“Can I think about it?” Aimee asked.
“Of course; that’s why we brought it up,” Catherine said. “And if you want to talk it over with either of us, or with Maggie, that’s okay, too. Just… keep it between all of us for now.”
Aimee grinned. “Right, no bragging on Twitter, got it.”
That was the easy part. Now came the hard part, the real reason they’d come together for this talk with Aimee. “So… the next thing isn’t fun,” Catherine said.
“You’re getting divorced,” Aimee said.
Catherine should have known Aimee would figure it out.
“Your mom and I have talked about it, and we think it’s best if we go ahead and file. We’re not planning to fight over anything. I’m going to keep the house, and we’ll divide the rest. You’re almost eighteen, so obviously we’re not going to fight over custody of you.”
Catherine stepped in. “We figured you’d probably want to live here when you’re not at school, but you’re welcome to stay with me as much as you want.”
Then she and David stopped talking, waiting for Aimee’s reaction. Catherine braced herself.
Aimee sat with her head lowered in thought. “You know, when Mom moved out, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with you two. I thought you loved each other, and that was all that mattered.”
Catherine nodded, not wanting to interrupt.
“But… when you came back, I guess things were a mess for all of us for a while there.”
“All of us had trouble adjusting,” David said. “Your mom and I gave it our best try to fix things, but ten years is a long time.” It seemed they weren’t going to mention Maggie, or Tom, and Catherine was relieved. Despite everything that had happened, this really was just between her and David.
“I still care about your dad, and we both love you, Aimee. We’re still a family. It’s just going to look a little bit different now.”
Aimee smiled ruefully. “Guess that’s nothing new. We’ve never been a completely normal family anyway.”
“Not so much, no,” David said with a smile of his own.
“Hey, do me a favor,” Catherine said, “don’t tell that to NBC if you talk to them, okay? Lindholm would kill me.”
“I don’t know…” David grinned. “Can you imagine the look on his face?”
“I can, hence the caution.”
“Okay.” Aimee leaned forward and looked at both her parents. “Tell me more about this interview. It might be fun…”
Catherine and David exchanged smiles, and Catherine felt some of the knots inside her unravel. It would take time, but for the first time, she had faith that her family would be okay.
27
“ALL RIGHT, THAT’S about it for right now.” Cal tuned out the chatter around him in Mission Control so he could focus on the crew, which was now somewhere past Mars and close to ERB Prime. “Anybody have anything else I need to know about?”
On the screen overhead, the crew glanced at one another, and Navarro nudged Nate. “Go on, Doc. Ask him.”
Nate sighed. “So these guys—”
“And you, too,” interjected Navarro.
“Fine; we just wanna know why NASA is stealing our thunder.” Whatever Nate was talking about, Cal could tell it wasn’t his idea to bring it up, whether he agreed or not.
“What do you mean?”
“One of the techs told us about the interview with the Wells family. We watched it.”
Cal chuckled. “You and a few million other people, Nate.” It had been a ratings bonanza, no doubt fulfilling Paul Lindholm’s wildest dreams. Americans had tuned in to hear about the sole survivor of Sagittarius I, and how her family felt after getting her back from the dead. Lindholm probably hadn’t been thrilled that David and Catherine admitted they’d filed for divorce. But the real surprise of the night hadn’t been the announcement, but rather their daughter, Aimee. She’d turned out to be well-spoken and incredibly bright—and already gunning for a job at NASA.
“So who’s going to listen to what we have to say about TRAPPIST-1f when we come back?” Nate asked.
“I thought you said you watched the interview. Come on, guys. Nobody was paying attention to a few vague artistic renderings from years ago. She came back, yeah, but her memories didn’t.” Cal was suddenly aware that most of the staff in Mission Control had stopped to listen to what was supposed to have been an ordinary status meeting. “The story there was all about how she survived a tragedy. God willing, that’s not the story you guys will be telling—and you’ll have some hard information about another planet. Trust me, gang, there’s plenty of story to go around.”
He swallowed his misgivings. Depending on what he and Catherine learned, the story Sagittarius II brought back might be different from anything they could have imagined…
But instead, he just grinned at his computer screen. “You bunch of walking egos have anything else, or are we good?”
“That hurts, man. That really hurts.” Nate was grinning back, though, and the rest of the crew looked a little more relaxed.
“Yeah, well, they hired me for my brutal honesty.”
“We’re good,” Commander Duffy said. “Thanks, as always, Cal.”
“No problem. I’ll talk to you all tomorrow.” He signed off and closed the connection, pushing back from his station.
Cal headed for his office, thinking about the interview. He’d watched it, too, of course. The divorce announcement caught him off guard, his stomach twisting in a mix of nerves, worry, and anticipation. It was a combination of feelings he really didn’t need right now, not while he was still trying to figure out what Catherine was doing during her blank spells.
He got to his office and settled behind his desk. The problem was, he couldn’t kid himself that he was objective anymore. But then, he never had been, had he? At first, he was digging into Catherine’s records because he wanted to find some evidence of wrongdoing. Now he was looking because he wanted to confirm that she’d done nothing wrong. Whatever she was doing, he was convinced she didn’t remember it.
A knock at his door interrupted him. “Cal, hey.” Aaron stuck his head in the open doorway. “Just wanted to say good job defusing the interview issue with the crew earlier.”
“That was easy. We should’ve seen it coming.”
Aaron chuckled. “Yeah, everybody’s gonna wanna write a book when they get back. If they wanted the lion’s share of the glory they should’ve been first, right?”
Cal didn’t point out that the other five people who’d been “first” hadn’t come home—but that was part of being first. You took the bigger risk. “Right,” he said instead.
“And good job with the Wells thing. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that the ice has thawed between you two. Finally figured out she was telling the truth, huh?”
“Yessir. I believe her story.” That wasn’t a lie—he didn’t say which story he believed. “I was just being cautious. That’s one reason you hired me, right?”
“You bet. And I’m glad we did.” He tapped the doorframe. “Get out of here, would you? It’s nearly eight. We’ll be busy when the crew gets to ERB Prime soon. Save some juice for then.”
“Yeah, thanks. Just have a few more things I need to do then I’m out.”
He stared at the door Aaron had just exited through. What had Catherine been doing in Aaron’s office that night? Cal had to admire her for not wanting to read top-secret information once she’d come to, but it sure would help if they knew what she’d been after in her altered state.