Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 117177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
My body shook with amusement. “Why would you admit that? That just makes me want to commence shenanigans.”
“I’m locking the door!” Hallie yelled, laughter in her voice as she did in fact hurry into the bathroom and lock the door behind her.
“You actually locked the door.”
“I have no willpower with you!” she complained behind it.
Resting my hands behind my head, I couldn’t help but feel smug about that.
* * *
I’d barely let myself into my apartment just over an hour later when my cell rang. It was another Houston number.
Remembering Kate’s call from Saturday, I hurried to answer as I moved into the kitchen to make a coffee.
“Chris, it’s Tom.”
My commander’s voice surprised me because I had him saved on my phone as a contact. “You’re not calling from your cell.”
“Calling from the office. Look, NASA is looking at their pool of active astronauts for someone who might be interested in working at JSC as a mission specialist. I want to recommend you for the job, and I will, if you think it’s a position you might be interested in.”
Shock rooted me to the spot. “Mission specialist?”
“Yes. What do you think?”
My first thought was yes, I was interested. Rejoining a team at NASA definitely appealed to me.
A gut instinctual thought.
But it was immediately followed by the thought of Hallie.
In fact it drowned that yes out like a tidal wave.
I was happy.
Finally happy, and she was the entire reason.
And Hallie was happy here in New York. She was amazing at her job, so talented, and doing great things. Work that satisfied her. Genuinely. How many people could say that about their work?
I could see her running her own company one day.
And I was there in that vision.
With her in New York.
What was I doing though?
What kind of work would I do that was productive and benefited people? What was my contribution? As mission specialist at NASA, I’d be working on missions to space that would not only push space exploration forward but also progress here on Earth.
Mission specialist.
Holy shit.
I closed my eyes and saw Hallie’s face as I told her I loved her this morning.
“Chris? You there?”
“When do you need an answer?”
Tom replied, “I can give you a few weeks.”
A few weeks.
Feeling more than a little agitated, I gruffly thanked him and told him I’d be in touch.
As soon as I hung up, my stomach knotted.
I couldn’t ask Hallie to give up everything she’d worked for and move to Houston.
No way.
She’d worked too hard for me to ask her to leave her job behind.
That left long distance, and the thought of only seeing her now and then made me feel like hell.
So did I say no to the job offer? Give up the chance of doing something worthwhile and put Hallie’s career first?
I didn’t know what the right thing to do was.
I just knew I did not want to lose Hallie Goodman now that I’d miraculously found her.
THIRTY-SIX
Hallie
The TV flickered in the dark of my apartment, casting light over Chris as we watched the movie he’d chosen. We took turns picking a film for what I’d dubbed our Monday movie nights, and it was his choice that night. He’d distractedly chosen a dystopian horror movie starring Sandra Bullock. It had been a big deal a few years ago, but I’d been too nervous to watch it on my own.
Now I wasn’t even paying attention to it.
It had been over a week since we’d returned from the Hamptons, and despite telling each other we loved each other, I felt like Chris had been a million miles away since last Monday. He’d seemed fine in the Hamptons. That first night we’d snuggled in bed, and we’d talked for hours about our plans for the future before drifting to sleep.
Then the next morning he could barely keep his hands off me, and everything was great when I left for work.
But he’d been strange at my apartment that night. Preoccupied.
And the next morning, I’d woken up alone. That wasn’t surprising, because sometimes Chris did wake up early for his morning run. What was weird was that he texted me to say he’d gone straight to his apartment and would see me that night.
I tried not to overanalyze it. But he’d been distant ever since.
It was like he was here, but he wasn’t.
And he hadn’t touched me beyond a peck on the cheek or lips.
Yes, I’d had my period for much of the week, and then I was swamped at the weekend with a wedding rehearsal and wedding and subsequently a little too tired for sex. But Chris didn’t even attempt to seduce me, and since I’d gotten home from work tonight, I’d dropped a million hints that I wanted him to. Hints my usually intelligent spaceman wasn’t picking up on at all. I’d squeezed past him in the kitchen, brushing my breasts against his back, when there was two feet of space for me to walk in.