’ll be here when you have a minute.”

He had to circle the stage and go up from one side. By the time he’d settled behind his kit, the others were staring at him.

“Pooh Bear feel all better now that his honey pot is here?” Ty cooed.

Bear threw a drumstick at him.

“Let’s just get this thing done.” Jason sat down on the drum riser.

Bear watched her. As she promised, she sat down right about where he’d left her. She watched for a while, but most of the time she read. Was she already bored? The ride wasn’t going to get much better. He had the whole run of
The X-Files
on the bus. They’d been watching them as they traveled. That should entertain her.

Maybe he could talk Brian into loaning her his electronic book thing too. Brian’s weird taste in reading material might be a problem though. He probably had that thing loaded with freaky horror novels. Might be better if he got one for her and let her load it up with whatever she wanted. Brian always got new reading material wherever there was an internet connection when he ran out.

At the rate she was going through that novel she bought this morning, she was going to run out of gift shop offerings way too fast. Would she even want to watch the show every night? She might be happier at the hotel.

Five weeks he’d been dreaming about her being on tour with him and it had never occurred to him to figure out what to do with her when she got here. Beyond the obvious, of course.

Boy, he couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel tonight and indulge in a little of the obvious.

As soon as they had the all clear on sound check, he jumped off the stage and headed for her. Behind him, Ty and Brian started singing
Pour Some Sugar On Me
only Ty replaced ‘sugar’ with ‘honey’ and Jason was catching on fast. They were going to be calling him Pooh Bear for the rest of the tour. He grabbed her by the hand and took her up out of the pavilion to the lawn area. Woods surrounded this venue so it must have some decent nooks to hide in for a few minutes. They wouldn’t have long enough, but right now he needed a couple minutes alone with her. All he could find was a tree near a bank of bathrooms.

“Not very romantic,” he said, pulling her behind the trunk.

“It’s fine.” She leaned on the tree, drawing him into her arms. “I missed you.”

“You told me every day on the phone.” He traced her lips with his finger. Warm and satiny.

“I know, but now I’m telling you in person.”

When she’d walked away from him at the airport a month ago he’d thought he was going to die. He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and carry her back to his car. Watching her go through security and then down that long hallway until she disappeared in the distance, he’d thought of a thousand ways to latch onto her and dismissed every one. One of the things he loved about her was the fact that she had her own life separate from him. He kissed her.

She melted in his arms. All heat and welcome. Every curve, familiar and sweet. He tightened his arms around her, lifting her up. One of her legs coiled around his waist, and she slid her lips up his jaw and down his neck. “I missed you,” she murmured.

“I missed you too, baby.” He kneaded her shoulders. “Every day on the phone I wanted to climb through that line and touch you.”

She chuckled and the dark chocolate cinnamon sound of it made his hair stand on end in the hopes that she might pet it back down. “What time do you get off?”

He knew what she meant, but he shuddered with desire. “The show is over at eleven, we’ll have dinner and head to the hotel. We should get there about one.”

Frowning, she nodded. It
was
a long damn time to wait.

He slid his hand down the curve of her spine. “Come on, let’s go back and see what’s going on backstage. They’re already gonna be pretty rude.”

She put her arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder. “So what time does the show start, anyway?”

“Didn’t we go over all this on the phone?”

“We did, but your voice is so much warmer in person.”

He pulled her tighter. “Let’s see. By now the guys in Eldrich should be here. I think we have a meet and greet with some local record store people.”

“Like we did before?”

“Sort of. They’re coming to us this time. There’re some contest winners coming too.” He guided her around the back and through the barricades. Why had he been worried about what to do with her? She wasn’t a kid. There was plenty to keep her occupied.

“There was a contest?” she asked.

“On the band forum.”

She made a little sound, but they’d arrived in the greeting area and he didn’t have time to ask her about it because the meet and greet had started without them. About three dozen people grazed at the catering table or chatted up the other guys.

“You want something to drink?” he asked her.

“No, thanks.”

“Hi, Bear.” The woman who stepped in front of them sounded breathless. She had the expression of someone far too excited and in need of an oxygen mask. “Is this your new girlfriend?”