Page 33 of Space Oddities

She scoffs, trying to pull away, but I don’t let her.

“I mean it. You’re an amazing woman. I knew that at first glance, and I know it even more now.” I lean down and brush my lips across hers.

She blinks rapidly before whispering, “Thanks.”

We stare at each other, each seemingly lost in our own thoughts.

After a moment, Trish clears her throat before pulling away. “Sorry, I went off on a tangent there, didn’t I?” She lets out an awkward laugh, and I pretend not to see her swipe at her eyes. “Anyhoo, you asked about why I was a writer.”

I nod, though I have a harder time shaking off the sadness her past made me feel than she does.

Trish sits up straighter, tucking the blanket in around her as she talks. “So when I went to college I excelled in composition and English courses.” A genuine smile lights her face. “I even started writing stories in between my classes, using all my imaginings from when I was younger, but more detailed.” She laughs, rolling her eyes at herself. “I thought I’d be the next Sue Monk Kidd or Joyce Carol Oates.”

She leans her head on my shoulder, the move endearing her more to my heart.

“But as much as I enjoyed literary fiction, sometimes it left me drained. It wasn’t until a classmate gave me a romance novel to read, telling me it would change my life, that I figured out what I really wanted to write.”

She looks up, smiling at me. “I was so engrossed in the book I missed my next class.” Shaking her head, she smiles. “But for the rest of the day, I felt happy. So I read more. And the more romance books I read, the happier I felt. And I thought, wouldn’t that be nice to make others feel this way? To guarantee them a happy ending. To brighten people’s days.”

She looks at me conspiratorially. “Three months later I finished my first book.”

“You amaze me, you know.”

Blinking she pulls back. “Me?”

Sitting up, I don’t even try and act cool, just drop my arm around her, pulling her to me. “Yes, you. You’ve been through a lot. And one day I hope you can tell me all of it.” She squirms, shifting on the floor. I tug her closer. “But even knowing as little as I do, you amaze me.”

I can’t see her face from this position, but I hear her scoff. “It’s not like I’m putting men in space.”

With my other hand, I tip her chin up, catching her eyes. “No. You’re helping people right here on Earth. From what I saw on Amazon about Audrey Cole,thousandsof people feel happy every day because of you.”

“You looked up Audrey Cole on Amazon?” Her smile helps me breathe easier.

“Of course.”

Silence falls again. And though Trish looks comfortable with it, I can’t help but feel ashamed. Here is this woman, obviously afraid of something yet spilling secrets to me, and I haven’t even come clean to her about my problem.

“One more episode?” she asks, gesturing to the screen.

“I’m claustrophobic.”

“What?”

“I’m terrified of small spaces.” I swallow hard. “That’s why I can never be an astronaut.”

“Oh. So that’s what you meant by ‘now’ earlier when I asked if solving puzzles is why you work at NASA.”

I nod, the pain of saying out loud that I can never realize my dream harder than I thought.

Her body jerks, realization dawning. “Andthat’swhy you freaked out in my trailer!”

I nod again.

“You idiot.” She smacks my chest with the back of her hand, making my imaginary pain real. “I thought you thought you were too good for my trailer.”

I turn my whole body toward her. “Of course not. I would never think that.”

“Don’t ‘of course not’ me, mister. How could you not tell me?” She hits me again.

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