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“You’re kidding me?”
“No, I’m serious. I’ve always lived in the country. Houston’s too crowded, and the traffic sucks. I was always afraid to drive here. But I finally decide it was time to tackle my fear of the traffic head on.”
“But it's only a couple of hours from the ranch! You make it sound as if it’s the other side of the world.”
“To you maybe, but for me, it’s a couple of hours by car and the world apart socially,” I sigh as I finish my second cup of coffee. I wonder if he’s mocking me or trying to educate me? I can never tell, but then there’s something different about our conversation compared to when we’re on the ranch. Maybe he seems me as Neil’s ranch hand there, and here he’ll see me in a different light?
“I’ll show you around. You can’t come to Houston, have a cup of coffee, and return to the ranch without seeing more of Houston than Interstate 10.”
Suddenly, I don’t want to go back to the ranch. I want to spend more time with Isaac. “Great, maybe I’ll like Houston if I see a little more of it.”
“What would you like to see?”
“Space Center Houston,” I say without hesitating. “I’ve wanted to visit it since I was a little girl. I remember telling everyone that one day I was going to be an astronaut and go the see the man on the moon.”
“To see the man in the moon?” Isaac laughs.
“I was only five years old,” I pout thinking that he’s mocking me now.
“It’s just cute. I didn’t think that you would be interested in things like that. You just caught me by surprise.”
We say nothing for a second, and I don’t know what to take about what he just said.
Doesn't he think that I’m educated? Or that I’m interested in space?
I’m about to ask him when he blurts out, “Space Center Houston it is. Come on, let’s go.”
He grabs my hand, and the other is safely in his bag. He’s smiling and maybe my plans working because as we get to his car. He dumps the bag at the back.
“Come on, cowgirl. No horses today, cars only in downtown,” Isaac says as he opens the car door for me. I feel like a Princess as he waits for me to enter. My car’s parked for the day, but as soon as he takes the wheel and starts driving, I have to close my eyes.
Isaac burrows through the notorious Houston traffic, and I think about the country roads near the ranch. They’re nothing compared to the noisy drivers in the city. I can’t wait for us to get there, so as soon as Isaac increases the volume of the radio. I start concentrating on the radio show and don’t even think about the way that he drives. Thank goodness he doesn’t ride horses the same way that he does cars. That’s when I spot the space shuttle atop the 747 as we approach the Space Center. I feel a surge of excitement that I don’t even try and hide.
“Excited?” Isaac says turning to smile at me as he parks the car.
I squeal, “Yes, I can’t believe that we’re here.”
Then I clap my hands together, and I can’t help but let out a little scream as he parks the car.
“Are we doing this?” I ask as he takes my hand and we enter the Space Center. "Where do you want to start?" I close my eyes and think for about two seconds, what's the one thing that I've always been dying to see the most, "The historic Apollo 11 command module without a doubt."
He nods, "Good choice. My lady gets what my lady demands.”
Then I loop my hand into his arm as he locks the car and then we go on a tour. I expected Isaac to go to the module and then turn around. The more time we spent in there, the more he wanted to see. I soon realized that he hadn’t been in there since he was a kid.
“It seems as if I’m not the only one was excited to come.”
He confesses, “You got me there. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here.”
“Should we see some more?”
He laughs, “Why not? We’ve got nothing else to be rushing back for? Or do you have to work at the ranch today?”
I shake my head, “You’re asking me now. After we’ve spent most of the morning and afternoon out together?”
He laughs, “You know the crazy thing about it all?”
As he ignores my question, curiosity wants to know what’s on his mind.
