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We sat together at the dining nook on The Phoenix. We'd just finished a meal of fresh shrimp and salad, and now were enjoying a good Brazilian white wine. Alexa looked beautiful in her bathing suit and coverup, her hair long and wavy from drying in the breeze. Her skin was tanned, and freckles dotted her nose.
She looked at home on The Phoenix and I had never seen her as beautiful.
"Can you imagine what I thought about you when I got that email?" Alexa said, her half-empty glass of wine in hand.
"You probably thought I was a first-class jerk," I said with a laugh.
"I did," she replied. "Candace and I were laughing out loud when you sent a pic of your abs and your watch."
"I could have sent an image of my junk, but I thought better of it. I figured Lexxi might decide to blackmail me if I got too personal."
John laughed. "When I saw you that night at Cipriani's, I thought maybe Lexxi had sent a substitute, thinking that Luke would never know the difference."
"I wouldn't have," I said and turned to Alexa. "You said she was beautiful, and she was. I couldn't get over why someone as lovely as you would be an escort. I mean, I know that some women become escorts to pay tuition, but a lot get in it because of other less savory reasons. I felt bad for you, even though I figured you were being more than adequately compensated for a night pretending to be my arm candy."
"I was sick to my stomach when I realized you were John, the John, who told Luke about the infamous Lexxi. You'd know right away I was an imposter. I had to come up with a story to explain why I was pretending to be Lexxi. Luckily, you were a gentleman."
Alexa leaned forward and kissed me. I caught John smiling to himself.
"Speaking of romances, how's your love life?" Alexa asked John.
"Me?" he said and leaned back, swirling his wine thoughtfully. "Haven't met Ms. Right yet, if that's what you mean. In between ladies. Maybe one day, I'll find someone who fits me as well as you two fit each other."
I punched him in the arm playfully. "You better use that line in your toast to the bride and groom as my best man."
"Have you two set a date yet?" John asked.
Alexa and I exchanged glances. "Maybe when Alexa's first year of her PhD is finished, we'll get married that June."
Alexa nodded. "I don't want anything to get in the way of my year of coursework. Once that's out of the way, it'll be no problem to plan a wedding and do the whole honeymoon thing."
"Sounds reasonable," John said. Then he turned to me. "What about you? What are your plans for the coming year? You going to hook up with McDonald in Paolo Alto and get involved as an angel investor?"
I shrugged, not yet certain what I'd do in the coming year once we returned to Manhattan.
"I've got a few feelers out and have let a couple of the big players in the private space industry know I'm interested in being a partner in some ventures."
"You're no longer going to go as a space tourist?" John asked, although he already knew the answer. He had a bit of a bug about me giving up my plans to colonize Mars so quickly.
"No," I said and shook my head. "I'm no longer in such a hurry to leave for the Red Planet. My heart is back here on Earth."
I squeezed Alexa's hand and she smiled softly at me. "Don't put all that on me," she said quietly. "That's an awfully big burden."
"Why?" I asked, surprised that she felt that way.
"When I met you, all you could talk about was being on the first colonization trip to Mars..."
"That was because I had nothing to keep me here. Only Dana, and you can't make life-changing decisions because of your sister, who has her own life."
"You're right," Alexa said. "I just don't want you to give up your dreams."
"I won't have to. Going to Mars was a fantasy I concocted to keep me from being too sad while I was getting over my breakup with Jenna. It was never serious."
She sighed. "As long as you don't regret meeting me, that's all I care about. It would be terrible for you to look back over your life and feel regret that you never followed through with your dream to go to Mars."
"It's no longer my dream," he said. "Life with you is."
It was.
