She passed Starla, one of the two female artists, in the hall, and exchanged brief pleasantries. Then she peeked around Brian’s office door to find Candace at the desk with her phone crammed between her ear and shoulder, typing furiously at the keyboard. With her hair pulled up in a stylishly sloppy bun, she looked a little tired, but her pretty face brightened when she noticed Macy, and she smiled and waved her inside. Good sign.
Macy pushed her glasses to the top of her head and shut the door before dropping into a chair across from the desk. Candace hung up her phone.
“She lives!” she said.
Macy rubbed her eyes, which were being assaulted by the too-bright bulbs overhead. “Well…sort of. I think.”
Candace tucked a stray wisp of pink-and-blonde hair behind her ear. “So, spill. I’ve been waiting to hear this all day.”
“Spill what?”
Her friend crossed her arms and sat back. “Oh, come on. Don’t be like that. I’m not one to ask for details, because I know how you are. But I’m dying over here.”
“Oh, it was nothing—”
“You did something. You were on his lap. Even if you only kissed him, it’s still something. At last.”
“Okay, so it was something. That’s all I’m willing to divulge at the moment.”
“You are nothing if not stubborn, woman.”
“Listen, I’m not here to talk about him. I’m here because I need to talk to you.”
“Do you want to go across the street to the coffee shop or—”
“No. Let me get this out.” Sighing, Macy rubbed her temples. Why should it be so hard to say you’re sorry to someone you knew as well as yourself? “I just…I owe you an apology. A really big one. And not just about how I acted like a complete bitch last night, although that’s a big part of it.”
Candace’s eyebrows rose. She didn’t comment.
“I’m sorry about the attitude I’ve had, how I try to talk you out of everything, and some of the things I’ve said about you and Brian being together. A million times, I’m sorry. You don’t need to hear that crap. You’re happy, and you deserve to be happy after everything you guys went through.”
Relief washed over her friend’s face, though somehow it made Macy feel worse rather than better. Candace must have been waiting a long time to hear her say this. “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
“You were always like a little sister to me, and I always felt like you sort of looked to me for guidance in a way, so seeing you stand on your own two feet and do your own thing was…well, it was awesome. But it was hard on me too. I thought I was going to lose you, and I’m still afraid you’ll get fed up with me someday.”
Tears welled in Candace’s eyes. Macy tilted her head and studied her. She’d always been an emotional girl, but something about her wasn’t quite right today. “I’m not going anywhere. I hate that you even think that.”
“I know that, I was just being selfish and immature—” Before she could complete the thought, Candace bolted from her chair, and the two of them collided in a fierce hug at the corner of the desk. “I’ll be better from now on,” Macy promised.
“I love you just the way you are, Mace.” Candace sniffled noisily into her ear. Macy pulled back from her and looked into troubled blue eyes, just now noticing the faint shadows underneath.
“Are you all right, though? Everything okay?”
Sighing, Candace stepped back and returned to her chair. Macy reclaimed her own, perching on the edge and hoping nothing was upset in her friend’s world.
“Everything’s okay, it’s only that…well, Brian and I…” She glanced at the closed door and caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
“You aren’t fighting, are you?” Macy whispered.
Candace shook her head. “No, not fighting,” she whispered back. “I guess you could say engaging in a very serious, very intense ongoing discussion.”
She had a feeling it had nothing to do with the hottest chick in metal. “What’s up?”
“Well, I graduate in three months, you know. There’s all these things I can do…and I had all these plans. But then I started helping him out here, and I love it. I want to be here, with him. And he feels like I’m throwing away years of hard work if I just hang my degree on the wall and keep working in his studio. I’m not throwing anything away as long as I’m doing what I love. I’m happy taking care of the business side of it so he can stay out front where he wants to be. I like knowing he’s right down the hall.” She sighed and pressed her fingers to her temples, bracing her elbows on the desk. “Am I completely psycho or something? Maybe he wants to get me out of here. Maybe I’m suffocating him.”
“I saw you and Brian last night. He didn’t look like a guy who was being suffocated, at least not in a way he doesn’t enjoy.”
“Yeah, I know that’s not it. He’s just thinking of what’s best for me.”
“I do see his point, and if you keep working here, your parents will all but die. He might be thinking about that too.”
Candace waved her hand almost angrily. “They’ll get over it. I’m not even worried about them.”
“Yes you are. And he knows it. And he doesn’t want them to hate him because he loves you, and he knows it’s important to you that they don’t.”
She knew she’d struck a nerve when a fresh stream of tears trickled from Candace’s eyes. Dammit, why wouldn’t those people just leave them alone and let their only daughter be happy?
Macy sighed. “But there I go again, telling you what’s what.”
“No, you’re fine. And I see his point too. But I’m also thinking of what’s good for him, and he needs the help. Business is picking up, and he’s got clients from all the surrounding areas coming in. He wants to open another studio. Why should he have to hire someone else when I can do it and I want to do it?”
“You’ll get it worked out.”
“I think he’s smoking again.”
“What?”
“He’d just quit smoking when we got together. Since all this has started and Ghost left and Connor moved away, I swear I smell cigarette smoke on him sometimes.”
“Did you ask him?”
Candace nodded. “He said it must be from contact. I want to believe him, but I know how he is when he gets stressed out. It’s not even that big a deal if he needs one every now and then—but he should trust me enough to not lie to me about it, right?”
“If that’s really going on, then he’s probably too embarrassed to admit he slipped up.”
“I’m sure he is. I want him to know I won’t judge him, but to tell him that, I’d be straight up accusing him of doing it and lying to me about it. So…damn, it sounds so petty, doesn’t it? We could have worse problems.”
Macy shrugged. “That guy is crazy about you. Whatever is going on between you, you’ll get through it.”
Candace’s eyes rounded. “Oh, I know that. There’s no question. But seeing him upset, or even thinking he’s upset, tears me up.” She looked down and doodled absently on the desk pad. “When he hurts, I hurt.”
The words seemed to lodge in Macy’s head and reverberate. When he hurts, I hurt. What wouldn’t she give to find a love like that? An image of Seth’s troubled face as they talked about his grandmother last night floated through her mind. For the second day in a row, an unaccustomed sting pricked behind her eyes. She quickly shoved it back. “Brian’s lucky to have you. You’re both lucky to have each other. I think you guys need to take some time to sit down together, try to relax, and have a heart-to-heart. Get everything out there.”
Candace smiled at her. “I need to talk him into a getaway for a couple days during spring break. I know he’ll protest, but we’re both here so much it’s been a while since it felt like just the two of us.”
“You definitely should. Get him to take you to his parents’ condo in Destin.”
“Ooh, I didn’t think of that. That’s a great idea.”
“And let me borrow it this summer as thanks for making the suggestion.”
Through her friend’s laughter, Macy heard her cell phone chime with a new text message. A jolt of adrenaline shot through her, ratcheting up her heart rate and sending her stomach into a somersaulting free fall. Candace watched with a little too much interest as Macy clumsily drew her phone out of her purse. The display was still lit with the message.
Tonight?
A ridiculous-sounding giggle escaped her. Did he even have to ask?
Well…maybe he thought he did. She should have contacted him first—all along he’d been afraid her actions last night had been because she was drunk. Poor guy, she might’ve made him suffer needlessly.
Everything within her wanted to reply When, where, what do I wear and what should I bring? but that might have sounded desperately…desperate. Maybe she was, but she had to keep some shred of dignity, for God’s sake.
So she sent back one word. Absolutely. He replied with a winky face and Call u ltr.
“Okay, what’s up? Because you’re grinning like a goon,” Candace said. She tapped a pen impatiently on the desktop calendar. “Hot date? Please say yes.”
“No comment.”
Candace practically howled with frustration. But Macy was sure she put the mystery to rest when she swallowed all pride and asked, “So is he, uh, not working at all today?”
“Nope. Brian told him not to worry about coming in tonight since he was here so late last night—I could’ve killed Brian for actually letting him volunteer to work, by the way. But I heard Ghost say he was going to call the guys in his band and see if they could throw together an extra practice.”
Interesting. She didn’t know much about his band—just that he was the guitarist and they often played gigs in surrounding cities but didn’t really have aspirations beyond that. He’d told her it was mostly a fun, blow-off-steam thing for him, and an outlet for any pent-up creativity he didn’t manage to exorcise through his art alone. But he obviously loved it.
She’d never heard any of his music. She doubted she could give an objective opinion. Her main concern at the moment was what went on during these band meetings, practices or whatever. Hopefully no drunken debauchery that might delay him…or keep him from showing up altogether.
Great. Something else to obsess over.
Chapter Seven
“Nice of you to finally show up, G.”
Ghost bit down on a retort that might not have been conducive to repairing some of the tension among the members of In the Slaughter. Then again, being confronted with assholic remarks from the much-maligned front man the second he walked in the door of Mark’s home studio wasn’t too conducive, either.
“Aw, I missed you too. All you worthless bastards.”
The guys scattered about the room chuckled, looking glum. Ghost set his guitar case down and sighed when he glanced around and saw one of their five-piece was missing. He dropped into an empty seat and assumed the same sullen position as most of the others, arms crossed, mouth turned down.