“Lia Stanton,” she said, but her voice was choked.
“Troll, you get Lia’s lunch,” Sasha told him. “She can wait at a table with me while you stand in line.”
“I’ll stay here,” Lia said.
“Go ahead. Sash will take good care of you and it’ll give you a chance to meet the team wives. Y’all are together, right?”
Sasha shook her head and said dryly, “No, I had a session that ran over schedule. Since we don’t travel in packs like the team husbands do, I can only guess that the other team wives have already eaten and are either working or with the team children.”
“Smart ass,” he said amiably. “Sasha is married to Flare, the team’s warrant officer. She’s also a shrink, so be careful what you say.”
Relief washed through her, but Lia refused to consider why it made her feel better to know this woman was tied to Troll’s friend and not someone he’d had a romantic relationship with. His warning registered a moment later – she’s a psychologist, so don’t mention time travel. “Got it,” she assured him. Sasha started to walk away, but Lia hesitated. “You trust me not to run off?”
“I trust you, period, Lia.” He gently tugged the ends of her hair. “And there’s no point in both of us waiting when you don’t have to decide what you want for lunch, right?”
“I suppose,” she said reluctantly and went over to where Sasha stood. As soon as Lia got there, the blonde turned and headed deeper into the mess hall.
“So you’re Troll’s woman,” she said as she wound her way through the tables.
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“I would,” Sasha disagreed. “Troll letting you come with me is almost as good as him bringing you home to meet his family and about as close as he can get to that on Jarved Nine.”
Lia shook her head. “We just met.”
“It happens that way sometimes. I knew the first instant I saw Flare that he was going to be important to me. We hit a few obstacles along the way, but we’re together twenty years later.” Before Lia could comment, Sasha said, “There’s an open table.”
The doctor waited until they were seated to begin quizzing her, but it was done with such good-natured interest that Lia found herself sharing more than she intended. The colonel-from-hell could learn a thing or two from this woman, she decided, but she liked her. Some of Lia’s answers were odd, she knew it from the confusion she’d see cross Sasha’s face from time to time, but the psychologist didn’t look at her like she was off-centre and she liked the easy acceptance.
What was taking Troll so long? Lia swivelled in her seat and studied the line until she spotted him. He’d nearly made it to the food. She turned back in time to see Sasha’s smile. “It doesn’t mean anything,” Lia blurted.
“No? I don’t think you realize how many times you’ve glanced over to check where Troll is, or how your tension level has risen the longer you’ve been separated from him. Like it or not, you’ve developed a bond with him.”
Lia opened her mouth to explain again that she’d just met the man, but it had gotten her nowhere with Sasha earlier and Lia doubted repeating it would make any difference. The doctor had her mind made up. With a silent sigh, Lia let it go. What did it matter anyway?
She didn’t believe in love at first sight, and no matter what this woman thought, Lia hadn’t fallen for a blue-eyed stranger with a sexy smile. Destiny be damned.
Troll held Lia’s hand again as they meandered slowly through the city. Dusk was settling, but it wasn’t dark enough yet for the lights to come on. He felt a pang of guilt over having fun today while his team was searching for a spaceship that didn’t exist, but it wasn’t like he could tell the Colonel anything, not without getting into explanations he’d rather not make about things Sullivan would never believe.
The drawing of Lia was tucked safely inside his wallet, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. From the moment Gram had given it to him, Troll had known this day would come. No psychic was ever accurate all the time – free will caused things to change frequently – but it hadn’t mattered. He’d simply known.
Maybe that was why he’d played so free and loose with women when he’d been younger. No point getting attached to one when Lia would arrive someday.
Despite this, he’d still needed a good ten minutes after seeing her this afternoon to corral the fear. He’d walked away from the infirmary and paced until his hands had stopped shaking and his breathing had slowed to normal.
Free will. He had it, too. Just because Gram had said the woman in the drawing was The One, it didn’t mean he had to go along with that. If he wanted, he could do his job and walk away at the end of it without a problem. Troll had long ago mastered the art of remaining disengaged on any meaningful level.
And then he’d touched Lia’s hand.
As easily as that, the apprehension had evaporated as if it had never existed and he’d seen the future. Onepossiblefuture. He and Lia had been playing together, laughing, and he’d felt the depth of the emotion between them. It had decided things for him and brought up a new concern – could he convince her to give it a chance and see where things went between them?
“You’re awfully quiet,” Lia said.
“Sorry. I was thinking about how much I’ve enjoyed spending the day with you. My teammates are going to give me shit for pulling this duty while they’re roughing it outside the city walls.”
“Why would they do that? It wasn’t your decision.”
Troll grinned. “Because I plan to rub their noses in it. If they didn’t give it right back to me, I’d be worried.”
