Page 45 of Jorhee

He held his hand out to me, and I took it, letting him pull me up to a standing position. Then, to my surprise, he ran a soapycloth over me and used the jug to rinse me off before pulling the plug and wrapping a warm, fluffy towel around me.

“I think I’m starting to understand the appeal of spa days and owning a hot tub at your house.”

He snorted.

“That’s a normal Dragonii tub.”

“Man, I bet everyone who serves aboard y’all’s ships really hates those sonic showers then.”

He simply shook his head at me while he busily buffed me dry. My stomach growled as he finished.

“I can put the salve on myself,” I said firmly. “Dry yourself off so we can get dressed. I need to feed the monster in my belly.”

He gave me a quick kiss, laughing softly.

“Alright. Kiprr is waiting for us to join him anyway. I invited him to breakfast.”

“And you made him wait?”

He shrugged, looking very unabashed. Well, I at least had manners enough for the both of us this morning. I’d apologize to him.

“It’s a casual day, right?”

“Yes, my love.”

Sweatpants and a T-shirt it was. First, though, the salve and maybe some underwear.

29

JOHREE

The paparazzi were relentless. Those who made it through tried every trick in the book to get footage of Jesse and me, either for background to whatever they were sending to their viewers or by shouting questions, mostly at him. Those who remained in orbit deluged the spaceport’s official comm channels to the point where Bob and Kaelor had to place them on an “ignore” list unless the call came from the personal comm of the commercial vessel they’d arrived on. If it was a private one, they were completely out of luck.

Jesse was moving much more easily after his soak and application of the salve, but I had managed to convince him that we should remain at home. By sundown, the paparazzi had all but disappeared, returning to their vessels, no doubt to eat, sleep, and plan tomorrow’s mayhem.

Because of this, after our own late evening meal, followed by watching the latest vid release in a superhero franchise he followed involving a wealthy man who liked to dress up like a bat and right wrongs the local police were too inept to handle, we went outside to sit on the porch swing bots had replicated to hold Dragonii of my size and weight. The light of the twin moonsshone down undeterred by cloud cover, and the lack of light pollution gave us a fantastic view of not only the colony but also a dizzying array of stars.

“There, that one moves,” Jesse said, pointing.

“That’s the communications node,” Fethri replied from one of the two Dragonii-sized rocking chairs.

“Really? Cool. So that’s how we get all our comm calls and vids and alien internet and stuff.”

“Correct,” I said softly, using one foot to gently set the swing swaying again.

Jesse laid his head on my shoulder, and I nuzzled his hair gently, giving the hand I held in mine a gentle squeeze of affection.

“I wish it could always be like this,” he murmured. “Just us, getting to enjoy each other’s company when it’s personal time. No interruptions when we’re just wanting to go have a lookie-loo at a building site unofficially to watch the construction bots do their thing, or to be able to go to the market to trade for some of the fresh veggies and eggs ourselves if the fancy struck us. Hell, even to get to go to the saloon now it’s all gussied up and running a tight ship, so we could enjoy a beer with our friends.”

“We’ll be able to do that soon,” I promised him. “The excitement will die down when someone new catches the press’s attention. Pata and Father both promised that, from here on out, the only public announcements about our personal lives will be the ones you make on your streaming channel, unless it is to announce the arrival of a child.”

“A child,” he repeated, sitting up straight. “Do you want to be a dad?”

“If that is what you also want, then yes. If not, then I am content with you and Buster.”

He gave me an irritated look.

“Oh, no. You are not putting this entirely on me. Answer me properly. Have you dreamed of being a father someday?”