She loosens her jaw, ready to fire off one of her classic retorts, then stops.
“Wait. You love me?”
I ball my hands into fists and shake them at her. “Yes, you fucking lesbian. What gave it away, oh sapphic genius? The fact I moved the boys to the cabin so I could spend more time with you? The fact that I let you take over my sitting room with an entire studio’s worth of equipment?” I shout, gesturing at the room around us. “The fact I learned your songs? The fact I’ve enjoyed making music with you more than anything I’ve ever done in my life?”
“Well, fuck. I love you too, but I didn’t know if we were ready to say that to each other!”
“I’msoglad we were able to get our first fight and our first I love yous out of the way, especially in front of Gene. That’s really fucking special!”
Mac guffaw-snorts and sets aside Old Faithful, stalking toward me. I draw my chin back as she pulls the bass from my hands and sets it on the stand. Grabbing me from the chair, she envelops me in her arms.
“I don’t want to hug you. I’m mad at you!” I say, wiggling out of her annoying embrace.
She pulls me back in and holds me tighter. “Too goddamn bad.”
Her arms do feel nice, even if I am pissed off.
“You called me a shrew!” I say, trying and failing to break her grip.
I mean, it was a halfhearted attempt, but still.
“Ah, fuck. I did, didn’t I? I’m sorry about that,” she says, kissing my temple despite my lukewarm efforts to avoid her lips. “New rule: no name-calling.”
“Damn right,” I say, settling into her arms.
Gene watches us, his expression both worried and amused. I know the feeling.
“And no guilt-tripping!” Mac tacks on.
“If you don’t want the guilt, don’t take the trip.”
“Well, no saying I love you just to get your way.”
“I didn’t say it to get my way. It just came out!”
“Also, what gave you the idea I’m just going to up and abandon you?”
I glance at Gene, and insecurity attacks me all over again.
“Can we talk about that privately?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“Yes, but wewilltalk about it.”
“Fine.”
Shaking his head, his hands still draped casually over Mac’s guitar, Gene interrupts our back-and-forth. “Are you two quite done?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe.”
I glower at my beloved but accept her gentle kiss on my cheek.
“While that was entertaining as hell—honestly, I’ve never seen someone stand up to Mac like that—Dr. K insisted I remind you that keeping your blood pressure and stress levels down is critical to your continued recovery.”
“Okay, but isn’t indulging in my creativity and taking hikes good for all of that?” Mac says, kissing me on the lips before dropping into her chair.
“Sure, Mac. I love that you’re doing that. But you need to put a limit on the number of hours you’re putting in, and you cannot—seriously, look me in the eyes—you cannot go on hikes alone.”
