Page 48 of Starrily

“I can drive you back,” Stan said.

“I got myself here, I can get myself back. But thanks for the talk.”

Anyone else but Stan might’ve said, “Anytime.” But Stan just nodded.

“And sorry for calling you yesterday evening.”

“Hmm.” Stan squinted. “Did you? I didn’t notice. Family time.”

“Good on you,” Simon said, realizing he fully meant it. He missed having a family. Someone beside him, always—someone to care for and enjoy life with them, whatever that life brought. Now that would be an adventure.

What a shame that, when he thought of co-adventurers, one face appeared in his mind—and she’d told him to get lost.

***

During all the drama, Callie forgot to notify Simon of the change in schedule with her observation time at the telescope coming up. She’d be strapped to her computer for two nights and early mornings—not a window of time that should appeal to either Simon or Jessica. She sent them both an email, obsessing over the two short, neutral sentences, wondering what Simon would see in them. Another rejection?

Surprisingly, Jessica wanted to join her, and Callie admitted she didn’t mind company. Observations, even those doneremotely, were significantly more fun than her regular computer work, but the nights could feel long and lonely.

Strange, because for most of her life, Callie had thought she didn’t mind being alone.

As for Simon—he didn’t respond, and she assumed it was a combination of her latest outburst and the ungodly morning hours of the task. This time, though, she wouldn’t seek him out. Not because he didn’t deserve it, but because she couldn’t allow herself to do it. She doubted her project was endangered; Simon was a good person, and he wouldn’t stoop so low as to cancel the funding because of her behavior. But if she tried to make up again, she’d fall into the same trap. He’d smile and say something funny and do something nice for her, and she couldn’t say no, and her brain would get all tangled up in wonderful, bright potential futures, and drag her heart with it.

It would’ve been the easiest thing to fall for Simon Montague.

Which was why she had to gather all her forces not to do it.

“The days of looking through a telescope with your bare eyes are over,” Jessica narrated out loud and typed rapidly. “Now, the technology lets scientists study what they could’ve never seen before …”

“You don’t have to make it sound so dramatic.” Callie swiveled in her chair. The team at the Gemini telescope should contact her any minute now, and pleasant jitters were spreading through her body. Finally, she’d get new images for her research, and looking through a telescope in one of the best observing sites on the planet was a reward in its own right.

Jessica did have a point, though—as cool and useful as the current technology was, Callie missed simply looking up at the sky. How would it feel to be like an astronomer of old, track objects with her own two eyes, chart the heavens? Somewhat inaccurate, for sure, but also a little bit romantic.

“Oh, hey, Simon,” Jessica suddenly said.

Callie nearly overturned in her chair.Simon is here.She didn’t even hear him enter.

Maybe she was already so efficient at blocking him out.

“Sorry, I didn’t knock.” He kept his gaze somewhere between Callie and Jessica. “I didn’t want to wake you up in case you were sleeping.”

Jessica scoffed. “It’s barely one in the morning. We’re ready to go, team!” She pumped a fist.

Callie swallowed, words of an apology—or a greeting, or anything resembling basic decency—stuck in her throat.

“Classic rock, good,” Simon acknowledged the music selection and slid into a chair. He still hadn’t looked at her and instead began chatting with Jessica about how finding parking was so much easier during the night.

She couldn’t say anything to him while Jessica was here, anyway. The absolute last drama she needed the journalist to know about were her relationship issues.

And it wasn’t even a relationship.

An email notification pinged, blessingly forcing Callie to focus on her work.

“So, how are the skies above us tonight?” Simon asked.

Callie read through the email, and her heart dropped. “Bad.”

“Oh, no.” Jessica leaned closer. “Is there a meteorite heading for us? Aliens?Another planet?”