Page 81 of See Her
“I know,” I say, trying to calm him. “Things happened differently for us. We had crazy timing and the chance of a lifetime thrown at us right out of the gate. This is new terrain, but we'll figure it out.” I realize in this moment that I've had enough of this, too. Naked FaceTime might be bringing me to my senses. Who knew?Jack just said that things seemed to have ironed out, as much as they can, anyway. Maybe I can adapt. The least I can do is go see him.
I’m about to open my mouth and suggest it when I hear a crash on Jack's end of the line, followed by some loud whoops, and Jack yelling “What the fuck?! Get the fuck out of here!”
I see a blurry struggle and catch glimpses of Chris's face peeking onto the screen as I pull the covers up tightly around my neck.
“Mayzthee!”
The commotion settles, and now the top corner of Chris's face and one of his eyes is visible. I can still hear Jack yelling in the background.
“Hi, Chris,” I say, still holding the covers tightly around me, trying not to show even a hint of skin.
“Mayzthee,” he slurs again. “Listhen. You gotta get back out here. Our boy Jack hasth been a mitherable pieth of thhit with you gone.”
“Chris!” Jack cuts him off. “This is so wrong, on a number of levels. You do not even realize!” I know that Jack's referring to the fact he’s naked under the covers.
Undeterred, Chris picks up where he left off. “But if you come back on tour with uths, maybe you can get histh head threwed back on sthraight. Because if he doethn't, I'm afraid the band will just im–PLODE.” The one eye I can see widens on that last syllable. For Jack's benefit, I'm trying to stifle my giggles at Chris's condition, and the entire situation. The phone is fumbled again, and then I see Matt's face filling the screen. He looks significantly more sober than Chris, and appears to be walking into another room. “Hey, Maze,” he says, with a friendly smile.
“Hey, Matt.”
I can hear Jack shouting in the background.“If you all don't get the fuck out of here, I will get out of this fuckin’ bed, and you will not like what's going to happen if I do!”
“Listen, real quick heart_to-heart,” Matt says, hurriedly. “Jack is playing fine, but…” he presses his lips together in thought before tossing his black hair out of his eyes. “I know my friend, and he needs you. I know you think you're doing the right thing by staying away, and I'll be honest, I thought you were too, at first. But if you come back on tour, you won’t hear any complaints from me.”
It makes me feel good to hear that Jack’s band mates are on board, although Josh hasn’t weighed in. Not that he has to; I’m not going to let him stop me from seeing my husband. Besides, he did apologize to me, so maybe he’ll be less of a shit.
“Okay, um, Matt?”
“Yeah?” I let my eyes dart down to indicate my lack of attire. “Would you mind giving me back to Jack?”
He blinks slowly and scoffs quietly at himself. “You got it. Let's go assholes, we're moving the party to my room!” I hear him shout to the other guys as the phone is handed off once again. I hear more raucous laughter and drunken babble before the door slams closed.
“Hi again,” I say, when I see Jack’s face back on my screen. He's still in bed, and though he looks flustered, I can tell he's trying to get back in the moment.
“Sorry about those fuckers. See what I have to deal with?”
“Rough stuff.”
“I’m telling you, I need my lady,” he grins, shaking his head at his friend’s antics.
“How about I come see you?” I raise an eyebrow, relaxing the sheet around me again.
“How about you just come back?” he counters on a gust of breath.
The look on his face is my undoing. And after everything we just talked about and how the guys all seem at ease now, it could very well be time for me to join them and have my turn to adapt, not to mention my turn to be with Jack.
“Okay,” I beam at him.
His eyebrows draw together in confusion. “What?”
“I’ll fly down and meet you in Miami.” Their stop there is two days away, giving me enough time to square things away with work and the dogs.
I watch as a variety of emotions cross his face, from disbelief to hopefulness to elation. “Don’t play with me, baby. Are you really coming down? Are you coming back on the tour?”
“You’re right; this has gone on long enough.”
“I don’t believe this,” he says, scrubbing a hand over his face and then smiling ear to ear. “You’ve just made me so happy, sweetheart.” He lies back, gazing at me with one arm lying over his head, giving me a good look at his sexy bicep.“I can’t wait to see you.”
“I can’t wait either.”