See one that’s different?
Rey
That looks inedible. What is it?
A decayed high heel. Red bottom means it was fancy ladies’ shoe, size 8. Fits me!
Rey
Sole is yummy with Tabasco.
You promised to stop!
She snapped a shot of the metal wall and single porthole at the foot of her bunk.
Tell me that isn’t boring?
Rey
Here.
Two green chairs and a small table sat in front of a window. The flash from his phone reflected off the dark glass, so she couldn’t tell if he had a view during the day.
Rey
Mine is worse.
Competitive much?
She zoomed on the right side of the photo where a rectangle of colors looked like a bulletin board. That might be her PR photo and that was definitely the Space Needle postcard she’d sent the week she returned to Seattle.
Rey
I have a request.
His message interrupted her puzzling out the things pinned on his wall.
Rey
Can you send a picture of yourself? How you look right now, on the boat.
I imagine you with a ponytail and sunburn.
She touched her cheeks. They felt heated, and she was certain she was flushed with wind and sun and now something more. He was right about the ponytail, too, since they showered every third day to conserve freshwater. Holding her camera at arm’s length felt awkward, and she reminded herself to smile with her full mouth, including her teeth and eyes.
Done. And sent, before she turned chicken.
Rey
Thank you,
Do I get one?
It came within seconds. The Rey she’d visited at Walter Reed had looked bewildered and ill, but the man on her screen looked confident and strong. He had semi-short hair, like most researchers who came out on the ship, but there the resemblance to her coworkers stopped. His half-smile combined with hisdefined cheekbones, the knife-edge of his nose, his slash-line eyebrows and dark eyes to look attractive at the same time as dangerous. There wasn’t a hint of softness around his chin or neck. Rey was harder than the men she knew, that was clear.
She must have stared too long, because he texted a question mark. She shook her head to clear it and tried to think.
You look good.
