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He chuckles. “Can’t promise anything.”
“That’s on you, then,” Bethiah replies. “Good luck with her.”
Dora is quiet as Khex turns and leaves, her face full of tension. She’s silent as the doors to the custodial office slide shut, and through the glass, we can see Simone and Rhonda led inside, where another uniformed mesakkah meets them. Dora watches this, and then sags, bursting into tears. She turns and spreads her arms, burying her face between myself and Bethiah as she hugs both of us.
Bethiah strokes Dora’s hair with a worried look over at me. “Damn, if you wanted to keep Rhonda, just say so,” she teases. “I’m sure we could work something out.”
“I don’t want to keep Rhonda,” Dora immediately retorts, lifting her head and wiping at her eyes. “I just feel like I sent my kids off for their first day of school. Simone’s so nervous. Rhonda too, even though she’s trying to hide it.”
I reach out and stroke Dora’s cheek with my thumb. “We’ll stay for a few days, sweetheart. If they’re nervous or don’t like it here, we won’t leave them behind. I promise.”
And I want her to have enough time to decide if she wishes to stay or not. I don’t want her to feel rushed.
“Hey,” Bethiah says. “Remember we promised to take Dora to a fancy dinner on station and show her off? We can’t do that now, what with the bounties and all, but we can have dinner here. There’s a little cantina that has the best fried leaves.”
Dora groans, rolling her eyes. “You and your fried leaves.”
But I can see the hint of a smile on her face. “Is that a no, then? I’m sure if you ask, they’ll make something that humans enjoy.”
“A dinner date sounds nice,” Dora admits, moving to my side and taking my hand. She laces her fingers with mine and leans against my arm, clearly drained with all the activity of the day. Perhaps Simone and Rhonda’s delivery has weighed upon her more than we originally thought. I exchange a worried look with Bethiah but say nothing.
This all has to be Dora’s decision.
DORA
My mood is all over the place as we enter the cantina in Port. I’m feeling anxious for Simone, who’s likely scared and worried, and I even feel a bit of sympathy for Rhonda, who was pouring on the charm the moment we arrived. That’s the Rhonda version of defense-mode, as if she’s trying to secure her safety in any way she can. I’m feeling a bit guilty, too, because I’m standing here with two loving mates and walking away with them instead of being shipped off to a human refugee planet.
And I shouldn’t be happy that I’m going out for a dinner with my mates and yet…I am. We don’t get to sit down together for every meal, so all three of us at the same table is a treat. A date is a treat. We’re finally rid of Rhonda and can move on to the next step of our lives.
We step into the cantina itself and I have to bite back the giggles. Somehow I’d expected it to be a bit more like an Old West sort of bar, with wood everywhere and creaky floors and round tables with card players or something. Bethiah has mentioned that she’s taken a lot of odd jobs here in Port from some of the colonists that don’t trust asking for official help, so I had this whole “gunslinger” motif in my brain.
It looks like a dumpy fast-food joint, though. Not a speck of Wild West vibes to be found. There’s a lot of gray inside—gray walls, gray floor, gray tables—and there are grease stains on just about every surface. The screen that displays the menu, complete with pictures, is covered in fingerprints and has a crack going across the surface. Everyone’s eating out of little baskets that remind me of burger joints back home. The smell of fried food is overwhelming.
And this is my big date night.
I can’t stop giggling. I put a hand over my mouth as Bethiah heads up to the counter and orders one of each fried item, along with three local brews for us. Jamef’s mouth twitches as I keep snickering, and he casually wraps an arm around me and drags me against him, burying my face in his tunic. He leans in, his voice a low whisper. “You’re going to make people nervous.”
“Sorry. This just reminds me of a place back home.” Or rather, a place I would have avoided back home.
He squeezes the back of my neck, his hand lingering there possessively, and my giggles die away, leaving a pleasant ache behind. I hope Simone finds amusement here. I think about what she said about pets and wish she could have a dog of some kind. An animal to keep her company. I know she gets lonely and a little worried when she’s by herself. Maybe I should go back and point that out to Khex.
