Page 14 of Doran

We walked out of the spaceport over to the tavern.

“When were you going to tell me you were moving in with me and my mate?”

He looked startled. “I thought you knew. Sarah had Bob list the available rooms, and I asked for one. She saw my name, and Bob informed her of our relationship and had me moved into the family part of the residence. If it dismays you, I can remain where I am.”

I shook my head. “Not at all. Bob did not mention it, and Sarah and I are not allowed prior communication.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I hadn’t considered that. I will ensure you are informed of anything like that in the future.”

I chuckled. “Unless our sister or our parents decide to move here, I think I’m good.”

Kaelor looked aghast. “I should hope Kiria does not! She’s always so very, very nosy!”

A horrified thought occurred to me. “My Sarah will surely wish for a wedding. I shall have to invite her as well as our parents.”

Kalor shuddered, then clapped a hand on my shoulder. “I will help you endure her visit.”

“Help me? What about you?”

“Your wedding, so your guest.”

I stared at him open-mouthed, as he laughed and left me staring after him as he hustled inside ahead of me.

9

SARAH

The Fleet kept to Hawaii's time, so when we arrived from Chicago, it had only been nine in the morning ship’s time. That had given Tyrone and I time to settle into our rooms, his across the corridor from mine, chat with Xeranos, or Xero as he asked me to call him, while he filled me in on fun things to do during my layover.

My watch said it was a few minutes past seven in the evening Chicago time and my stomach was making insistent noises while I tried to decide if I dared to try using the replicator to make myself something to eat, when a chime sounded at my door, and Xero announced it was Tyrone.

“Come on, I’m starving, and I know you’re missing your kids, but sitting in there moping isn’t going to change the fact that they won’t be joining you for another two weeks.”

“I was thinking of checking out the replicator and seeing how good the food is.”

He gave me puppy dog eyes. “Please. You’re the only person I know on this whole ship, and I don’t wanna eat alone.”

I took in his ridiculous expression. He even had his lower lip out in a pout, which looked ridiculous on a grown man. He reminded me of Caleb with that expression, though there were plenty of years yet before my son would have anywhere near that amount of scruff on his face. Or on his arms and legs for that matter, if he did grow up to be hairy.

I caved, not really wanting to sit there and navel gaze while I picked through my dinner alone, second guessing my decision to go along with my mother’s suggestion. I could try the replicator later, for a snack before bedtime.

“Okay, sure. Have you decided where we’re going?”

“Xero told me about this awesome sounding Thai restaurant. Hey, make sure you bring your tablet. They zap it so they get some kind of credit for our meals. Something about meal allowances paid for by the Fleet. Everyone gets free food, can you believe it? They even have a supermarket on board, and people who live here can go shop, get whatever they want, and just tap their kunnarskyn thing or tablet, and no worries. Same thing with clothes, so after dinner, I’m gonna go get me some new threads. I could use some new work boots too. How about you?”

“And it's all free? Do the Mylos take it out of our allowance towards our homestead set up?”

“Nope. I even asked Xero the same thing. This is like, just because we’re residents here within the Fleet, even though it's only for a couple of days.”

Some retail therapy did sound fun.

“I’ve never had Thai food before, so you’ll have to help me choose.”

“Okay, then, new bestie. Let’s go.”

I followed him out, and once we reached the designated recreation and commerce deck, I nearly lost my mind. Wandering Star was an absolute marvel. It was so vast, and with the rows of shops and eateries, not to mention the actual parks filled with green grass and trees and bushes and flowers, and even a small beach in a holosuite sort of place, it filled me with awe. The Mylos had taken every sci-fi franchise out there and basically said, “Hold my beer”. Xero hadn’t exaggerated one bit. If anything, he’d understated what I would find.

I ended up having a blast, Tyrone telling me funny stories about his former co-workers over our plates of pak leang and khao soi. I, in turn, told him of the crazy things staff had found in the motel rooms, including the time one of the other maids went in to clean a room while the guest was out and heard scratching on the bathroom door. Which she opened, and was shocked to find it had been caused by an actual juvenile sloth hanging from the heated towel rail. To make it even crazier, there was a young lion cub in the bathtub. It turned out our guest was some kind of animal smuggler and was transporting the animals from a private jet to their new owners who’d bought them as pets.