Holly looked down. The gulf between now and Rasker’s imagined future for Moone’s Landing was enormous. “Thenitproblem is real,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about dipping into my own savings. Or going back to Beenan for more consulting work.”
Rasker’s expression shifted slightly. “I wouldn’t recommend either of those.”
“I know. It doesn’t make them less tempting.”
“Have you considered an event?” he said. “Something to bring people in. A gathering, a festival, something with a reason attached to it. Travelers talk. If Moone’s Landing becomesthe place where interesting things happen, it stays in people’s minds.”
Holly looked up at him.
It was not a bad idea. It was, actually, a surprisingly good idea, and she resented how quickly her brain started working on it. She could already see the shape of it: a day with food and music and an easy atmosphere. The outpost could genuinely offer this when it wasn’t falling apart. Something small enough to manage and large enough to matter. The field was a perfect location for it.
“I’ll think on it,” she said.
“Just an idea.” He shrugged. “Also, have dinner with me tonight. I brought some food back from my trip that I think you’ll like. Come to my quarters. YouandBean, obviously.” He glanced toward the door with a wry smile. “Not Luv, though, please.”
Holly smiled and thought about the idea of a quiet dinner with an interesting man. A man with whom she’d shared a kiss at the edge of a pool, soft and unhurried and entirely unresolved. “All right,” she said. “Tonight.”
Twenty-Nine
She arrived at Rasker’s door at exactly six o’clock. Nervous. Yes, she was. Bean was not. He wagged his tail and looked at the closed door with calm expectation. He probably smelled food through the door, too.
Rasker opened the door and waved them inside, sparing a generous pat for Bean, who accepted it as his due. “Thank you for inviting me,” she said. “I mean,us.”
Holly could smell the food, now, too. The suite’s table was filled with dishes, displayed on plates so vivid and beautifully painted that Holly’s father would have been captivated. Smaller plates arranged around a centerpiece of what appeared to be a whole fish, its skin charred and glistening.
“How did you…” But then she saw it. A compact food replicator sat on the dresser, sleek and obviously expensive. Another device, larger, rested on the floor beside it. She assumed that one had heated the food. There were a few other things, too. A personal transmitter unit that could send encrypted communications, and a secondary screen propped against the wall. Perfectly normal and typical for a person who worked as much as Rasker did and lived out of hotel rooms for months ata time. “Oh.” She smiled crookedly. “Our amenities aren’t good enough for you, I see.”
He took it as the joke she intended and raised one eyebrow. “Hmm. I like to eat food. Not rations. Exceptions made foryourfood, however, which is very good.”
“I’d like to upgrade the NuProds one of these days.” She glanced at the room’s ancient and forlorn NuProd unit that Rasker had relocated to a far corner of the room. The one Rasker had brought for his use sat prominently on the dresser. “If we can afford to upgrade the hotel.”
“You’ll get there.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, and for the first time that she could recall, he looked awkward. It was disarming on a man who was generally composed to a fault. “Well. I hope you like dinner. This isnotfrom the NuProd, by the way. I stopped by the Grand Market on Colossal-6 on my way back and picked up some favorite dishes. Kept them in stasis bags in hopes you’d join me in eating them.”
“Wow, really?” Holly blinked at him. “It all looks delicious. And your dishes are stunning, too.” She leaned down, admiring the plates the food was on with their bold colors. “Did you get these at the Grand Market, too?”
He shook his head. “The Emporium. Those two Vepins always know what you like, even if you wish you had more subdued tastes.”
“I know what you mean.” Holly gestured to the turquoise dress she had on. She’d found it in The Emporium weeks ago—beforeshe spent the rest of her credits on an air circulator—and had been waiting for a reason to wear it. “Sol-Arc would not approve.”
He pulled out a chair for her. “Well, I do.” He took his own seat across the table and looked at her with those winter-sky eyes, unhurried. “You look beautiful, Holly.”
She blushed.Blushed.Like a teenager on a first date, not a forty-two-year-old woman who had been around the galaxy and back. She busied herself with the napkin in her lap and was rescued by Bean, who had planted his rump on the floor between them and was looking up expectantly.
“He’s not getting any of that,” Rasker said.
“I know.” Holly sighed. “Poor Bean. But it would be poorusif we gave him table scraps.” She cast a dubious glance at the determined beagle. “Trust me.”
Rasker dished out portions on their plates, giving her a taste of everything. He told her the names of the dishes, and their ingredients, and she forgot most of them immediately, but the smells were extraordinary. Warm spices she couldn’t identify. Flavors smoky and sweet. A sauce that was pale green and smelled like fresh herbs and sunshine.
“This one is special. Not from the Grand Market, but from the southern coast of Nakri,” he said, placing a piece of charred fish on her plate. The flesh was white and flaky, and glistened with oil. “It’s served with sea salt and a citrus that only grows in tide pools. You eat it with this,” he added, spooning what looked like a stew of shellfish and dark vegetables onto it. “It’s something my mother made when I visited her the other day.”
Holly looked up. He had not mentioned his mother before.
“She’s a good cook,” he said. “But this one dish is my absolute favorite. I told her there was a special woman I wanted to share it with and she made a big batch of it.”
“You told your mom about me?” Every single thing on the table was forgotten as she sat there, fixated on his impending answer.
He smiled and his gills flared just enough to reveal his nerves. “Yes. I didn’t get into details. Our situation is complicated.”
