by Lund, S. E.
He was so enthusiastic about it that he even infected me. Not that I would ever consider leaving Earth, but it was exciting to be part of the space industry. Plus, it made him happy and when he was happy, I was happy, too.
Luke popped a cork on a bottle of champagne we bought and had chilling for the occasion. He poured the four of us a glass, and we toasted SpaceX and the Falcon Heavy mission.
"To SpaceX," Luke said. "And hopefully, to my future in the industry. Maybe in five years, we'll be off the coast of California for a liftoff of one of the rockets I developed and am funding."
"To SpaceX," John said and nodded. "To your future, Luke. I know you've been dreaming of this for years. Hopefully, things will work out in the next couple of years and your dream will come true -- maybe not moving to Mars, but at least, making rockets that will go there and developing the programs that will take those rockets there."
"Hear, hear," Greg said and smiled at Luke.
"Yes, hear, hear," I replied and raised up my glass.
The trip had been the culmination of a lifelong dream for Luke of traveling around the world on his catamaran and included crossing off one of his bucket list items -- watching a SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch.
Next on his agenda would be meeting with several of the CEOs of the private space industry corporations and get involved funding them and maybe working on some aspect of the programs. While I did a PhD in International Relations, he would use his billion-dollar stake to get involved in the space race.
Life was good and I felt eager to get back home to Manhattan and start my coursework for the PhD. Luke and I would look for an apartment together, and we'd make a life together while we waited to get married. Candace was on the mend, and I couldn't wait to see what life had in store for us both.
Chapter Six
Luke
Coming back to Manhattan was harder than I thought it would be.
For the past eight months, Alexa and I had spent our days on the water, sailing from port to port, living life totally according to our immediate wants and desires. Nothing was written in stone about our itinerary and we had no serious deadlines except we had to be back so she could start her coursework.
We were back in Manhattan and it was hard to get back into the city life after so long away. At first, I couldn't get used to the noise and bustle, the crowds and pace of life. I'd take my car and drive down a busy street and find that I was far too impatient with the traffic. Before I'd left, I was so used to long waits while driving that I barely noticed it. Now, after being so free for months and months, it was frustrating.
We were staying at the Hilton in a long-term stay suite until we found an apartment and while it was nice, we had people all around us at all times. I could hear the sound of a television or someone's voice in the next room. I bumped into people on the elevator or parking garage.
By the first weekend we were back, I was ready to go out to the beach house to get away from it all.
"You've had it already?" Alexa said when I complained about the noise and suggested we go to Westhampton.
"Surprisingly, yes, I have. I need peace and quiet. I want to hear the sound of water, not car horns blaring and sirens wailing."
Alexa came to me and slipped her arms around me. "If you want to go to the beach house, I'm happy to go. It'll be good for me to have one last weekend to relax before classes start. I'll be doing a lot of reading and writing this semester. Plus, I'm going to lead the first-year seminar for Intro to Political Science, so I'll have to meet students and grade papers and exams. I have to prepare notes for the seminars. I'll have office hours. On top of it all, I have to do all my own work."
"Sounds like a lot," I said and leaned down to kiss her. "Do you really need to work as a teaching assistant? You don't need the money. I can support you while you go to school."
She shook her head. "It's part of the whole apprenticeship thing. You have to learn how to teach. Leading a seminar every week is one way of doing that. If I didn't, I'd be at a disadvantage when it comes time to get an actual class."
"We don't want that," I said. "I just hope you're not too stressed."
"I have to be able to handle the workload. Everyone else has to."
"Okay," I said and nodded. "Whatever you need. We can set up one of the guest rooms as an office at the beach house so you can work there until we get our own place in Manhattan. Honestly, I'd love it if we could live out there instead of in town, but I know that would be inconvenient for you. You'd have to commute each day to get to Columbia."
"We could try," Alexa said. "It's an hour and a half drive. I could always drive in on Monday, stay until Friday at my old apartment with Candace, and drive back for the weekend."
I made a face at that. "I don't want us to be separated. Maybe, we could keep an apartment near Columbia where we both would stay four nights a week and then drive out every Friday for the weekend in Westhampton."
"I could do that, as long as the weather's good. I don't like the idea of commuting in the winter."
"We could stay in Manhattan when the weather was bad."
Alexa smiled and kissed me. "That sounds like a plan. Now, all we have to do is find an apartment near Columbia."
"I'm on it. What are your requirements, m'Lady? Gold toilets? Marble walls?"
"An office overlooking something. A nice kitchen. A fireplace would be a bonus."
"Consider it done," I replied and gave her a squeeze. "I'll scout out places and you can focus on getting your schedule all figured out, and all that grad student stuff you have to do. I'll make finding us an apartment my main job."
For the next week, while Alexa prepared for her new semester, I contacted a realtor my family knew and asked him to find us a nice apartment with three bedrooms near Columbia.
"A view of something is an absolute necessity for one of the spare rooms," I said, wanting Alexa to have the perfect office. I told him our other requirements and he began the search. He sent me a few possibilities and I arranged viewings so we could get it settled as soon as possible.
While he found us apartments, I spent some time speaking with the detective who handled the original break-in and attack about where the investigation stood. I called when we first arrived back in Manhattan and spoke with Detective Russell, who was in charge of the case. A middle-aged man with a shaved head and a goatee, he invited me to the precinct where I sat across from him in a meeting room and we talked about the case.
"Do you think it's Blaine?" I asked, sipping a cup of very good coffee he provided me.
"Might be," he said and rubbed his head. "Our best image of the man who attacked Ms. Carter isn't very good for our facial recognition system. There are some points of comparison, but he looks like he was wearing a beard and had dark glasses, long hair. Mr. Lawson was clean shaven and had short hair so if it was him, he was wearing a pretty good disguise and knew enough to avoid looking directly at any CCTV cameras. Whoever it was, the man had planned the attack, which makes me think it was either one of Ms. Carter's ex boyfriends, or Mr. Lawson."
"What about her ex-boyfriend? I heard they parted on bad terms," I asked, remembering what Candace had told Alexa.
"He was out of town that day," Detective Russell said with a shrug.
"And Blaine's missing in action," I said.
"That he is. He has to report in to his parole officer in ten days or he'll have broken the terms of his parole. If so, we can pick him up when we find him, put him in jail."
"And if he reports in on time?"
"We'll check on his alibi, and if he has one," he said and made a face. "There's not much we can do. He has to inform his parole officer of any moves, and report in on time. Unless he's caught in the act of violating the order of protection, we have no reason to arrest him."
I finished my cup of coffee and stood up. "Thanks for meeting with me," I said. "I realize it's not part of your job to calm the fears of nervous boyfriends. It's just that if it is Blaine, he isn't really intere
sted in Candace except to hurt Alexa. She's his real target."
"I understand, and it is my job, so no sweat."
We shook and I left the police station, glad I'd gone down to speak with him.
I went back home and while Alexa was on campus getting her work done to register for the new semester, I sat down and tried to figure out what I was going to do for the coming months. Without Chatter to keep me busy, and now that I had nothing to do to keep The Phoenix running, I was at a loss. I was used to having my day decided the night before and for the past year, that had been making sure the catamaran was in good functioning order and our plans for the next day were in place.
Now, my day was wide open.
The only work I had was finding us a place to live and trying to get involved in the space industry. Given I was going to be an investor, I knew I'd have no problem doing that. Everyone needed money. The issue would be which company to back.
While I stood at the window in the hotel room, looking out over the city displayed below, I contemplated where I wanted to be in five years.
Hopefully, I would be commuting between California, Washington State, and Florida for the space business. California and Washington State was where the technological side of the business were located. Florida was where the actual rockets would launch. Alexa and I would most likely live in Manhattan, depending on if she decided to work for the UN. I couldn't see us living in Westhampton full-time until Alexa wanted to have children, but that was likely five or more years off.
It was either that or we'd be living in Europe somewhere close to Darmstadt, Germany, where the European Space Agency had their mission control. That would depend on where Alexa wanted to work. She had a dream of working for the UN, either in New York or one of the European capitals. That meant Vienna, Austria or Geneva, Switzerland or The Hauge, Netherlands.
It was a good problem to have and I knew I was lucky.
While I was contemplating my and Alexa's futures, my cell dinged to indicate an incoming text.
I removed my cell and read the message.
MOTHER: Where are you, dear? I called you three times this week and you didn't answer. Your father and I were expecting to have you over for dinner when you arrived back home. We've hardly spoken since you left on your trip. Are you coming to the Marshall Family Gala at Cipriani's on the weekend? As one of the two heirs, people expect to see you.
I had seen my mother's number come up on my missed calls but hadn't called her back yet. That was one part of my life in Manhattan I didn't look forward to starting again. For the eight months, I'd mostly been free of her machinations and hadn't felt deprived. Now, I'd have to maneuver life with her and my father. Even though I was a grown man, I had responsibilities to them and the Foundation in my parents' names. The Marshall Family Foundation, worth several billion dollars, which was known for its support of medical and scientific research. Dana and I were the only children my adoptive parents had, and we were set to inherit their money when they died.
So as much as my adoptive parents drove me crazy at times, they had provided us both with a safe, more-than comfortable family life with the best educations and upbringing money could buy after my real parents died.
I owed it to the foundation to make a show of support now and then.
LUKE: I'd be happy to come and make an appearance at the gala but just so you know, I'll be bringing Alexa with me, so no trying to match me with the latest debutante, okay. So, no Felicia or Jenna.
MOM: Luke, I know that. I've long since given up finding you a suitable wife. As long as you show up for a while so people can see you and be glad that the Marshall Family Foundation is still continuing. There's a dinner and then the annual presentations to staff. It would be wonderful if you could make a presentation. I'll send you the list of awards and you can decide which one you want to do. Love you!
It wasn't lost on me that she said suitable wife. That was, no doubt, a direct reference to Alexa. Of course, my mother wouldn't approve of Alexa as my wife. She wasn't from money, like the Marshall Family. She also didn't yet know that I was engaged to Alexa. I could almost see her face when I told her. In fact, while I had been thinking of ways to bow out of attending, the occasion gave me an idea. The event would give me the chance to officially announce that I was engaged to be married to Alexandria Marie Dixon. That would be a good reason to attend. It would put to rest all the scheming and planning attempts of my mother and Felicia's mother and Jenna's mother about getting me back together with their respective daughters.
In fact, Cipriani's would be the perfect opportunity and venue.
It was where I met Alexa...
LUKE: I would love to attend. See you Saturday.
I didn't respond with a 'Love you!' like I knew she wanted. Did I love her? Not the way I loved my biological mother, but she did her best by me and Dana and I appreciated that. If she hadn't been such a social butterfly, so much a busybody, and so conscious of appearances, I might have loved her, but she was. She was totally about appearances.
The one saving grace was that at least she wasn't my blood relative.
I pulled open my calendar and wrote in:
Marshall Family Foundation Dinner 7:00 p.m. Cipriani's.
I smiled to myself as I thought about what I'd say and how my parents would respond. I could see my mother's expression of shock. I could see my father's attempt to squelch his smile. I knew that he didn't care about such things and would appreciate my announcing it that way. No doubt, he'd have been deluged with comments about what woman she could match me with over the past year and a half since Jenna and I broke off our engagement and since the potential relationship with Felicia failed to materialize.
He'd probably be pleased that it would all end.
While I would have wished I could refuse my mother's request to attend the dinner, now I couldn't wait to go with Alexa on my arm.
Chapter Seven
Alexa
I spent the day on campus, wishing Candace was better and could be there with me. For the past four years, we'd been partners in crime at Columbia, and I missed having her with me. She had arranged with one of her profs to take an online class that she could do completely at home, so she didn't lose her standing in the program and could keep her scholarship. It would be purely research of existing work in her area, but it would move her forward in her Master's. After that was done, she'd have only one more class to take, which would involve fieldwork, and that would be in the spring semester the following year. After that, it would be her writing a thesis and moving to the PhD.
As for me, I had a year of coursework, and then a couple of years doing research and writing my dissertation. Once the coursework was out of the way, I could do the research from anywhere, and I thought that maybe Luke and I could live in Westhampton at the beach house. As long as I had an internet connection, I could do my research and writing from the patio, or the beach. Hell, I could do it from The Phoenix if I wanted.
When I was done filling out forms and buying texts for my courses, I grabbed a coffee and bagel and then took the train to our old apartment to visit Candace and try to cheer her up.
I approached the building and it was only then I remembered that there had been a strange man hanging around on the streets. It was pretty busy in the neighborhood, so I stopped for a moment across the street and at the corner, watching to see if there was anyone suspicious but I saw nothing that raised alarm bells. People walked by, on their way to their destinations. No one was hanging out looking suspicious. There was only one homeless man sitting on the sidewalk beside a trash can, an empty cup in hand, his hat pulled low over a grizzled chin.
Feeling relieved, I walked across the street and entered the building, using the new code Candace told me she'd created in order to get in the new security system. So that she knew I was on my way up, I buzzed her twice and then once, which was our signal. I took the elevator up to the floor and then went to the door, using the spare key she'd given me so I cou
ld pop in any time I was free.
"Hey, bestie," I said when I entered the apartment and placed my backpack on the bench by the front entry. "How are you today?"
"Bored to tears," Candace said, making an exaggerated face of sadness. She was seated in her recliner, in her pajamas, and had been working on her laptop.
"What about your class? Aren't you excited about it?"
"Yeah, it's okay, but I swear if I have to stay in this apartment for six months, I'll go stark-raving mad."
I went to her recliner and bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek and a squeeze of affection.
"We'll get you out on the weekend," I said. "Luke will come and help you outside and we can wheel you along the river. How does that sound?"
"It sounds fantastic, which is terribly sad. Anything to get me out of this house. I've been here for two weeks and I'm all out of episodes of Game of Thrones and True Detective."
"You can re-watch the whole Avengers franchise," I said and plopped down on the sofa beside her recliner.
"I did that last week," she said and rolled her eyes dramatically.
We laughed.
"Seriously," I said, and looked her over. "How are you doing? Any news on the case?"
She shook her head. "Nah. I don't think they'll find who did this unless he tries to contact me, and we get a good look at him."
"You seem awfully relaxed about it," I said, shaking my head. "If it was me, I'd be obsessed and afraid to go to sleep at night."
