Satellite of Love

by Christa Maurice

  * * * *

  Bear swore he heard Swing playing from somewhere on the other side of the room. Why their current hit would be playing in his hotel room, he couldn’t imagine. He reached for Maureen, but she slid away. “Where you goin’?” he muttered.

  “My phone is ringing.”

  “Your phone?” He opened his eyes in time to see her snatch her purse off the dresser and dump it out.

  She grabbed her phone and flipped it open. “Hello? Denver, why?”

  Bear sat up and brushed his hair off his face. The clock beside the bed said eight. They hadn’t fallen asleep until after four. Who the hell would be calling her at this hour?

  “What?”

  Her tone sent a shiver down his spine. Today was their day off. Other than a flight to the next city, they didn’t have to do anything all day long. He’d hoped to spend every possible minute in bed with her having sex and the silly conversations he was starting to enjoy almost as much as the sex. Her tone made that unlikely.

  “How is that my fault? My class did well.”

  Bear threw off the covers and crossed the room. He wrapped his arm around her waist, but she didn’t relax against him. “What’s wrong?”

  “A couple of board members are trying to blame the district’s low test scores on me. This is insane. How can anybody believe it?”

  “Easy,” Linda said. “You aren’t here to defend yourself. They aren’t going to renew your contract.”

  “Oh my God.” Maureen pulled away from him to lean on the dresser.

  “What does that mean?” Bear asked. The stone in his gut already knew.

  “It means I’m going to lose my job.” She stared at him like she wanted him to fix it, but he knew if he told her to screw the job, she’d flip out. It wasn’t a job to her. It was her life.

  And she was his.

  “I guess you have to go home and fight for it then,” he said.

  Three hours later, he climbed out of the taxi from dropping her off at the airport. He went through the hotel kitchen to avoid the fans at the front doors who waited for the band to leave for their chartered plane, which would fly out of a different airport in about an hour. Bear leaned against the back of the elevator. When she left him in LA, she’d been upset about going. This time when she walked away from him at the x-ray machines, she’d been so consumed with this bullshit thing going on at home she’d almost forgotten to kiss him goodbye. Had it even occurred to her yet that they were apart? Or did she know and not care?

  The elevator doors opened on their floor and Marc stood waiting. He whistled. “Well, I’ll be damned. Rudy said she left, but I didn’t believe him.”

  “Fuck off, Marc.” Bear stalked past him. “I’m not in the mood.”

  “So there really is something going on about her job?” Marc fell into step beside him. “Rudy said he thought she was going to lose her job.”

  “That’s why she’s going home. So she doesn’t,” he said as he swiped his keycard.

  “She went home to save her job.”

  Bear turned in his door. “Yes, Marc, she went home to save her job. Despite what you think, she is not just sinking her claws into my wallet. And maybe if you hadn’t been such a dick for the last two weeks, she’d have wanted to stay with me more and let the job go.”

  His throat closed. That wasn’t true. Maureen would have wanted to go back no matter what Marc did. No matter what any of them did. Down the hall the other guys’ doors stood open. Ty had been nice to her. He was nice to everybody. Brian loaned her his electronic reader during sound checks so she wouldn’t burn through so many books. She actually liked his freaky horror novels. Even Jason had tried to be nice to her. Bear had screwed that up himself. Rudy, Gene, the crew, the guys in Eldrich, they’d all been really nice to her. No, Maureen had gone back because she had a life. The exact thing he loved most about her, took her away.

  “Hey, man, I’m sorry. I was trying to help you play it safe. We’re gonna swing through that area next week. I’ll apologize.”

  Bear nodded. It might not help, but it sure as hell couldn’t hurt. He’d been avoiding Marc since the tour started. Since he’d met Maureen, really. Right now it would be great to have someone to distract him. “I need to get my stuff together. You wanna hang in here while I do?”

  Marc grinned. “Sure.”

  “What’re you guys doing?” Ty strolled down the hall.

  “I’m gonna watch Bear to make sure he doesn’t slit his wrists because his girlfriend is gone.” Marc smirked.

  “Cool. Can I watch too?”

  “You pass out at the sight of blood,” Brian shouted out of his room.

  “If he’s going to pass out somebody better make sure he doesn’t smack his head on anything,” Rudy roared down the hall. “I am not taking any of you assholes to the hospital this tour.”

  Bear shook his head. Never took long to get back to normal. Inside the room, he strolled over to the dresser. She’d left behind her hair elastic with the purple rose. He wrapped it around his wrist. She’d be back. She had to be. And he’d still have the guys.

  He’d have everything then.

  * * * *

  Maureen folded up the paper and threw it in the recycling bin. Then she picked up the stack of newspapers Linda had saved for her and dropped them on top. The editorial column had had eight letters today. Five of them reviled her as what was wrong with education in the twenty-first century. Two defended her as an excellent teacher. One was about garbage pick up. The ratio hadn’t been too much different since this mess started.

  She needed to get out of the house to keep her sanity, but in public she ran the risk of having someone confront her as the sole cause for the downfall of Western Civilization. Since she’d come back from the tour, she hadn’t been able to buy her own groceries or go to the mall. All her library trips had been conducted through the pick up window at the main branch. She couldn’t even go to school and work in her classroom. Once her “scandal” hit the papers, the governor had decided a massive investigation of the state’s schools was in order. Kaitlyn thought he was jealous because she was in the papers more than he was, but that didn’t make Maureen any more popular among the staff, now scrambling to pull records for an outside investigator.

  The only bright spot was Michael arriving later today. The band started a weeklong break today and was using one of their precious days off to have dinner at Mama Lena’s for no discernible reason. The restaurant was closed to everyone but friends and family of the staff.

  Family. That was someplace she could go. Maureen grabbed her purse and headed out the door. Tony had written one of the editorial letters supporting her. Hopefully, it hadn’t lost him too much business. His letter had also defended his brother as solid and reliable, nothing like the drugged out, party boy rock star everyone assumed. Based on that, hopefully Tony was up for a reconciliation. She couldn’t do much about her problems, but she might help Michael.

  As she pulled up in front of the garage, Eric saw her through the front bay door. He dropped the tool in his hand and ran for the back. That might not be a good sign. Before she climbed out of the car though, Tony was at her driver’s door, pulling it open and reaching in for her hand.

  “Miss Donnelly, I’m so glad to see you. You heard what’s going on. I knew something like this was going to happen. Bear doesn’t even know what kind of mess he can cause.” Tony had her hand clasped in both of his. Any second, he was going to fall to his knees and beg her forgiveness. “He doesn’t do it on purpose.”

  “It really isn’t Michael’s fault.”

  “Like hell it isn’t.” Rusty spit on the ground. He’d followed Tony out, Eric right behind him.

  “It really isn’t. I’m a scapegoat. The district’s test scores were lower than expected and they needed to blame it on someone.”

  “That someone shouldn’t have been you and if it wasn’t for Bear, it wouldn’t have been,” Tony insisted. “You’re a wonderful teacher. Everyone say
s so. At least they used to.”

  “I don’t get why you don’t just quit,” Eric said.

  Tony turned on him, growling.

  The sixty thousand dollar question. Just quit. “I can’t. I’ll look guilty and I’ll never be able to get another teaching job.”

  “So? Bear makes a lot of money.” Eric shoved his hands in the pockets of his coveralls.

  “Shut up. She’s not going to stop teaching. She’s a great teacher.” Tony spun around. “You’re not going to, are you?”

  What was he getting at? Why did he care if she kept teaching? “Nicky isn’t going to be in my class next year.”

  “I know, but if Bear— If you and Bear split up.”

  She bit her lip. Tony’s pause had volumes in it. Tessa and Connie had been certain Michael was too young to settle down. Tessa claimed to have turned him away from three disastrous marriages. Just because she’d passed their test didn’t mean Michael had. Greasy insecurity slithered through the back of her mind, towing behind it the answer to the sixty thousand dollar question.

  And she didn’t have the energy to deal with that right now. “Michael’s coming to town today.”

  “I heard.”

  “I’m sure he’d like to talk to you.”

  Tony folded his meaty arms. He looked like an older, tired version of Michael. “I’m not sure I want to talk to him. Especially not now.”

  She hadn’t planned on having an audience for this conversation or even knew what she was going to say. “It’s hot out here. Can we talk inside?”

  “There’s no air conditioning,” Eric said.

  Rusty turned toward Eric and pointed toward the garage. Eric rolled his eyes and stomped back inside with Rusty following him.

  “Miss Donnelly, I know what you’re trying to do.”

  “It is fairly transparent and you might as well start calling me Maureen. I am going to be your sister-in-law.” Who knew for how long, but that was beside the point.

  “Maureen.” Tony pursed his lips.

  She held up her hands before he started to speak. “I know you don’t think it’ll last. I’m not sure it will either. But I do love him and I plan to stay with him.”

  “I believe you. Unfortunately, I know him. When he was a kid we used to call him Flip-O-Matic because one day his favorite ice cream flavor was chocolate and the next it was vanilla and the day after that it was cherry or some other fucking thing. The only things he’s ever stuck with in his life have been drums and that band, and I don’t think the band gave him a choice.”

  “He’s stuck with you.”

  “I don’t count.”

  “You’re his brother.”

  “So he had no choice.”

  Maureen sighed. “I just don’t want to come between you and him. Especially if I’m only temporary.” Her words cut though her like a laser beam, but she kept the pain off her face.

  “Bear has been trying to get something between us since we were kids. It’s not your fault.”

  “I really wish you would talk to him. It bothers him that you aren’t speaking.”

  Tony scuffed his steel-toed boots on the pavement. “He say something?”

  “Yes. Many times. He’s going to be at Mama Lena’s tonight at six. I know he’d be happy to see you.”

  Tony shrugged. “I’ll talk to Pam.”

  “Thank you, Tony.”

  “Yeah, good luck. You need it.”

  Maureen climbed back in her car. She suspected a promise to talk to Pam meant he would be there. They were already on the guest list. Driving back to her house, she decided not to tell Michael just in case.

  A strange white car sat in her driveway. She let her car coast. Maybe it belonged to a particularly persistent reporter wanting to get her side of the story or twist her side of the story, depending on what would sell more papers. Two people sat on her front stoop, smoking.

  Michael and Marc.

  Her foot slipped on the brake. Her car bucked and Michael turned to look. He stood, flicking away the cigarette and met her in the driveway.

  “Hey, baby, those brakes giving you trouble again?”

  She threw her arms around his neck. Temporary. She needed to be reminding herself she was temporary. “What are you doing here?”

  “We flew in early.” Michael buried his face in the curve of her neck. “I missed you, baby.”

  “He bitched and moaned until we agreed to fly right after the show instead of waiting until morning,” Marc said.

  Maureen breathed deeply. He smelled wonderful—and like he needed a shower. They must have flown straight from the stage. And he tasted like an ashtray. “I can’t believe you’re here.” She glanced over his shoulder. No, she could believe he was here. Marc was another story altogether.

  “He came to keep me company on the drive down.” Michael turned to Marc.

  “Uh yeah, I wanted to apologize to you, Maureen.” Marc shuffled his feet and took another drag on the cigarette. “I was sort of a jackass to you and I’m sorry.”

  Michael looked pleased with the apology. What had he had to do to get it though? “Apology accepted. Did you guys want to come in? Are you hungry?”

  “We thought we’d take you out.”

  “That might not be a good idea. I never know when people are going to show up with rotten vegetables.” She slid her hand into Michael’s big warm one, and his fingers closed around hers. The whole scandal had seemed insurmountable until he’d shown up. Now she could conquer the world, with or without the help of the newspaper.

  “It’s that bad?” Marc asked.

  “It’s not good. Michael, when did you start smoking?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “You were smoking when I pulled up.” She stepped around her car door so he could close it.

  “Oh yeah, I was kinda— I’ll get the butt out of the yard.” He bumped her door closed and loped to the middle of the yard to retrieve the cigarette butt.

  Marc dropped his cigarette and mashed it out. Then he picked it up and peered around as if trying to figure out what to do with it. “Did you call Tessa?”

  “Why would I call Tessa?” she asked.

  Michael walked past and took Marc’s butt on the way to the trashcan at the side of the house.

  “She’s a lawyer. What they’re doing might not even be legal.”

  “No, they’ve been very careful.” Maureen started for the door. “I’ve talked to my union lawyers. The reasons they’re giving for not renewing my contract are that I’m in danger of losing my teaching license due to not meeting relicensing requirements and some nebulous number of complaints they haven’t produced.”

  “Are you in danger of losing your license?” Marc followed her.

  “No. I need four more credit hours to renew. I’ve been working on a Master’s Degree, but I took the last year and a half off because I was house hunting. I had planned to start back this summer, but I met Michael.” It had seemed like a perfectly plausible reason at the time.

  While she was house hunting, she hadn’t had the money or the mental focus to be sitting through graduate level classes and getting decent grades. Spring semester she’d taken off to save up and relax. Then she met Michael and the idea of not being able to see him over the summer because of some stupid seminar…

  “So when do you need to have these credit hours?”

  “I have until next June to get one, maybe two classes.” She unlocked the front door.

  “So that part’s trumped up.” Marc followed her inside with Michael behind him.

  “Yes.” She kicked off her sandals by the door.

  “What about the complaints?”

  Maureen headed for the kitchen to put on coffee. At least she had food in the house this time. “They’ve dug up about a dozen complaints from parents over the course of my career.”

  “Is that a lot?” Michael asked.

  “Some teachers get a dozen complaints in a year.” She sat down in the chair next to Michael a
nd leaned her head on his shoulder.

  “Might not be a bad idea to get your own lawyer. This all sounds like bullshit.” Marc pulled out his phone. “This isn’t Tessa’s field, but I’ll call her and see if she knows anybody.”

  “You don’t have to. I have the union lawyers.” Maureen tensed. Was it the coffeepot making noises or her stomach? She really should have had breakfast this morning.

  “I’m not sure the union lawyers are going to do their best for you.” Marc put the phone to his ear.

  “I can’t afford my own lawyer.” She glared at him. Might have been better to have him as an enemy.

  “I can. Don’t sweat that.” Michael squeezed her shoulders and stood up. “I’ll get the coffee.”

  Maureen clasped her hands in her lap. Her stomach was making an impressive bid to crawl up her throat. Marc chatted with Tessa, giving her the details. He wanted to help, which was nice. Michael poured coffee for all of them. He wanted to pay for the lawyer.

  Between them, they were making her depend on them and she was only temporary. Michael was going to get bored and move on right about the time she’d come to need him. She already needed him. The kitchen started to sway. The bitter scent of the coffee scorched her nose. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  Michael chased her down the hall. “What’s wrong?”

  She threw herself into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. Pressing her hands to the wall, she fought for breath. When had she stopped being the one who controlled her life? She’d stopped in at the garage to get her brakes fixed and ended up speeding down hill. The school board wanted to fire her because they didn’t like her lifestyle. Michael, who’d gotten her into this lifestyle, wanted to hire a lawyer to fight them. The lifestyle really wasn’t anything more scandalous than any other person’s; it just happened six hours later and involved more travel, but no one would ever believe that. If she went with him, she’d be wholly dependent on him for everything, knowing he was going to get bored and cast her aside. If she walked away, she’d be trapped here dealing with the aftermath and she’d be without him.

  She’d be without him.

  “She pregnant or something?” Marc asked in the hall.