Tina nodded. "Like standing in heaven."
She grinned. "Yeah, I don't know what I'm going to do."
"About what?"
"About my stuff. I mean, I can't just disappear. I'll be like a missing person."
"Your books will sell like crazy then," Tina said.
"And what good is it going to do me? Not like they take dollars here."
"True," Tina said. She took another sip, then looked at her friend. "So, you're considering staying?"
"Sure. What would be the harm? I live alone, I don't have kids, my family won't have anything to do with me, I have no reason to stay there."
"Besides your career. A lot of people love your books."
She shrugged. "I know. That's why I'm not sure what I want to do."
"Well, I don't have a choice. I have to go back."
"I know," Gianna said. "But I don't think you should have to live your life taking care of your family."
"That is something you just don't understand."
"No, I get it. I get it all too well. And I love you, you're one of my best friends. I don't like seeing you making life choices because of your grandparents. And they wouldn't like it either if you told them."
"They don't need to know everything."
"If you told them you gave up a job at NASA--"
"It would break their hearts, and they would be very upset."
"Exactly my point." She took a drink. "But I don't think you're thinking the same thing I am."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That you think they would be upset that you considered leaving. I think they'd be upset that they held you back. And I know neither of them would want to hold you back from anything."
Tina didn't want to drink anymore. The bed sounded much better.
Gianna was making far too much sense for the two of them drinking.
* * *
"If you need anything,I will be outside," Kolvin said from the doorway of the bedroom. He hadn't come in to tuck her in or anything like that. That would have been weird.
Though, just looking at the bed, then back at him, she kind of wished he was into that whole one-bed-we-gotta-share thing. He was not feeling it at all.
Regardless that it was the most enormous bed she'd ever seen. It made a king-sized bed look small. She glanced back at Kolvin. It had to be big enough for him, she guessed, and he was a great deal taller than she was.
And she'd have all that space to herself.
She didn't know if she was happy about it or if it made her a little sad.
"I appreciate that," she said. "And if you need anything, I will be in here."
He paused. "What would I need?"
