Juno was up and nuzzling the both of us, in a tizzy of excitement, not knowing who to al ow to lavish affection on her. I hit the go button to cal Buzz, put the phone to my ear and scratched Juno’s head. Mace moved the hair off my shoulder and rested his chin there.
I closed my eyes trying not to feel how good that felt.
“Stel a Bel a.” I heard in my ear.
“Hey Buzz,” I said softly. “How you doin’?”
“Not good, Stel .” The words were an understatement which, for Buzz, was a miracle. Let’s just say Buzz could be dramatic.
“I figured that,” I replied, stil using my soft voice.
Mace pressed closer to my back.
I went on, trying to ignore Mace and how good it felt, his strong presence surrounding me (another one of the seven hundred, twenty-five thousand things I missed about him most of al , FYI), “I wish there was something I could do.”
“Nothin’ to do. You got your own worries anyway. Mace told us at the band meeting yesterday.”
Erm, excuse me?
My back went straight and I didn’t have to ignore how good Mace felt anymore.
“The band meeting?” I asked, my soft voice not so soft anymore.
Mace’s arm tensed.
“Floyd cal ed an emergency meeting. Mace came with him, told us what was goin’ on,” Buzz said.
I turned narrowed eyes to Mace. His head came up from my shoulder, he took one look at me and his eyebrows went up.
Buzz kept talking in my ear. “At least it’s good you two are back together.”
My mouth dropped open and my eyes popped out.
Mace did a heavy sigh.
I looked away.
“Who told you we were back together?” I asked.
“Mace did, yesterday,” Buzz answered.
Okay, I was going to kill Mace. I just hoped my jury was made up mostly of jilted women but at that moment I was happy to do my time.
The bastard!
“We are not –” I started to tel Buzz but he interrupted me.
“Linnie would have been beside herself with f**kin’ glee.
She loved you two together. Think she was more upset when you two broke it off than you were.” I doubted that.
I also again had no way to respond. It was better to think of Linnie beside herself with glee than lying in a bed with half her head blown off.
Buzz finished up, “Keep safe. Don’t worry about me or the band. We’l be okay.”
I doubted that too.
“Buzz, I… um…” I didn’t know what to say. What could you say? “Do you need anything?” I finished lamely.