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“Night, Derek.” Lizzie let herself inside.
“Night, Liz.” He watched her go before he shifted his gaze back to me.
I loved that he had his own nickname for her, that they had their own relationship that was independent of me. I trusted him to take care of my daughter without my presence or supervision.
He stared at me with that same intense stare. He used to be aggressive during our conversations about our relationship, but once he had me back, that desperation ceased. He never tried to kiss me or start anything physically, taking my request for slowness very seriously. It seemed like he was perfectly satisfied just to be with me, to have a relationship with me, and not anything physical. “Can we carpool again? I’m not a fan of you taking the bus.”
I wasn’t either because it took a million times longer with all the stops. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
“Great. I’ll see you in the morning, then.” He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me in front of the door, his thick arms protective and warm. He gave me a squeeze before he kissed my forehead. “Love you.”
“Love you too.” I felt him slip away from my grasp, felt him leave my arms, and with every inch of distance, I felt emptier.
He walked away and took the stairs.
I watched him go, missing him the moment he was gone.
When he finished with the rover, he turned to his rocket program.
But he was the only one working on it at the moment. When he was finished, he said they would build the second prototype and do another test. He spent his time going over the schematics and testing voltages with various wires.
It was nice to see him try again, to see him finding a solution instead of being haunted by his failure.
And it wasn’t even his failure.
At the end of the day, I joined him at the table, watching him work on the cables.
He lifted his chin and gave me his attention. “Didn’t realize it was five already.”
“Time flies when you’re—” I looked down at the wiring “—doing whatever you’re doing.”
He grinned at my joke.
“What are you doing?”
“Finding a better material for the next test. The insulation should help.”
“What are you going to do about the electrical team?”
“What do you mean?” He stood in a gray t-shirt with his tech watch on his wrist, his arms thick and covered in veins. He’d started to bulk up again because he was working out like he used to. He never said that, but I surmised it based on his physical fitness.
“I mean, it was their error that caused the problem. That rocket isn’t cheap, right? Now you have to invest more money in a second prototype, when you shouldn’t have needed a second one in the first place.”
He listened to what I said with a blank stare. “What do you suggest? I fire them?”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m just curious what your approach is. I know you believe in being one hundred percent, one hundred percent of the time.”
“Yeah, that is my philosophy. But I also believe that humans make mistakes, and it’s okay to make mistakes sometimes. That’s what the test is for, to figure out what could go wrong and to keep testing to make sure there’s no variation in the performance based on weather conditions or anything out of the ordinary. A mistake was made—we’ll learn from it.”
“I like that philosophy a lot more than your other one.”
“Yeah.” His eyes filled with affection. “Me too.” He grabbed his laptop and notebook and placed them in his satchel.
“Lizzie said she thinks her final went well.”
“Yeah, she texted me.”
I wasn’t sure who I was more jealous of, Lizzie for having Derek’s attention or Derek for having Lizzie’s attention. “You want to come to her graduation ceremony on Friday night?”
He stilled at the offer. “I’d love to.”
“Great.”
He pulled his satchel strap over his shoulder then came around the table toward me. “And maybe we can take a trip to my family’s cabin afterward to celebrate. You know, spend the weekend there. I don’t know if Lizzie is interested in fishing, but I can teach her. Or we can go on some hikes, make some s’mores at night, barbecue burgers…all sorts of things.”
“That sounds like a lot of fun.” Lizzie loved it at Thanksgiving, so she would definitely love it in the summer, with the water right outside their deck.
He gave a slight nod then turned away so we could leave the warehouse and get to the golf cart.
My hand automatically reached for his arm, feeling the defined muscle at contact. His skin was warm like I remembered. His naked body used to keep me warm even on the coldest nights.
He stilled at my touch then looked at me, barely moving, waiting to see what I would do.
