Page 76 of See Her
“I know…” she says quietly. “I know you’d never do anything like that, but, Jack, everything between you and I happened so fast, and that photo just screwed with my head.”
“Baby, you have nothing to be sorry for, you hear me? If I’d seen a photo of you and some guy, I would’ve flown off the handle,” I assure her.
“And then I tried to call you immediately and your phone was off, and that messed with me even more,” she reveals, and I close my eyes, blowing out a hard breath.
“Shit… baby, I swear to God my battery died. I had a bad night on stage, I was missing you and got wasted, and on top of that my phone died,” I explain, and she follows it with a few seconds of silence before answering.
“I get it… I just freaked out and I’m sorry. I turned my phone off too, and then I… just left it off because… I was just trying to deal with it, I guess.”
“Fuck, I’m sorry…” I drone out. “I’m sorry you went through that. I saw it too and tried to call you right after I saw it, and I’ve been going insane ever since.” I feel my mind slowly start to ease and my chest start to unclench.
We’re talking.
That’s all I needed to happen.
“I know, and that’s why I’m sorry.” Her voice is so sweetly sincere; I just want to pull her into my arms. My words just don’t feel like enough.
“Sweetheart,” I say with just a little added firmness. “You did nothing wrong, baby. This is so fucking hard and confusing for the both of us. Just know that I wasn’t even entertaining the idea for a second. That girl did come up to me, drunk off her ass, and she was not taking a hint. I didn’t want to just leave her at the mercy of whatever sketchy randoms were at that party, I just wanted to get on with my night.”
“Yeah, Josh told me,” she reveals, and I feel my eyebrows shoot up.
“Josh? When did you speak to him?” I ask, perplexed. He didn’t make any mention of it to me. Then again, this is Josh we’re talking about.
“I didn’t, he left me a message. I heard it just now when I turned my phone on.”
“Son of a bitch,” I grumble, rubbing a hand across my eyes in disbelief. “Did he apologize to you while he was at it?”
“In his own way,” I hear her snicker.
“Of course,” I scoff.
“It’s okay,” she chides.
It’s not, but I’m letting it go for right now.
“He didn’t have to call at all, but he did, and it helped.”
I take a moment to absorb that, and a moment of comfortable silence passes before I speak again.
“Are you okay, baby?” I check in. It’s been a long day and a half of not talking to her.
“I am now,” she whispers, and it makes me release another breath out through my nose. Fuck, I want her in this bunk with me so I can hold her locked against me until she feels every ounce of devotion and love I have for her. “And I promise, in the future, we’ll talk things out in real time and not avoid it. This marriage thing is still so new, I just didn’t know what to do,” her quiet voice conveys.
“Baby, I’m not exactly qualifying for husband of the year right out of the gate over here,” I point out, not wanting her to blame herself, and it earns me a warm breath that I think I can hear a small smile behind. “I miss you like hell,” I tell her after another few beats of bonding silence.
“I miss you, too,” she returns, and after a few moments, she follows with, “I love you, Jack.”
“Fuck, I love you,” I tell her, closing my eyes and replaying her words over in my head a few times like they’re my favorite song. “Are we okay?” I ask, almost feeling like a lovesick teenager – and probably sounding like one too.
“Of course, baby,” she’s quick to tell me. “This is all just so hard, and I can’t wait for you to come home.”
“The minute this is over, sweetheart,” I promise her, “I’m running straight home to you… so we can continue our forever.”
37
MAYZIE
On my yoga mat in front of the living room TV, I’m a conundrum of excitement and tranquility as I do my calming breathing and stretches, with one of the nation’s morning shows lightly burbling in front of me.