“Makes sense,” Marley said. They entered an elevator and Marley listened as Darla asked the AI to take them to the correct level. When the elevator doors next opened, it revealed a truly astonishing sight to her eyes. An atrium arched overhead, what she knew to be a viewscreen giving the illusion of panes of glass through which the stars and beyond could be viewed. Reddish grass made a lush carpet for a small park, complete with small trees, flower beds, benches, and playground equipment. Pedestrian walkways surrounded the park on four sides and businesses hugged what she surmised was the outer hull, on the far sides of the walkways.
They exited the elevator and strolled along the walkway. “I think I see it! What’s written on the chalkboard sign there?” Melissa asked, pointing ahead.
“Oh, yes! I think you’re right! I see someone eating pizza and that guy over there is having spaghetti!” Darla squealed.
Marley found herself grinning, the excitement contagious. She squinted. “It says ‘Rosa’s’ and I think it’s a list of specials under that.”
“Yay! Cannoli!” Melissa shouted, grabbing Marley and Steven’s hands and pulling them along faster. She was oblivious to the amused looks of the people around them, which Marley found endearing.
“Wait up!” called Darla, as she fell behind. She caught up to her friends just as Melissa claimed a newly empty table. The dishes had not yet even be cleared away, she saw to her amusement. “Ugh, couldn’t you have gotten a clean table?”
“This one was closest plus it’s outside and we can see the park,” Marley defended their friend.
“Yeah, what she said. Plus, my feet are killing me. I think my ankles are starting to swell.”
“Oh no, you sure you’re okay? Have you been checked out?” Darla asked, contrition writ large upon her face.
Melissa waved off her concern. “Yeah, nothing to worry about. My blood pressure is normal and all that. Just one of the many aggravations to be endured before the baby gets here. You know, like having to pee every five seconds,” she said, now casting her eyes to the inside of the bistro.
“You want me to find out if they have a bathroom or where the nearest one is?” Marley offered.
Melissa looked relieved. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all. If the waitress comes, just order me a soda. I’m not bothered what kind.”
“Okie doke,” Steven said. Marley got up and walked inside. Finding a server, she asked about the bathroom, then made her way to where Melissa could see her and gestured for her to follow her.
“It’s this way,” she told Melissa, leading her to the back of the restaurant where the server had indicated. The bathroom was well appointed, with stone tiles and high end chrome fixtures on the sinks. It also had the sound of someone speaking, in lieu of the more usual music. “Is that an Italian lesson?” she asked incredulously.
Melissa giggled as she entered a stall. “Go into pee and find out how to tell someone you’re going camping in Italian! Love it!” Marley laughed in response.
“Hey, never know when you might need to say that to someone out here, amongst the stars.” Melissa giggled harder.
“We gotta tell them when we get back. They’ll never have guessed about this.”
“I certainly wouldn’t have,” Marley declared. She heard Melissa flush the toilet and moment later she reappeared and washed her hands. Marley decided that was a good idea, given the germs that lingered in restrooms and also washed her hands.
They arrived back at the table to find the dirty dishes had been cleared away and the table wiped down. Sodas sat at each place and their friends were perusing menus. “There you are!” Steven teased. “We began to think you might have fell in.”
“Uh huh. Do they have cannoli?” Melissa asked.
Steven rolled his eyes. “I haven’t looked at the desserts yet, I’m still trying to decide on what I want to eat for my main course.”
“How about we order a large pizza and share, and then order dessert?” Darla suggested. “We can come back and try something new next time.”
“Sounds good to me. Meat Feast?” Steven replied.
“With pineapple, extra mushrooms and extra cheese,” said Melissa, “and no bell peppers.”
“Eww, no mushrooms! And I love bell peppers. How about we go half and half?” he suggested. Darla and Marley assented. They didn’t mind any of those toppings, so they could choose a slice from either half.
“They do have cannoli!” Melissa crowed, having skipped to the dessert part of the menu. Her friends laughed.
“Always with the cannoli,” Darla snarked.
Menus down, the waitress reappeared as if by magic and took their order.
“I’ll bring the cannoli and gelatos when you’re done with the pizza,” she told them. “Would you like a refill on your sodas?”
“Yes, please,” Steven chimed, giving the waitress a smile. She gave him a wink back.
“I thought you might, as quick as you drained that glass.”
The women laughed. “I can’t help it, I was thirsty,” he declared. “Darla came and dragged me out before I’d even managed to finish my morning coffee.”
“Oh, now that’s criminal,” the waitress sympathized. “Would you like to add a coffee to your dessert order? We have decaf espresso if you want a latte or cappuccino,” she said, looking at Melissa.
The friends exchanged looks. Melissa nodded. “Yes, please. I’ll take a decaf latte.”
“Me too,” Steven said. “Can I have amaretto syrup added?”
“You sure can,” he was told. “We also have vanilla, hazelnut, caramel, gingerbread, and coconut syrup.”
“Oh, add coconut to mine, please,” Melissa said.
Darla looked undecided. “I’ve never tried gingerbread, but I’m not sure it’d go well with gelato.”
The waitress nodded sympathetically. “I’d go with either vanilla or hazelnut myself.”
“Hazelnut,” Darla said, making a snap decision.
“I’ll just have my latte plain,” Marley said.
That out of the way, the waitress took their order to the kitchen. Darla turned her attention to Marley. “Gundar said Kranow hasn’t booked visitors’ quarters for your family or transport, nor has he asked for transport to anywhere. You guys waiting until your first anniversary or something?”
“I’m sorry, waiting for what?” Marley asked, confused.
“Why, to get married!” Darla said.
Marley’s stomach tumbled. “Uh, aren’t we married as soon as we’re matched and we, uh, move in together? And, uh, do the deed?”
Steven snorted. “Do the deed,” he guffawed.
Melissa leaned over and gave his arm a light smack. “You hush. Some of us are lady-like.” He laughed harder.
“Like who? I’ve heard you belch after eating hot wings, missy! And Darla, she’s got a mouth like sailor when she gets going.”
“Like Marley,” Melissa said in a reasonable tone. “One of us has to be the lady-like one.”
“Okay, okay,” he giggled, putting his hands put.
“And yes,” Melissa continued, “Legally we are married and mated and all that then, but most everybody does the wedding and honeymoon thing. You know that.” Her mouth snapped shut as she remembered who she was taking to and what had happened right before her own wedding.
Darla rushed to the rescue, “You aren’t denying yourself one out of some kind of guilt, are you?”
Marley looked away. “I guess, maybe. Kranow never asked me if I wanted a ceremony or anything and I thought I wasn’t allowed one. Anyways, I can’t go back to Earth, I don’t think. I’m probably banned from Hawaii at the very least.”
Darla sat back, her mouth making an “o” shape. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“So, you’d wanted a beach wedding?”
Marley flushed. “I went on a hike once to Waimea Falls. It was stunning and I thought as soon as I saw it, that if I ever met Mr. Right, I wanted to get married standing by the f
alls.”
“Oh, wow,” Melissa said. “That sounds awesome.”
“We got married at Branson Landing, in Missouri,” Steven said. “We stayed at a sweet little hotel there. It was lovely. I think weddings by the water are simply the best.”
Marley was saved from having to answer by the waitress returning with their refills followed by another server with their pizza. She was relieved when no one brought the subject back up.
Chapter Fifteen
“How was your day?” Kranow asked Marley over dinner.
“It was good,” she said. “I went out to lunch with Steven and the girls.”
“Girls?”
“Melissa and Darla,” she clarified.
“Ah. It went well, then?”
She beamed at him. “It did. We took the shuttle over to Rodan’s Bliss and tried the food at a new bistro that’s opened there. The pizza and ice cream were fantastic. I also got to try some cannoli, at Melissa’s insistence. She’s currently craving them, it seems.”
“Mmm,” Kranow murmured, spearing some meat on his fork, pleased to hear that Marley was being accepted so well.
Marley took a few bites before venturing, “There was one sticky moment. No, nothing bad,” she rushed to reassure him at his look of concern.” Just they wanted to know why we weren’t having a wedding ceremony.”
“I assumed you did not want one, as you did not mention it. I thought perhaps it was because of the possible press coverage and such.”
“Yeah,” she said softly.
“Do you want one?” he asked. “I am not opposed.”
“Maybe on our first anniversary.”
He regarded her steadily, then nodded. “Very well. I will make a note and we can discuss plans closer to the time.”
She smiled at him gratefully. Now, if anyone asked about the topic again, there was an answer that wouldn’t bring up more topics for conversation.
“I had a conversation today to discuss with you, as well,” he said. Kranow was trying to look and sound casual as he spoke, glancing up briefly before studying the food on his plate as if needing to deliberate what to take a bite of next.
She froze. “Oh, yes?” she asked, her lips stiff.
“You were not due to start your time at the school for a few weeks yet, when the new term started.”
“Uh huh.” I knew it. Someone has complained and they are going to tell me I can’t teach now.
“Gundar wanted to know if you could start sooner, perhaps the beginning of next week. The teacher you were to assist says that she would like to have you come in to help with bulletin boards and classroom set up.”
Marley brightened. “I’d love to. Do I need to contact Gundar or…?” her voice trailed off meaningfully.
“I can tell him that we’ve spoken and you are agreeable. I’m sure he’ll arrange a meeting with you and Charlotte.”
“Sounds great!” Happiness suffused her. Never in her wildest dreams would she have seen herself finding friends and acceptance so easily. She swore to herself to never let down those who had reached their hands out to hers. She eyed Kranow’s nearly empty plate and found to her surprise that she too only had a couple of bites left. “You up for some dessert?”
Kranow beamed. “Is it one of the human sweets I have tried already? I have loved them all.”
“No, this is a new one. I made flan. Well, I had Xero make it and I put it in the chiller unit.”
“Flan?”
“It’s like a custard with caramel sauce over the top of it.”
Kranow hurriedly took his last bite before replying. “I am eager to try it. I quite liked the caramel on top of the split banana dessert yesterday.”
Marley’s lips twitched. “Banana split, and yeah, that’s good, but that is a different caramel sauce. This is thin and there isn’t any hot fudge either. Or bananas or ice cream.”
“Another time, then for those,” he said hopefully.
Marley laughed before taking her last two bites of rice. “Yeah, another time.” She stood and carried their plates away before returning with the desserts. Kranow regarded it curiously before leaning in to sniff.
“The scent is most pleasing,” he pronounced before digging into it with his spoon. Marley’s lips twitched once more. He really can be such a big kid. He looked up at her. “The taste is also most pleasing. After the banana split, this is my favorite.”
Marley beamed. “I’ll remember that,” she promised him.
“Also, my favorite human main meal so far is the one you called prime rib, served with the baked potato. I do not know what kind of animal a prime is, but it has the most delicious meat.”
“Oh! Um, actually, it’s the dish that’s called prime. The ribs are from a cow.”
He nodded solemnly. “The cow makes delicious eating. The steak and meatloaf are made from this animal as well, are they not?”
“And hamburgers and tacos and such, yes.”
“I would like to try these.”
“Well, tomorrow is Tuesday, so why don’t we do Taco Tuesday!”
He polished off his flan. “Yes. I like the sound of this holiday.” Marley gave into her urge to giggle. Kranow looked at her with mild puzzlement but said nothing. He picked up his empty bowl. “I will put these away,” he said, reaching out for her dish.
“Thanks.”
He dropped a kiss onto the top of her head before taking the dish. “Would you like some of your coffee? I remember how you showed me to make it.”
“That sounds divine.”
“Give me a few minutes then and lI’ll bring it. Why don’t you go make yourself comfortable in the living room? Perhaps we can watch a movie? Gundar and Junrig told me about this peculiar set of films today while we had lunch together in the mess hall. Your idea of war among the stars and aliens and such, with a man in cape and wearing armor who makes heavy breathing noises.”
Marley laughed. “I know the film. Sure, why not? You make the coffee and I’ll get Xero to queue up the film.” This should be interesting. I wonder what my pilot hubby will make of the Falcon and Han Solo?
Chapter Sixteen
Commander Gundar wasted no time in arranging for Marley to meet in person with Charlotte. Shortly after lunch the next day, she found herself in a conference room sitting across from the teacher.
“Ideally, I should have met with you during your arbitration meeting or soon after,” Charlotte said with a look of regret, “but I was back Earthside. It was my parents’ twenty-fifth anniversary and my sisters, brother, and I threw them a bash. My brother Kieran is the landlord for a pub so we made good use of it.”
“Oh, well, that’s a big one. Anniversary, I mean. You definitely should have been there rather than here,” Marley reassured her. “So, where about is the pub located? In England, I presume.” Marley thought that a reasonable guess, given that Charlotte had an English accent and used the word pub instead of bar.
“In Camden Town. That’s an area of London,” Charlotte replied, smoothing down her tunic. “Quite famous for punks, Goths, and the market, plus it’s a pretty trendy area to live these days. It’s a gastro-pub serving fancy hand-made burgers and micro-brewed ales. He gets a lot of locals in as well as tourists.”
“Wow. That sounds so cool.”
Charlotte smiled at her. “Now, I asked if you could start straightaway as this term will be the first one in the new schoolrooms here onboard. The class will be small, there’re only six children currently enrolled for our Kindergarten. I read your CV and I know you taught at an American elementary school, but I doubt it was anything like what we’ll be doing here. We will be teaching children aged four to seven. Three of the children are siblings and along with one other child, live here aboard this vessel with their Mylos families.”
“And the other two children?”
Charlotte smiled. “They are the children of two families recently separated from the military. They will be arriving later this week. One family will be coming here f
rom Arizona and the other California. The family from Arizona was Army and the one from California was Navy, from what I understand. I thought we could incorporate some things from the lives of the children into our classroom decorations by doing a bulletin board of methods of transport. Cars, ships, planes, helicopters, ships, trains, Mylos shuttle craft, and so on.”
Kranow (Mate the Stars Book 4) Page 7
