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“Come,” Rob says. “Do you want me to carry you?”
“Don’t embarrass me!” Amber tells her husband, then she turns to Isabelle. “We should catch up soon. Girls gotta stick together.”
“And you can tell me all about your ‘first date’ with Rob.” Isabelle winks at her.
After the couple leaves, I lead Isabelle into the engineering quarter. “I might as well show you the rest of the complex.”
“Rob and Amber look good together,” she comments. “So, your brother calls her Amber-Rose?”
“Yeah. Most people call her Amber, but he’s special, you know.”
Isabelle observes me. “Can you see yourself in his position?”
I stop, turn to her, and put my hand under her chin. “With a family of my own? Hell yeah. Imagine going back to the airbase with two or three more kids, queuing up to fly the jet.”
Her features change, and I can feel her firm hold on my waist.
“Isabelle, is it bothering you? All this family talk?”
“No. No.”
I look into her eyes, exposing her denial. “Hey, I can’t help talking about it, but I don’t mean to pressure you.”
“I know.” She looks at everything around her but me. “I’m fine. Come, show me what you wanted to show me.”
I swipe us into the engineering quarter, and the doors slide open.
“Now, this is the heart of Hartley Marine,” I announce. “And that man is the boss around here. Rocky, my man!”
Rocky takes off his visors and strides toward us. “Hi, you must be Isabelle. My name is Emmett, but people call me Rocky. It’s my favorite movie,” the man explains. “Hey, Stefan, come here,” Rocky calls our newbie over to Isabelle. “That is Stefan Boss. Despite his name, he’s actually my assistant.”
She lets out a little giggle. “You don’t look like a typical engineer.”
“I’m anything but typical,” Rocky raves.
“How do you do?” Stefan finally joins us after locking his plasma-cutting tool. He takes off his gloves and extends his hand to her.
She freezes for a second but then takes his hand tentatively, keeping silent.
Stefan continues, “Stefan Boss, no relation to Hugo Boss. It’s a German surname, meaning tough. But as Rocky said, he’s the boss.”
Isabelle keeps smiling—and silent. I don’t think she’s paying attention to what he says. Evidently, she’s still worried about the kid talk.
She then steps away from the two engineers, and I follow.
“Clayton, can we go back to your office?” she whispers.
She doesn’t look right, and her hand is freezing!
“You okay?”
“Can we go, please?”
She follows me into my office, keeping me wondering. I would like to think of her request lightly—perhaps she has some surprise for me? That she’s going to turn into a vixen, and we’ll pick up where we left off?
But as we arrive in my office, I know something is off.
“Isabelle? Are you feeling all right?” It looks as though the blood had drained from her face.
