Page 18 of Sunastara & the Venusian
Sonia sighed. “I haven’t been to Lathinaes in over a decade. But I love it there. It’s so quiet, so green, and the mountains…” She whistled. “Breathtaking. What a wonderful place to grow up.”
“It was,” I agreed. “Very peaceful. Although not much of a nightlife.”
Sonia’s laughter was low and breathy. “I imagine not. At my age, however, that’s much less of a concern.”
I frowned at this. The senator was only a few years older than I was. And I wondered if I’d still crave the escape of dark bars, stiff drinks, and warm bodies if my life had turned out differently, if I was in the senator’s shoes, if I was a wife now, a mother still.
“Come sit, Sunny,” Lena said, setting a steaming kettle on the counter. “Have some tea.”
I hesitated, my gaze landing on the empty stool next to Sai, then floating up to the boy’s grinning face.
“Yeah, Sunny,” he said. “You can sit next to me.” He held up his puzzle, which now resembled an exploding star with twenty or so tiny pegs sticking out from a central core. “I’ll show you how it works.”
“Thank you for the offer.” My voice was shakier than I wanted it to be. It wasn’t his fault, but being around him felt like hands wrapping around my arms, my neck, pulling me back, dragging me into a past I would do just about anything—andhadbeen doing just about anything—to race away from. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to take a rain check on the puzzle, and the tea.” Accessing both Sonia’s and Lena’s Vmails through my VC, I told them, “I’ve sent you both mydirect VC link. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need anything at all. Any time, day or night.”
Sonia nodded. “Thank you, Sunny.”
“And I’ll take you up on that rain check,” Lena promised.
“Me too,” Sai called out before taking another bite of his pastry.
I turned to leave, but then he said, “Hey, wait a sec.” His sweet voice stuck me in place while he wiped his mouth with his napkin. “You didn’t send your link to me. I might need to contact you too. I…” He paused, bit his cheek. “I get bored sometimes.”
Smiling at him, trying to make it look kind instead of pained, I said, “My apologies, Sai,” and sent him the link. “Better?”
“Yes,” he cheered, his fist pumping in the air.
“Now, Sai,” Lena said. “Sunny is a busy woman. You are not to contact her unless it’s an absolute emergency. Do you understand?”
“I know. I won’t bug her. Promise.” But at that precise moment, he commed,
I commed back, Walking to their door, I remembered something and turned around. “I hope you’re both planning to attend the Fire Ball. It’s my favorite event on the ship. Aside from New Year’s.”
Standing at Lena’s side, Sonia slid an arm around her waist. “We’ve heard all about it and wouldn’t miss it.”
“Oh.” I held up a finger. “There is one thing. If you happen to see anything on a dessert display calledwarple cake, you might want to avoid it.”
“Why is that?” Lena asked, blowing on her tea.
“Warple cake is a powerful aphrodisiac. It might lead to some…questionable behavior, if you catch my meaning. And if you see anything withblissas an ingredient, you’d do well to steer clear of that too.”
With a knowing smile, Sonia dipped her chin. “Thank you for the warning, Sunny.”
But as I stepped out into the hall, I heard Lena whisper, “Maybe we could bring some of the warple cake back to the suite with us after the ball.” Then the door slid closed on the senator’s quiet laughter.
7
The weekson the ship passed by with relative ease, aside from how hard I’d had to work not to stare too long or too hard at Freddie. Professional Freddie, all-business Freddie,never-once-flirting-with-meFreddie. Which was good, the lack of flirting. It was a good thing that he wasn’t interested in me anymore. It was exactly what I’d asked for. What I’d wanted. What Istillwanted. One hundred percent.
But today, I sensed that relative ease slipping away. Because Chan had brought booze to yet another staff meeting, and when he clinked his glass of champagne with his fork, mywhat fresh bullshit will this be?meter pinged off the charts.
“Let’s all raise a toast to our new L&C,” he said, holding his glass high. “In the short time Freddie has been with us, he’s already prevented Aquilinian on Martian violence, resolved a Ulaperian scone crisis, and averted a cataclysmic misunderstanding by rerouting that Delphinian flash mob to deck sixteen where they wouldn’t upset the Gorbies staying on fifteen—since we all know how offended our guests from Gorbulon-7 get byunexpected dancing.” Grinning a little too widely, Chan tilted his glass toward Freddie. “We’re so happy to have you, and that you are so brilliantly capable because…” His gaze darted around the table, never really landing on anyone while he chewed on his lower lip.
“Chan?” I prompted after several seconds of suspicious silence.
“Oh, right.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Because now is the perfect time to, ah…” He stalled out, then steamrolled through the remainder of his sentence with a single breath and no breaks. “…let you all know that we will be hosting a party of Kravaxians in three weeks’ time.”
My mouth sprang open. Freddie spluttered on his sip of champagne. Tig pulled the drawstrings of her hood fully closed. And Rax and Morgath burst from their chairs, shouting, “Over our dead bodies!” at the same time.
