Page 15 of Surrendering the Skies

She stopped when she saw Ash lingering in the doorway, her breath catching in her throat. His face appeared even paler than usual, and red circles ringed his eyes. “Ash, what’s wrong?”

“I…I got a message from home.” He shuffled into the room, staring at the floor. “About my father. It’s…he’s…he died this morning.”

Geneva’s hands flew up to her mouth. “Oh no! I’m so sorry!” She hurried across the room and took his arm to lead him to the bed. “What happened?”

The mattress squeaked when he plopped down, and she sat beside him. “I talked to my mother, but not for long as she was kind of frazzled, and then one of my brothers took over to finish filling me in.” His eyes remained trained on some unknown spot in front of him. “He went for a walk around the neighborhood, like he often does, and…and I guess he just collapsed. Some passersby saw him, but by then, it was too late.”

Tucking one leg beneath her, she leaned over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “That’s terrible,” she murmured.

“Obviously, he was getting older, as all of us are, but I thought he was in good health. He seemed fine the last time I saw him, but then I was trying to remember how long ago it was since I’d been home, since you can’t really tell anything from a video call, and…” Ash buried his face in his hands and let out a long, uneven breath. “It doesn’t seem real. None of this seems real. I keep waiting to wake up from this nightmare.”

She held him tight, rubbing the top of his arm. “What can I do?”

“I don’t know if there’s anything youcando.” He wiped his eyes and propped his elbows on his knees. “I just got out of Walker’s office. I get two weeks’ leave, and he said I can take a shuttle whenever I want. So, I guess I should probably head out tonight or first thing in the morning so I can be with my family as soon as possible.”

Geneva slowed her movements and swallowed. “Do you want me to come with you?”

Ash finally lifted his head to look at her. “I want to say yes, but I know it’s a long flight, and we have so much work to do here, and I didn’t think you’d be meeting my family under these circumstances, and—”

She silenced him by putting a finger to his lips. “A simple ‘yes’ would have been more than enough.” Releasing him from her grasp, she stood. “If I’m going to be taking off with you, I need to go talk to Walker. Are you going to be okay in here by yourself?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I should start packing anyway.”

She bent over to give him another hug and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll be right back,” she said. “Hopefully he hasn’t gone too far since you left him.”

Geneva hurried through the corridors of the ship, thoughts of dinner pushed to the side, and arrived at Admiral Walker’s office. She signed in to the terminal embedded in the wall next to the door and waited to be either granted permission to enter or turned away. Stifling a sigh, she fought the urge to pace up and down the hallway and settled for tapping her foot impatiently as she glared at the screen.

“Welcome, Commander Greyson,” the robotic yet feminine voice of the virtual assistant greeted her. “Admiral Walker will see you now.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and pushed open the door. The admiral sat behind his heavy wooden desk, his eyes focused on the computer monitor set up on one side. “Commander,” he said without looking up. “I must say, I’ve been expecting you.”

She stood opposite him. “I just found out about Ash’s father. I’d like to go on leave with him, if it’s okay.”

“I’m sorry, Commander, but I can’t grant your request.”

Her stomach lurched. “What?”

Walker faced her, lines creasing his forehead. “I checked, and you don’t have two full weeks of leave time accumulated right now. Plus, with the drills and training we have coming up, I can’t afford to lose both of you at the same time for so long.”

Annoyance at her past decisions to fly home for so many weekends gnawed at her conscience, but she tried to think of a solution. “I’ll take responsibility for finding someone to cover for me. And, if I’m not mistaken, in emergencies, people have borrowed against their future leave totals before, right?”

Grimacing, he rubbed his temples, his hand shielding his eyes. “Everyone on this ship is aware of your personal relationship with Commander Ashford, which is fine. However, for situations like this, the military does not consider you family. So, unless the two of you ran off and got married without telling me—and you can prove it—the death of his father does not qualify you for this kind of leave.”

The admiral’s words stung more than she could have anticipated. Geneva’s gaze dropped to the floor as she let her defeat sink in. One worrisome question prickled at the back of her mind. She hated to speak it aloud, but she needed an answer before making her exit. “Is this further punishment for when we defied your orders and joined the rescue mission after the attack on Enegar?” she asked quietly. “Because I thought I served my time for that, so to speak.”

“This is nothing but logistics, plain and simple.” Drumming his fingers on the desk, Walker took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Three days, Geneva.”

Her head jerked up. “I’m sorry?”

“I’ll give you three days. Once you get all the details, you can fly out the day before the funeral, attend the services, and return immediately afterward.” His expression softened. “Please pass along my sincerest condolences to the Ashford family.”

It wasn’t the victory she wanted, but it was the best outcome she could hope for. “Thank you, Admiral. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

He nodded and directed his attention back to his computer screen. “Dismissed.”

Geneva trudged back to her quarters, her footsteps echoing on the metal floor in the empty hallways. Beyond her disappointment at not being able to travel as planned, she hated feeling like she was letting Ash down. She paused outside her door, readying herself to deliver more bad news.

Inside, Ash stood near the closet, shoving clothing into a duffel bag. “So, what’s the story?” he asked, turning around.

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