Wrenching her mind back to the present moment, she used her comm to look up some information about the next event. Anything to keep her mind off Garrant.
They stayed for an hour more, watching another Intergalactic event, then the first heat of the hurdles. While the hurdlers were warming up, a few Intergalactic athletes came over to have a go. Nell smiled as she watched a Human woman teaching an Intergalactic citizen the technique for getting over the hurdles without breaking stride. After that, the kids started to get a bit restless, questioning when they would next be fed.
“We can go get some lunch at one of the street vendors,” Allendi said. Nell’s apprehension must have shown on her face, for Allendi laughed. “I’ll find us something good, don’t worry.”
There were crowds of people queuing to get into the Arena now, a bustling, excited energy to the atmosphere. A clutch of teenage Human girls had joined with a couple of Intergalactic girls to talk about what had to be a Universal constant for straight teenage girls - boys.
“I love a guy with strong arms,” one of the Human girls was saying, while the others swooned.
“Asha was definitely on to something with this idea,” Nell said.
Allendi smiled. “I know she’s nervous about being in a position of influence, but I think she’ll do well. Sometimes the Intergalactic Community leaders forget what it is to be a baby species still working towards planetary unity. Most of our societies are so old, that stage is part of our ancient histories. They need a bit of young blood in the mix.”
“The first civilisations on Earth were thousands of years ago.”
Allendi grinned. “Come back to me when that number is a hundred thousand and then I might consider you ‘not young’.”
It boggled Nell’s mind, imagining a hundred thousand years or more of history. She could barely keep her Romans and Egyptians straight.
They were angling towards the entertainment district, when Nell heard her name being called and turned to see Ricky marching towards them.
“I figured if I hung around here I’d catch you eventually,” he said, slightly out of breath and looking pleased with himself.
“I said I would message you later,” Nell said, trying to keep her voice level. Hard, when Mikey was looking up at Ricky with curiosity. Nell tried to tug him behind her without drawing Ricky’s attention.
“I didn’t want to wait,” Ricky said. “And talking in person is better, isn’t it?”
“No!” Nell said, then forced a calm breath. “I said I would message you later. That’s not invitation to come and interrupt me when I’m spending the day with family.”
Ricky frowned over her shoulder at Allendi and Ardan. Ardan might have passed for Human in different clothes, but there was no mistaking Allendi’s status as an Intergalactic Community member.
“Why don’t you come and have a look at the map of the shops with us, Mikey,” Allendi said, taking him by the hand and steering him away.
Nell shot her a grateful look.
“We’ll be just over there,” Allendi said. “Shout if you need us.”
As they walked away, Nell heard Mikey ask, “Who’s that man?”
“He doesn’t even know who I am?” Ricky said, angry now.
“Of course he doesn’t. He’s never met you before. Did you think I was going to show him your picture and tell him stories about how wonderful you are after you abandoned him?”
“I’m his Dad!”
“No, you’re not,” Nell said. “You have to be around to be that. You seem to have forgotten somehow that you walked out on us. You left us. You can’t just barge your way back in to my life like this. I agreed to message you later.”
“But we’re both here, on this ship. Hundreds of thousands of miles from home and we happen to bump into each other? Don’t you think that means something?”
“I think it means you have a job, and I have a family connection. Quite the coincidence, maybe, but a coincidence. Now please, just go. I will message you later.”
“Can’t I meet him?” Ricky asked, craning his neck to look over to where Allendi and Ardan had Mikey.
“No. You have to earn that privilege. Starting with communicating with me on my terms, not thinking you can just skip to the front of the queue.”
He had a grin on his face now. “You always were fierce,” he said. “I’ll take you out for dinner tonight.”
Nell clenched her fists. “No, you won’t. And for future reference, if you want to take a girl out to dinner, try asking her, not just telling her. I don’t owe you a damn thing, Ricky. Try to remember that next time you speak to me. And don’t try a stunt like this again.”
“A stunt? It’s just a conversation. I…”
“I will message you when I am ready to,” Nell said, cutting him short. “Now leave me alone, please.”
Ricky frowned, and for a moment Nell thought he was going to get angry again, but then he sagged, defeat registering in his face. She thought the message had finally sunk in to his thick head, but then a voice spoke from beside her.
“You heard her,” Garrant said.
Ricky glanced around, as if expecting Asha to appear from somewhere, ready to follow through on her threat about throwing him out of an airlock.
“Message me,” he said to her, then slunk off, disappearing into the crowds.
“He doesn’t know when to quit, does he?” Garrant said, looking at her. “You okay?”
“Furious,” Nell said, letting the anger she’d been holding back flood through her. “Just… Talk to me about something stupid for two minutes before I go back over to my son and try to explain what the hell that was.”
“One time when I was a teenager, I flew out over a massive lake on my propulsion shoes for a dare,” Garrant said, launching in to the story without a moment of hesitation. “Propulsion shoes are great, but they don’t work so well over water. Not a solid surface, you see. And gravity - it’s better if the gravity is artificially low. Anyway, got a long way out and the surface was quite choppy. Ended up dunking my shoes, breaking them. Then had to swim back as fast as I possibly could, because the lake is full of these leeches. By the time I got to the shore, I was so weighed down by the damn things, I could barely swim. My friends had to come out and drag me the rest of the way in and pull all the little bloodsuckers off. I was fourteen, I think. Look out for this sort of thing when Mikey gets that age. I think all teenage boys are inherently stupid. Calm yet? I can keep going. Plenty of humiliating tales to tell.”
Nell released the long breath she’d been taken, almost laughing. She felt better. “No, that will do.”
“Glad to be of service. Now, I have a lunch date with a four-year-old, but I don’t think it’s an exclusive sort of deal. Will you be joining us?”
He offered her his arm and she took it. The warmth of his skin, even through their layers of clothing, sent a shiver through her.
Chapter 10
IT ENDED UP BEING A COUPLE of days before the arena was free early enough for a young child to make use of it. Two days before he could catch Nell on her own. See how she really felt about seeing him again. Although, with problematic ex on the scene, the possibility of a second night together was probably now infinitesimal.
The problem was, his desire didn’t seem to be going away. When he’d seen Nell arguing with Ricky, he’d stepped in because he didn’t like the thought of her hurting, or when guys couldn’t take a hint. And when she’d asked him to tell her something stupid until she calmed down, the stories had lined up on his tongue dutifully. He’d never had much shame when it came to his exploits as a kid, but he thought he’d have told her anything in that moment to erase the anger and the hurt on her face.
Then all through lunch afterwards, he’d been hyper aware of her, his body responding every time she shifted in her seat. It had proved almost intolerable, being so close to her and yet unable to speak frankly. Unable to ask her what he really wanted to know.
No getting emotionally
involved, no getting hurt.
His heart was definitely not listening to his head on that account and he couldn’t explain why. He’d never felt like this about any of his other bedfellows.
Just the circumstances, perhaps, just the timing. Getting involved with a woman as his career came to an end. Instead of a pleasant distraction, she’d become a reminder of everything he was about to lose.
He considered cancelling on her, telling her he was too busy with other things. But Mikey would be so disappointed. He seemed like a good kid. Garrant didn’t want to let him down.
So he headed down to the arena a little bit before the arranged time and rummaged around in the team’s spare kit store for a spare pair of propulsion shoes. He found a pair that were smaller, as close to Mikey’s size as he was likely to find. After a moment of indecision, he grabbed a second pair for Nell.
Nell and Mikey were waiting by the entrance when he came back out, Mikey a bundle of barely contained excitement. One look at the smile on Nell’s face as she looked at Mikey told Garrant he’d made the right choice in not cancelling. He wanted her to look like that all the time, he…
He turned his thoughts off that path before he tortured himself any more. In a few days, his heart would catch up to the program. This woman wasn’t his, wasn’t meant for him. It would stop tripping over itself whenever he saw her eventually.
“Are you ready?” Garrant asked, dropping down to Mikey’s height.
“Yes!” he said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Is your Mummy ready? You’re going to be learning how to fly today. Mummies can have a bit of a problem with that sometimes.”
He angled his head up to Nell, catching the sparkle of laughter in her eyes, even as she grimaced.
“Mummy is doing her best not to be terrified. But only because Aunty Allendi insisted this is perfectly safe.”
Garrant chuckled as he stood up.
“The head may know it’s safe, but the heart doesn’t often listen to the head.”
And didn’t he know that.
“I’ll watch through my fingers if I have to.”
“I promise I’ll take care of him,” Garrant said, “I won’t let him come to any harm.”
He looked her straight in the eye as he said it, meaning to reassure her. A mistake. Instantly the atmosphere became charged, the magnetism he’d felt between them not diminished. He felt like he had just promised something much deeper than preventing Mikey from scuffing his knees.
Then Nell looked away, uncomfortable, and the tension snapped. Garrant plastered a smile on his face, even as his emotions roiled about inside him, directing them through into the arena and the Hyperdisk court.
“Right, first things first,” Garrant said as Nell took a seat on one of the benches at the edge of the arena. “I need you to make me some promises.” He crouched down to Mikey’s level. “When I started learning how to play this sport, I had to make three promises and you’re going to make them now, okay?”
“Okay!” Mikey said, nodding.
“Alright, are you ready? First one. I promise to always listen to my coach. Do you promise that?”
“Promise!” Then he frowned. “Who’s my coach?”
Garrant laughed. “That would be me. You have to always listen to me. Still okay with that promise?”
Mikey nodded again.
“Good. Second promise coming up.” Garrant grinned. “I promise to always listen to my coach.”
Mikey laughed. “I promise.”
“Do you have any idea what the third promise might be?” Garrant gave him a serious look as Mikey giggled, nodding again. “Well, it’s ‘I promise to always listen to my coach.’”
“I promise!’”
“Good, okay. Sit your butt down next to your mother then, and we’ll get started.”
Mikey hopped up onto the bench next to Nell. Garrant knelt on the floor in front of him, unable to resist a glance up at Nell as he did so. Her smile was warm now, amused, her eyes fixed on her son. No trace of discomfort lingered. Good.
“These are the special shoes,” He said, clipping them on to Mikey’s feet. “The first thing we’ve got to learn is how to balance on them. Now you might think that balance comes from your legs, but it doesn’t. Not all of it. You need to keep your core strong.” He slapped his stomach. “Tense up these muscles and use them to hold you steady. Got it? Show me those muscles.”
Nell laughed as Mikey tried to tense his core, most of his energy going into pulling faces, rather than actually using his stomach muscles.
Garrant poked him in the stomach. “Hmmm feeling a little soft there.”
He poked him again, striking a ticklish spot and making Mikey howl with laughter.
“I don’t know how to do it,” Mikey said.
“Imagine someone has tied a string round your belly button,” Nell said, “and they’re pulling it towards your back.” She put a hand on his back and tugged at his t-shirt a little. “Pull your belly button in.”
With fierce concentration, Mikey did, and this time when Garrant poked him he didn’t flinch.
“Hard as rock,” Garrant said. “Perfect. Now you don’t need to keep them really tense all the time, but when you feel yourself going off balance, use your core to pull you back. Got it?”
Mikey nodded, focused now. Garrant had never much been a kid person - generally kids were loud and annoying. He was good with them, sure, but only for short bursts. He loved Sassi to bits, but she didn’t persuade him that he was missing out not being a father.
Mikey, though…
Once again, Garrant had to shut his thoughts down before they wandered somewhere really stupid.
No getting emotionally involved, no getting hurt.
His heart and his head needed to get with the program.
“Let’s get started,” Garrant said, rising to his feet.
“Wait,” Nell said, grabbing Mikey by the arm. “Take this off, you don’t want to catch it on something and break it.”
She ran her fingers around the collar of his top, finding the cord beneath it. The Iparshana Meditation Stone necklace. She lifted it over his head.
“I’ll keep it safe for you, okay?”
“Okay,” Mikey said.
Nell put the necklace on, the stone settling at her breast. Garrant’s mouth went dry, the memory of her removing it before she let him ravish her swimming up to the front of his mind.
He took Mikey out into the middle of the court, showing him the low gravity field. They practised jumping in it for a little while, getting used to how it affected the body. Then he had Mikey practise falling, tipping over backwards and letting the low gravity catch him. When he glanced over at Nell, she mimed watching through her fingers, but her grin took up most of her face.
“Okay, that’s the basics covered,” Garrant said. “Good at jumping, good at falling. But you’re five, so we sort of already knew that.”
Mikey giggled, catching the sound in his little hands as he often did.
“So now we move on to the more complicated stuff.”
He bent down, flicking the control on Mikey’s shoes to turn them on, turning his own on, too. Mikey wobbled as he started rising, just a little. Garrant caught his hands, holding him steady.
“I’m going to do the actual flying, okay?” he said. “You just concentrate on the balancing.”
Mikey nodded, his brows furrowing, his core tucked in, as they started rising. Garrant stuck with a couple of feet off the floor at first, not wanting to scare Nell or Mikey.
“I’m going to let you go now. See if you can keep your balance. Keep your core tensed, and keep control of your legs.”
Slowly, he withdrew his support. Mikey wobbled, but he kept his balance. For about ten seconds. Then his feet went out from under him and he toppled, heading for the floor. The low gravity caught him like a cushion, setting him down with a gentle bump.
Mikey laughed uproariously.
“Can we do that agai
n? I want to do it again!”
Garrant looked to Nell. She really was watching through her fingers now.
“Okay,” Garrant said, holding a hand out to him. “Let’s try that again.”
For the next half hour, they practised basic flying skills. Mikey was a quick study. He soon got the hang of balance, and took to moving about even quicker. Adjusting altitude he found a little more difficult, but it wasn’t long before he could shoot around the arena like he’d been wearing propulsion shoes his whole life.
Garrant switched his shoes off, dropping back to the floor and went to see Nell.
“He’s a natural,” he said. “Don’t suppose you want to transfer your residence to somewhere with a Hyperdisk team? They’d snap him up.”
Nell smiled, even as she kept her eyes glued to her son, an anxious set to her brow.
“Perhaps not, then,” Garrant grinned. “Heart couldn’t take it?”
“I’m sure I’d get used to it,” she said. “You have to admit, it’s quite unnatural to see your five-year -old zooming through the sky.”
“You should have a go, Mummy,” Mikey called.
Garrant could see from the look on Nell’s face that she didn’t appreciate the suggestion.
“This is more of an Aunty Asha activity than a Mummy activity,” she called back.
“I did bring another pair of shoes,” Garrant said, flashing her a grin.
“I noticed,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “But flying around on magic shoes with nothing but the ground beneath you doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time.”
“Well, I know what your idea of a good time is,” he said, the words coming out of his stupid mouth, voice low and flirty, before he could stop them. He grimaced. “Sorry. Not appropriate. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“The cold light of day making you realise you’re not so up for round two as you thought?” she said, voice cool.
He felt each one like a blow to the heart.
“Stars, no, Nell,” he said, checking over his shoulder to make sure Mikey was a good distance away. “I can’t stop thinking about you. You’re driving me to distraction. But I figured you had enough going on with Ricky without some other idiot trying to take you to bed.”
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