“He hasmanyopinions.” Holly pressed her fingers to her lips, which were tingling. Her heart was hammering. She was forty-two years old and her heart washammering. “He’s also right. I should go.”
“You should,” Rasker agreed, though he had not moved away from her.
She slipped past him, holding Bean’s leash like a lifeline. The small dog kept his gaze fixed on Rasker, as if memorizing the man for future reference.
“Goodnight,” she said again. This time she meant it.
“Goodnight, Holly.”
She walked down the hallway to her own room, Bean pulling on his leash to get home. She could feel Rasker watching her, and she did not look back, because if she looked back, she was going to walk right back to room seventeen and that would be a decision best made on a day when she could think clearly.
She let herself in, unclipped Bean, and closed the door. She leaned against it, grateful that Luv was offline, recharging in the corner, and not awake to comment on why she looked like she just ran around the station’s Loop Road.
Bean peered up at her, his wizened face curious, as if to ask whether she was planning to stand there all night.
“Don’t judge me,” she told him.
He blinked.
Holly pushed off the door and moved to the window. The mist was still falling over the square, and the lampposts glowed in the dark, and somewhere out there, in the quiet of Moone’sLanding, someone from Complete Respite might be planning their next move. She should be afraid of that. Shewasafraid of that, somewhere beneath the layers of warmth and wine and the lingering sensation of being kissed against a doorframe by a man who had just told her he wanted her to win.
But fear was not the loudest thing in her chest tonight. Not even close.
Something had changed. She could feel it in her skin, which still tingled. In the way Rasker had looked at her when he said he wanted her to succeed, and she had believed him. She had learned to trust her own judgment again after Sol-Arc had spent years teaching her not to. Moone’s Landing was teaching herto.
She would give this a chance. The outpost. The man. Herself.
Bean jumped onto the bed, turned three circles, and lay down with a sigh.
Holly smiled. “Yeah,” she said. “Me too.”
She turned off the light.
Thirty-One
It was not a formal meeting. Holly had made that clear in the messages she’d sent that morning.This is not a “meeting.” Just tea and a conversation. The lounge, ten o’clock.She had learned from the last two gatherings that calling something a “meeting” made people arrive with their opinions sharpened to a point. This was an idea she was floating, courtesy of Rasker, and she needed it to land gently, on open minds. She’d even arranged the tables differently, to make itdefinitely not look like a meeting.
Harry arrived first, because Harry knew the baked goods would still be warm if he showed up early. He gladly accepted these in lieu of payment for the tea he had recently taken to brewing in a large pot and leaving on the counter as if the lounge were his personal teahouse. He settled into a chair with an oversized cookie and a cup of his own mushroom tea blend. The arrangement was more than fine with Holly. The tea was popular with everyone except Tyer, and brewing it was one less thing she needed to do.
Everyone else filtered in, finding seats, and murmuring about this or that. Mish accepted a cup of Harry’s tea andsat beside Holly, tucking one leg beneath her on the chair. “Is everything okay?” She looked anxious.
“Yes.” Holly raised her brows. Something about Mish’s vibe was off. “Are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah.” Mish’s gaze flicked around the room. “Just having a hard time getting ahold of Birler. My husband,” she explained. “He’s been… Well, I think the rig he’s on is having trouble with their transmission array.”
Holly wasn’t sure that Mish was sure that the trouble was with the transmission array, but shewassure that Mish didn’t want to talk about this. “I hope they get it fixed,” she said, and squeezed her friend’s hand. “I’m here if you need to talk.”
Mish smiled weakly. “Thanks. I’m okay.”
No, she wasn’t, but Holly would not pry. Her gaze moved to Alyce, who had just settled into the remaining seat with a cup of tea. The older woman missed absolutely nothing and had definitely caught Mish’s distress. If anyone knew what was going on, it was Alyce, but she responded to Holly’s gaze with only a gentle shake of her head. Something about the gesture made Holly’s chest tighten. Whatever was going on with Birler, it wasn’t ideal.
Alyce placed her cup on the table before her with an audible clink. “All right. What’s this about?”
Holly set down her own tea. “What do you think of Moone’s Landing holding a festival?”
Harry’s teacup paused halfway to his mouth. “Did I brew the wrong mix of mushrooms?” he asked. “Or did I actually hear you say ‘Moone’s Landing’ and ‘festival’ in the same sentence?”
“You did, but I’m thinking just a small one,” Holly added quickly. “More of a gathering, really. An open day. We want to bring visitors in and remind people that Moone’s Landing exists.”
