LITMIR.BIZ

       17

      MOLLY LOOKED AT herself in the mirror a week later and almost didn’t recognize herself. She had few opportunities to get dressed up. With the updo, the makeup and the cocktail dress, she looked like a different woman. Not a cowgirl but a woman who belonged in the big city. The special liaison for the Cronus training facility. Molly found she was excited about the new space exploration program and her part in it.

      Next week an administrative assistant would arrive at the ranch, and Molly was going to have an office in the new building. She shook her head in disbelief.

      It didn’t seem like that long ago that she’d been standing on the porch at the Bar T wondering what she was going to do without her dad by her side. She’d found a new life. A life she would never have imagined. The road had been hard, but she was in a good place here.

      The facility would be welcoming its first group of trainees next week and this gala was to thank all the people who’d worked so hard to get them to this moment.

      She’d made up her mind that if Jason was cleared for flight she’d encourage him to take the Cronus crew position Dennis wanted to offer. He had been with Dr. Tomlin all day doing tests. Molly tried to convince herself she was prepared for whatever happened.

      She’d purchased her dress with Izzy’s help at the Neiman Marcus at the Galleria. It was sparkly and slim-fitting, hugging her curves, with a halter neck and a skirt that ended a few inches above her knees. She’d even stopped into Victoria’s Secret to pick up some nice new lingerie. She’d been practicing walking around the hotel room in her new high heels for the past hour.

      Her dad used to bring her to Houston to go back-to-school shopping every year in August. They’d book a hotel near the Galleria and either Rina or Annabelle would go with her. Dad would meet them for lunch and then they’d do more shopping. It had been a little odd to visit the Galleria without him.

      Jason and Molly had booked the same suite they’d stayed in last time since the gala celebration was being held in one of the ballrooms in the same hotel. Rina and Jeb had come to Houston for the celebration, as well. They were going to meet the initial group of trainees who would be using the facility.

      She took another look at herself in the mirror as she fastened the large diamond-cluster earrings that had been her mother’s.

      You look too pretty to be my daughter.

      She glanced around expecting to see her dad standing behind her. But it was just his voice in her head. The words felt like a hug, as if she’d gotten his approval—not just for her appearance, but for everything she was doing. She closed her eyes, realizing that the pain she’d felt when he’d died was starting to ebb. She still missed him, but she could think of him now without crying and that was a very good thing.

      She gave her reflection a wink before grabbing the small beaded handbag that matched her dress and heading down to the ballroom. The hallway leading to the ballroom was lined with large posters of all the astronauts who’d done the work leading up to the Cronus missions. She saw Hemi’s and Izzy’s posters before stopping in front of her Ace’s. It was impossible to think of him as Jason when she stared into his intent blue gaze. The photo was of him in his flight suit, holding his helmet under his arm. And under the image was a quote attributed to him.

      I grew up on a ranch in Texas so nothing is daunting to me. I need to be out there going where no one has before and expanding our boundaries the way the first settlers did in the West.

      As much as she wanted him by her side, she knew that Ace really was a space cowboy. A man who should be exploring the universe, not tied to the land as she was. It was what he was meant to do and she loved him more for it.

      “Hello, gorgeous.”

      She turned to find him standing behind her in a tux. She almost forgot to breathe he was so handsome. His hair was neatly combed and he smiled when he bent down to kiss her. They’d come so far since he’d walked up to her porch on that warm May evening.

      She threw her arms around him and started laughing. He joined her, swinging her in a circle.

      * * *

      JASON HAD AN engagement ring in his pocket from Deutsch & Deutsch Jewelers. They had been in business in Houston for more than eighty years and their motto—Where Life Happens—seemed to suit him and Molly. He’d picked it up earlier in the day, after he’d finished the battery of tests Dr. Tomlin had run.

      She’d been excited by the test results for the blood samples he’d been sending her each week via private courier. His calcium levels were normalizing. She hadn’t seen the same results with her other patients so he mentioned Hemi’s mom’s diet and the supplements she’d sent him. Dr. Tomlin had immediately gotten on the phone with Mona and he had a feeling that the meals at the Mick Tanner Cronus Training Facility were going to be heavily influenced by Mona’s nutrition plan.

      Jason was happy being back on the base. Dennis had called him earlier, but Jason had been at the jewelers. He’d wanted a special ring for Molly and had been examining the one he’d ordered to make sure it was perfect.

      He hadn’t returned his boss’s call because he wanted to ask Molly to marry him before he knew if there was an option to go on more missions.

      There were a lot of astronauts who were married, and many balanced work and family. But Jason knew himself. He was either Ace or Jason—he didn’t know how to be both.

      He’d made a promise to Molly that day by the pond and he wasn’t going to back out of it now. She needed him and he was coming to realize how much he needed her.

      She was the first person he’d wanted to call when he’d heard the news from Dr. Tomlin.

      And tonight...she was beautiful. She shone more brightly than the stars in the night sky and she was holding on to him and laughing with such joy. He didn’t want to dim it. Couldn’t be the man who made her eyes lose their sparkle.

      “That dress is making it hard for me to remember why we have to be here. I want to scoop you up in my arms and carry you back to our room.”

      She blushed and then winked at him. “There’s no reason why we can’t have everything we want tonight, is there?”

      “No reason at all,” he said. Everything she wanted. This was her night. They’d saved the ranch and were getting ready to open the training facility. They were a couple. They had the rest of their lives together.

      “I want to take a picture of you by your poster,” she said, fumbling in her handbag for her cell phone.

      “Why?”

      “So I have both handsome sides of you in one photo,” she said.

      She knew. He hadn’t realized it was obvious to everyone else, or maybe it was just because Molly knew him so well that she saw he was two different men. Not balanced at all.

      The ring in his pocket felt heavy and he wanted to propose before he went inside and the lure of his old life took over.

      He went over to the poster. Saw the brash, confident astronaut staring back at him. The man in the photo wore a hint of a smile along with tons of self-assurance and swagger. He posed next to his poster and she snapped the picture just as Hemi and his brother Manu came around the corner.

      “I told you it wasn’t odd to take a picture with myself,” Hemi said.

      Manu shook his head. “Ace, are you for real? I get this egomaniac wanting to pose with himself, but you aren’t as into yourself as he is.”

      Hemi

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