Annie sighed. Like it or not, she was shipping out, soon and without any choice. But she still had time to make herself useful, talk to Meg about the latest info she’d gotten off the computer, give her recommendations on how to address some of the technical hiccups that might be expected during the solar outbursts. Her soap, dental floss, and makeup could wait till afterward to be tucked away in their luggage pouches.
She rose, strode to her door, started to pull it open.
And then blinked in surprise.
Pete Nimec stood in the partial opening, his hand raised in the air, frozen as if he’d been about to knock.
“Pete,” she said, startled.
“Annie,” he said, his eyes as surprised as hers.
They stood there in silence, her hand on the doorknob.
Nimec lowered his arm and indicated the parka he’d left on after hitching a ride back from the chopper pad aboard one of the big-wheel shuttles.
“The reason I’m wearing this is I was about to leave base—” He cut himself short. “Well, I’m pretty much on my way out… there’s a helicopter waiting to take me into the valleys right now… ”
“I’d heard.” Annie nodded toward her open carry bag. “It so happens I’m busy packing myself… ”
“Ah,” he said. “If I’m getting in your way—”
“No, no. It was just a comment.”
“Ah,” he said.
“About the timing,” she said.
“Right.”
There was another beat of silence.
Nimec inhaled.
“Annie… can I come in a minute?” he said. “I’d like to talk. That is, I’d like to apologize for not… you know… talking to you sooner…”
“It isn’t your fault.” She opened the door a bit wider. “We’ve both had our hands full here at Cold Corners, and our paths just haven’t crossed—”
Nimec was shaking his head.
“I don’t mean talking to you here. I mean, well, before this particular occasion.”
She looked at him, but said nothing.
“Months before this occasion,” he said.
She remained quiet.
“I want to explain why I never called you,” he said. “After you invited me for the Thanksgiving holiday—”
“You don’t have to—”
“I do. Really. If you’ll let me.”
Annie stood watching Nimec another long moment. Then she nodded slowly, opened the door the rest of the way, and shut it behind him.
They faced each other in the room.
“Okay,” Annie said, a step or two inside the door. “You were saying…”
Nimec swallowed hard, his throat even scratchier now than it had felt in Megan’s office.
“Annie,” he said, and halted. Which he guessed made it three, or maybe four times he’d already done that like a bumbling fool. “When we first met… in Florida, remember…?”
“Yes, Pete,” she said. “I told you I’ve been busy. But I think my recollection’s fairly intact.”
“Good,” he said. “Of course, that is. Anyway, when we met…”
“In Florida…”
“Right… well, I knew right off we could never be friends.”
She arched a puzzled eyebrow.
“Oh?”
Nimec shook his head, frustrated with himself. Had he just said what he thought he’d said?
He held up his hand.
“No, wait, that isn’t what I mean,” he said. “What I mean is that I didn’t want to be just friends. That meeting you was special… I felt we really clicked, you know—”
“I know, Pete. I felt the same way,” Annie said. “I thought we both realized it.”
“Exactly,” he said. “Exactly…”
“What surprised me was that you could choose to let something that special go.”
Nimec’s heart was racing in his chest.
“I didn’t,” he said.
“Pete—”
“I never let it go.”
“Pete—”
“Not for a day. Not for a single minute—”
She gave him a look.
“Pete, is it only me, or are you aware it’s been months since I’ve heard from you?”
“I am,” he said. “I didn’t intend—”
The sudden anger on her features stopped him.
“I don’t care what you intended,” she said. “You aren’t even making sense. Did it occur to you… did you ever once in all those days and minutes of supposedly not letting go think it might be wise to share that information with me?”
Nimec looked at her.
“Annie,” he said. “I was afraid.”
She touched a hand to her forehead in disbelief, rolled her eyes.
“Come on,” she said. “We aren’t two college kids—”
“I know. I know that. But after my wife left me… I guess the idea of getting close to someone else… opening myself up to a woman—”
Annie flashed him another silencing glance.
“Pete, it isn’t like I’ve been living in a paper bag for thirty-five years,” she said. “I lost a husband. Lost my best friend aboard Orion. I understand those things. But that doesn’t excuse—”
“I’m not asking to be excused,” Nimec said hoarsely. He swallowed again, realized his throat was no longer dry. In fact, it had almost clogged with moisture. “I’m asking you for a second chance.”
Annie was quiet. Nimec waited, trying in vain to read her expression.
“A second chance,” she said.
He nodded.
Silence from Annie again. This time it seemed infinitely, torturously long.
Nimec’s heart kept tripping away in his chest.
Then she met his eyes with her own, locked her eyes on his own.
“Okay,” she said. “You’ve got it. I’m giving it to you. But I’m telling you very honestly there won’t be a third.”
Nimec pulled some air into his lungs. If he hadn’t known better, he might have thought it had been an hour since he’d last caught a breath.
“I won’t need a third,” he said. “Won’t let ancient history carry over into my life anymore… make you accountable for a bad divorce…”
“Pete, enough.” Annie moved closer to him, reached out a hand, lightly touched his wrist. “We both have important things to do.”
“This is important,” he said. “Explaining why I wasted so much time—”
“It is, yes,” she said, still touching him with her hand. All at once smiling gently. “And we’ll pick up on it when we’re back home. Over a quiet dinner. Maybe in front of a warm fireplace.”
He stood there. Very conscious of her hand on his wrist.
“That’d be perfect,” he said. “Soon as I get back, I promise—”
“Shhhh,” Annie said. And then leaned forward and kissed his lips, her own lips slightly parted, their mouths lingering together a moment before she pulled back, the taste of her remaining with him a good deal longer.
Nimec looked at her. She looked at him.
Both of them were silent now.
“Annie?” Nimec said after a while.
She nodded.
“I kind of know you and Megan have gotten tight… ”
She nodded again.
He took another deep breath.
“That part about me being afraid…?”
“Will be our secret,” she said.