Page 14 of Starrily

Jessica formed an admiringOwith her mouth.

Simon got up and pried the blinds on her window an inch apart. “If you wish to study the oldest galaxies, why don’t you get pictures of those?”

“Because it’s hard. You need the right spectrum of light, the infrared, and a superb telescope. Even then, the Earth will block some light, which is why telescopes outside of the Earth’s orbit are so valuable to us, and if we got one on the Moon … well, it could completely change our field.”

Callie took a deep breath after that explanation. Maybe shecouldtalk to him like a normal person. And maybe he was even slightly interested—

“I guess I’ll go check out that telescope when I’m up there,” he said, the corner of his lips creeping into a smile.

Or maybe he was just a spoiled rich man.

Callie explained more things to Jessica. Ten, fifteen minutes passed, and she was deep into analyzing a graph when a blaring rendition ofHot Stuffalmost jolted her off her chair.

Simon reacted quickly, reaching for the phone in his pocket, and canceled the call. “Sorry, forgot to mute.” Even with the word sorry in there, it felt like he was mocking her. “Don’t want to inject fun into your daily routine.”

Callie lifted an eyebrow. “Actually, I like listening to music while I work.”

“Really?” Jessica perked up. “That’s awesome. We should get a playlist done.”

Simon leaned on the window, challenging her.

Callie’s first instinct was to break eye contact with him—those twinkling eyes practically dared her to give up—but she clenched her fists and straightened her spine. This washeroffice, even if he seemed to make it his own. “Fine. But no disco.”

“K-pop?” Jessica asked.

Oh, dear.

“I think Calliope would prefer something along the notes of Mozart. Chopin. Debussy?” Simon said.

“Van Halen will do.” Callie thought she saw a flash of surprise on Simon’s face before she refocused on her work, and a current of elation ran through her as if she’d won a competition between them.

A minute went by with no one talking. Two minutes. Three—surely, at this point, Jessica was bursting to—

“By the way,” the journalist said, “we should go grab lunch outside today. Together.”

“What’s wrong with our cafeteria?” It was never too crowded, had plenty of room, so she didn’t have to be in everyone’s face, and she knew what to expect with the food. Plus, Callie knew most people here, so even if someone sat next to her, it wasn’t that awkward.

“You’ve already done that the past two times. It’s getting a bit stale.”

“There’s a great Japanese restaurant around the corner,” Simon said. “Just opened.”

“Perfect!” Jessica shot up. “I can take some pictures of you two.”

“Us—wh—why do you need to take pictures of us at a restaurant?”

“Because writing that you’re sitting inside all day, studying graphs, isn’t very appealing,” Jessica said. “People need to see you doing regular human things.”

“Such as feeding,” Simon said.

“It’ll be perfect,” Jessica continued, unfazed. “When she’s done coding for the day, Dr. Guidry likes to grab a bite at the hip new restaurant around the corner …”

“I’m not done for the day, though—”

“As even she admits, a good meal is not only the way to a man’s heart—”

“That has zero relevance.”

“—but also to many new ideas, which help her at work.” Jessica smiled and picked up her bag. “Come on.” And she was through the door before anyone could stop her.