Page 7 of Supernova

He lasts all the way until lunch.

THREE

frankie

Frankie stops in the driveway.She and Ed have just walked out the door and are about to get into the car, but he’s said something that catches her so off-guard that she has to stop the clicking of her heels against the cement driveway so she can make sure that she actually heard him correctly.

“You’re what?” she says. “I don’t understand.” Frankie shakes her head, shifting her weight from one foot to the other on her black high-heeled shoes. She’s wearing a fitted bodice black lace dress with a flared skirt, and clutching a hot pink purse under one arm. She tilts her head and looks at Ed. “Why would you go to Seattle, of all places?”

Ed’s shoulders droop ever so slightly. It’s not dark yet, but the sun is rapidly disappearing, and the warm December evening settles around them as he looks at his wife imploringly. A million unspoken words pass between them as he silently begs for her understanding. “I wanted to get to the restaurant before I told you, because it’s definitely a cause for celebration—there’s nothing to be upset or worried about. It’s a huge honor, Frank.”

Frankie knows instantly why he’d spilled the beans before they could slide into a banquette at the Italian restaurant she loves in downtown Stardust Beach: he doesn’t want her to havea meltdown in public. Not that she would; Frankie isn’t given to giant public displays of emotion. However, she knows that her moods can swing quite wildly, and that her inability to open up to her husband can sometimes feel like a fast track to losing him. And Frankie can’t lose Ed.

“But…a month? Or more?” Unbidden, Frankie’s eyes fill with tears. She doesn’t want to cry and ruin their evening together, but it’s almost Christmas, and her husband is telling her that he’s about to leave her alone in Florida for at least a month. “I’m sorry. I’m happy for you, sweetheart,” she says, correcting herself as quickly as she can. Frankie steps right up to him and slides her hands across his chest as she looks up at her handsome husband. “I truly am. We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

And sheishappy for him. Frankie is terribly proud of him for being chosen to take part in a special project, but her initial response is disappointing—even to her. She takes a few long, slow, fortifying breaths to pull herself together.

“I was thinking,” Ed says, softening a bit as Frankie presses her warm body up to his right there in the driveway. “I mean, I had a thought,” he says, shifting nervously as he puts his hands on both sides of her waist. “Maybe your mom could come down for an extended stay? Or both your parents? I know you wanted them to visit anyway, and it might be the perfect time for you to entertain them and show them around Florida. It could really make the time pass for you while I’m gone.”

Frankie’s initial tears dry up right away. “My parents?” she says, considering it. “Well, that could be fun.” She looks over Ed’s shoulder at the string of holiday lights that their neighbor has wound around a short palm tree. “They keep asking when they can come to Florida.”

“See?” Ed’s face relaxes noticeably. “There’s a silver lining to this cloud.”

It takes everything in Frankie not to laugh out loud, because she knows that Ed would be thrilled to have her parents’ extended visit happen when he’snotthere. It isn’t that he doesn’t like Enzo and Allegra Lombardi, but he was raised in a distinctly middle class American household, whereas Frankie grew up as the first generation American child of a pair of Italian immigrants. Enzo and Allegra are both loud, vivid characters with strong opinions that they aren’t afraid to share, and Ed’s parents are more of the strong but silent types. The Maxwells keep out of Ed and Frankie’s business, and their calls are infrequent and polite.

“My mom would love it here,” Frankie says. “The pool, the beach, the palm trees.” She tilts her head back and stands on tiptoes to kiss her husband. “That’s a wonderful idea to have them come visit.”

Pleased, Ed kisses her back and then lets her go so that he can open the car door for his wife. “Should we go and have some linguini and spumoni?”

Frankie laughs. Ed is obsessed with spumoni. “Sure,” she says. “We can have spumoni.”

Over the flickering candle in a red glass votive holder, Ed tells Frankie all about the way that Arvin North called him in and pitched the trip to Seattle.

“Oooh,” Frankie says appreciatively, trying her hardest to keep a cheerful gleam in her eye even though she’s still a little sad about him leaving. “That’s amazing.”

Ed spares no detail about the things Mr. North said, or the way he wanted to make sure that Frankie would be okay with it, and she can’t help but be touched by his concern. As the wives of potential astronauts, they’ve all come to Stardust Beach knowing that a long separation from their husbands is a possibility, but the fact that Ed’s boss is worried that she might be lonely is a kindness that Frankie hasn’t expected.

“I’ll be fine with my parents here,” Frankie assures him. The waiter, a young man who looks no more than eighteen or nineteen, stops with a bottle of red wine and offers to top them off. “Please,” Frankie says, looking up at him with just her dark eyes. Once the waiter has poured the wine and left them alone again, Frankie leans forward across the table. “Listen,” she says quietly, waiting for Ed to make eye contact with her. “We came here with a goal in mind, and I’m going to make sure that you get to the moon.”

Ed is watching her, and a look of pride flickers over his face. “Thanks for being my girl, Francesca,” he says as he reaches for her hand. She takes it, her fingers brushing over the big class ring that Ed wears on his right hand.

“We’ve got this.” Frankie ignores the feeling of tears pricking at the back of her eyes again. She will not cry. Shewill not. Frankie is resolute about one thing and one thing only: she will make sure Ed has her support.

She might not be able to give him everything he wants or needs, but she can give him this.

NASA has gone above and beyond for the Christmas party at Cape Kennedy on December twenty-first: they’ve taken one of the hangars and made it into a winter wonderland, with a three-piece band on a stage at one end, and giant, glittering, fabricated snowflakes hanging from the twenty-five foot high ceilings. The overhead lights are off, and a special bank of colored lights dance through the hangar, catching on bits of glitter and sending off rainbow sparks as handsomely dressed couples slow dance to the musical stylings of the Martin Marr trio. At present, the band is playing “White Christmas” as Arvin North extends ahand to his wife with a serious look on his face. Betty North, a surprisingly statuesque woman with a sharp dyed-black bob and bright eyes, accepts his hand with a smile.

“This is something, isn’t it?” Jo asks over the sound of the band. Frankie nods. She’s holding a glass of champagne in one hand as she watches Ed and the other men laugh and shoot the bull just a few feet away.

“It’s quite a party,” Frankie agrees. She’s chosen a white taffeta dress for the occasion, and the layers of fabric have individual silver sequins sewn in throughout. Each one twinkles like little stars as the lights sweep over the women. “Hey, Joey-girl,” Frankie says, sipping her champagne. “Have I told you the good news yet?”

“About Ed? I heard from Bill—congratulations!” Jo reaches over and puts a hand on Frankie’s arm. “I’m so happy for him.”

Frankie can see by the look on her friend’s face that sheishappy for Ed. It would be so easy for a woman to harbor ill-will about something like this, wishing it were her own husband who’d been chosen for a special project, but in the months that Frankie and Jo have been friends, Frankie has come to believe that Jo is not the kind of girl who covets what others have or gives in to a base emotion like envy.

“Thanks, Jo.” Frankie puts both hands to the champagne glass and looks at the liquid as bubbles dance to the top. When she finally turns her gaze back to Jo, she’s smiling. “But the real good news is that while he’s gone, my parents are coming down from New York. They’ll stay with me the whole month.”

“Wow!” Jo’s grin widens. “That’s wonderful news. I hope I get to meet them.”

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