Page 23 of Hearts Like Hers

Kate nodded. “Yet.”

She turned. “What do you mean?”

“Well.” Kate leaned her back against therailing. “You didn’t do all the things you plannedyet. You’re young, and your whole life isstill ahead of you.”

Autumn smiled at the lifeline. Kate, she wasfinding, had a kind heart. “Yet. I can get behind yet. Shall we go insidebefore you give me a heart attack with that railing?”

Kate glanced behind her. “Makes you nervous?”

Autumn sighed. “A lot of things about youmake me nervous. But yes, the idea of you tumbling away from me to a dramaticdeath in the valley below? That would be one of them.”

“And here you struck me as a risk taker,”Kate said, straightening.

“Risk taker, thrill seeker, adrenaline junkieare all things I aspire to and sometimes claim to be. But if we’re beinghonest, I play it pretty safe.”

Kate met her gaze and held on. “Nothing wrongwith that.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes it’s in one’s bestinterest to cut loose. Walk on the wild side.”

“Is that what we’re doing tonight?” The overthazel of Kate’s eyes had Autumn warm.Verywarm.

Autumn bit the inside of her cheek, enjoyingthe give and take. “I think that’s a very good characterization.”

“Me too.”

“Shall we head in?” Autumn asked, alreadybacking in the direction of the observatory.

Kate passed her a lazy grin that moved allthe way through her. “Right behind you.”

They roamed the interior of the observatory,and Autumn watched in captivation as Kate took in each of the exhibits with kideyes. “This place is so cool,” she whispered as they moved from room to room.Autumn was pretty sure the whisper indicated the reverence Kate felt for thespace. She felt it, too. For the most part, the observatory was deserted,giving them space to explore all on their own. It also allowed Autumn to watchthis new version of Kate: wide-eyed and happy, as she moved with interest fromone exhibit to the next, pointing out interesting details to Autumn along theway.

“You’re really into astronomy,” Autumn said,after Kate detailed her infatuation with the Big Bang.

“I guess. It’s been a thing since I wasyoung. Not a lot of people know this, so keep it on the DL, but I won secondplace in the third-grade science fair with my Styrofoam model of the solarsystem.”

“Wow. And you still agreed to come out withme tonight?”

“I would have won first, but I made Pluto waytoo big.”

“And why wouldn’t you? Pluto is a fanfavorite.”

Kate nodded and flipped her palms up inagreement. “It has the best name and the best vantage point to keep an eye onall the other planets. The others always felt untrustworthy to me.”

“Without question. I’ve never trusted Mars. Imean, do you have rings, or don’t you? Make up your mind.”

Kate chuckled and they continued theirperusal through the cavernous building, reading, investigating, stealingglimpses of each other while not being secretive about it in the slightest. Itwas a sexy game, and Autumn was finding she wasn’t half bad at it.

They spent the most time in front of thelarge Foucault Pendulum, watching its continuous sway back and forth, always aconstant. As the day progressed, the pendulum would take down pegs signalingthe progress of the Earth’s rotation beneath it. Kate shook her head. “Nomatter what we’re doing, whatever thing is going on in our lives, this pendulumcontinues to swing.”

“It’s humbling when you think about it,”Autumn said, her eyes glued to the pendulum. “A reminder that the world is somuch bigger than what’s right in front of us. Makes all of life’s dailytroubles seem a little less consuming.”

Kate nodded, the glimmer in her eyes dimming.“Some of them.”

Okay, Autumn had clearly touched on somethingthere. As they walked to the Hall of Sky exhibit, she couldn’t help herself.“Is that what brought you to LA? You needed to get away from some sort ofproblem? And if I’m overstepping, you can just tell me to shut the hell up. Youwouldn’t be the first person.”

Kate slid her hands into the pockets of herjeans. “I would never tell you to shut up. But yeah, I guess you could say Ihit a rough patch.” Kate passed her a glance and then turned her attention to areplica of Saturn as she spoke, never meeting Autumn’s eyes. For someone soastute at eye contact, it was telling. “There was a fire I worked not too longago. Back home. It was pretty bad.”

“I’m sorry,” Autumn said, leaving it there.She understood that whatever Kate was going through might be beyond her abilityto offer advice. She could be a friend, though. She was good at that. “It mustbe hard, having such a high-stakes job. The worst thing that could happen to mein a given day at work is I run out of milk. The horror.”

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