AFTER INTRODUCING MOLLY to Dennis Lock, Ace went to Dr. Tomlin’s office. She ran the blood tests as soon as he arrived. Then he was put through a battery of other tests, which included simulations of space-enforced gravity, zero gravity and pulling Gs. Ten hours later he was exhausted and felt as if he’d completed an Ironman triathlon and followed it up with a marathon. His body was tired and he ached. He had been running at the ranch, following the diet plan that Dr. Tomlin and Mona had outlined and doing other chores and the extra weight training Molly had interrupted. But he’d hoped for more time and more warning about the tests.
“I’m beat,” he said to the doctor when she came back in to take his blood again.
“Good. That was my intention. I want to create a good baseline for you before you train for your next mission.”
“Will I be going on another mission?” he asked.
“I don’t know yet. But that’s the goal,” she said. “You can go home now. Be back here at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow for another round of tests and I should have more of the results then.”
“Will they be final?”
“We will see,” she said. “I still haven’t found anything conclusive. The raised calcium levels in your blood were alarming when you got back and I didn’t see them improving at the rate I expected after your intensive rehabilitation. But so far we’ve seen no development of kidney stones.”
“Was that a concern?” he asked. “I spent a lot of time on the ARED when I was up there. Way more than the recommended two hours a day.”
She put her hand on his arm. The ARED was a treadmill that was used on the ISS and equipped for the astronauts to use in microgravity. “I know. Believe me, no one wants your results to be promising more than me. A lot of your routine over the last year was based on my theories.”
He nodded. He knew everyone was anxious to see how he’d improve. “How do I match up with the other candidates?”
“I’ll need to see all the test results to get the full picture, but, based on what I’ve seen today, this is what I can tell you so far. Your improvement at the six-week mark...isn’t the same as theirs. In some areas you are way ahead.”
“Which ones?” Ace asked. He’d keep doing whatever worked.
“Muscle strength and stamina. But your blood work...that still has a long way to go. It could be due to the extra three months you spent up there.”
He wanted to punch something, like maybe the wall, but—given the state his bones might be in—that didn’t seem like a wise choice. “What can I do?”
“Continue with the diet and exercise program you’ve been following. I’ve invited Candice O’Malley to meet with you shortly. She is having a different recovery than yours. Maybe you two can share notes.”
“Sure,” he said, glancing at his watch and noticing he only had ninety minutes until he was supposed to meet Molly at Rocket Fuel. He figured he was going to need a beer after this day. “I thought I’d be done by eight.”
“You will be.”
“Okay. Where is she?”
“Get dressed and meet me in my office. We can talk there.”
Ace got dressed quickly, but didn’t want to leave the examining room. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Molly.
Ace: Might be a few minutes late. <bashful emoji>
Molly: Okay. I’m at Rocket Fuel with Hemi and your other astronaut friends.
Hemi? Damn. He’d forgotten he’d told his friend to meet him there later. He wanted Molly to get to know the astronauts who would be using the training facility on the Bar T. He’d been feeling like he had everything under control earlier. Well, sort of. He’d felt like he was some sort of superman and not...broken.
Dr. Tomlin hadn’t said it, but he could tell she’d been disappointed with his results.
Ace: Don’t believe everything he says. He likes to exaggerate.
Molly: I noticed. You okay?
Ace: Not sure yet. Talk to you soon.
Molly: <kissing emoji>
He rubbed his chest. She’d sent him a kiss. He knew that sleeping with her was making them closer, strengthening the bond between them. But her texting him a kiss made things feel more real somehow. Or maybe it was just an emoji, he reminded himself. He sent her one back and then pocketed his phone. Health first. That was easier to deal with than his emotions.
* * *
SOMEHOW HER TABLE had become a gathering point for astronauts while she waited for Jason. Mostly because of Hemi, who seemed to know everyone. More and more people crowded in and around the booth. Hemi ordered wings, insisting that they were so good she had to try them. And she heard more stories about Jason’s missions.
Molly was surprised at the number of women in the group and learned that there was an equal number of both sexes on the team.
“Can I sit here?”
Molly glanced up to see a woman with thick blonde hair who could easily have been a model. She was of average height and her bone structure was good, and Molly knew from studying art that she had the golden triangle of proportions.
“Sure. It’s mainly astronauts coming and going, though.”
The woman laughed. “I am an astronaut. Isabelle Wolsten, but everyone calls me Izzy.”
“I guess I don’t really get away from the ranch much,” Molly said. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were one of the astronauts. I think most of my ideas about the NASA program are from reruns of I Dream of Jeannie and, of course, news coverage about the space shuttles.”
“NASA has had a low profile in the press for the last few years while they changed direction. Trainees are only accepted every four or five years and the training process takes a year and a half before the selections are made. My class was half men and half women. But we were the first,” Izzy said. “What do you do?”
“Cowgirl,” Molly said. “I grew up on a ranch about sixty miles from here with Ace.”
“You know Ace?” Izzy asked.
“Yeah.”
“What was he like as a kid?” Izzy asked, taking a sip of her iced tea. “He’s so intense. I can’t imagine him as a child.”
“I only knew him from the time he was fourteen. He was intense and brooding then. Kept to himself, especially in the beginning.”
Izzy raised both eyebrows at her. “Was he cute?”
Molly felt herself blushing again. “Sort of.”
Izzy laughed. “I had my suspicions.”
“About what?” Jason asked, joining their group.
“You being a cutie way back when,” Izzy said, sliding out so that Jason could sit next to Molly. Izzy sat back down, forcing Jason so close to Molly that she felt the tension in his body.
He reached for a wing, his arm grazing her side. “I don’t know about that. I didn’t spend much time looking in mirrors—I was too busy staring up at the night sky, dreaming of seeing the stars and planets up close.”
“Weren’t we all,” Hemi said.
Molly rested her shoulder against the wall and listened to all of them talk about how they’d come to NASA. She thought about what Izzy had said, that half of her group had been women, and how much things had changed.
They left about thirty minutes after Jason arrived. He was quiet as they drove toward downtown rather than to his quarters on base.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“A hotel. Is that okay? I’ve had enough of NASA for today. And I thought it might be nice to do something we don’t get to do often. Go someplace and be pampered. Sleep in a king-size bed with you and forget the world exists.”
That appealed to her. More than he could know. He hadn’t spent all day as she had—realizing they were truly from two different worlds. Even building a training facility on the Bar T Ranch wasn’t going to provide them with a ton of common ground. It would be good to avoid all the reminders of their differences, at least for a little while. But she knew there must be something else driving Jason to this decision.
“Okay. That sounds nice,” she said, putting her hand on his thigh.
He covered her hand with his, lacing their fingers together until they pulled up in front of one of the big-name hotels in the downtown area. He gave his keys to the valet and checked them into a large luxury suite.
It was a three-room suite, the kind she’d read about in travel magazines and had seen on television shows, but had never been in one herself.
Jason started kissing her as soon as the door to the suite closed behind them. He had her clothes off and her on the bed in record time. He brought her to climax again and again, but held himself back until finally—when she felt as if she wouldn’t be able to come again—he entered her, thrusting hard, driving her higher.
She came with him and then collapsed against him. He lifted her up and carried her into the shower, holding her in his arms as the warm water poured over them. Mentally and physically exhausted, she rested her head against his chest.
He held her to him and she realized he hadn’t spoken since they’d entered the room.
“What did the doctor say?” she asked when they were both dried off and in bed.
But he didn’t answer her. and when she lifted her head and stared down at his face, his eyes were closed.
But she knew he wasn’t sleeping.
It must have been bad news for him. Was that why he was clinging to her so closely?