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“It could have been the cheese. I’m pretty sure it was the cheese. Quite disappointing, given how much it cost. It doesn’t melt very well either. I thought it would be extra special, so I had Rihep import it from Haven, just to celebrate your campaign kickoff.”
Only an Earthphile such as Etnil would have decided burritos made the perfect celebration meal. He was enamored with human cuisine, especially the kind requiring no utensils to eat.
“What kind of cheese was it?” Stacy asked. The urge to gag had departed, thank heavens.
“Limburger.”
“Etnil.” She shook her head. “Seriously? It would have stunk the second you unwrapped it, but you still tried to melt it on burritos?”
“It’sexpensive. It’sgourmet.” He looked at her as if she were the clueless one. “How could it not be delicious?”
A grin threatened to break over Kuran’s rugged features. “The smell didn’t tell you otherwise?”
“I held my nose and tried it. It wasn’t horrible. Kind of mushroom-y and a tang to finish.”
“No, the garbage chute to finish, which is where I tossed the works,” Rihep said.
“So mean. He wouldn’t look at it, much less give it a try.” Etnil sighed.
“Anything that makes my eyes water and my breath stop isn’t on the menu.”
“Classless thug.” Etnil showed no sign of upset, however. He smiled at Stacy and extended his arms toward her. “Where’s my kiss hello?”
“When you just ate limburger cheese? I love you, but no. Hell no.”
“How about you, Kuran? Being a stinky thing, you’ve always appreciated stinky things, so you won’t mind a kiss.” He reached toward his muscled Nobek.
“Maybe not on the lips, but you’re welcome to blow me. Or suck me, whichever terminology makes you happy.”
Etnil grabbed the laughing Rihep, acting as if he were on the verge of falling to the floor in a faint. “He joked. Kuran the Eternally Cheerless cracked a joke!”
“This is an event,” Rihep said, pushing Etnil away. “I assume from your good moods the campaign rally went well?”
The door’s buzz interrupted them. Dinner, which featured steaks and wine-like leshella, had arrived.
Minutes later, they were seated on billowy floor cushions around the low table in the dining area. Glowing in success and grateful she wasn’t eating limburger burritos, Stacy told them of the exuberant reception she’d received.
“I told you it was an excellent speech.” Rihep’s smile warmed her to her toes.
“You did, but I was nervous anyway. I guess the Earthtiques stayed home.” She glanced at Kuran to confirm he’d seen nothing suspicious.
“The crowd was on your side. The new guy did a great job too, given no one tested us.” Kuran simply couldn’t give poor Mike Adams unconditional credit. It had to be a Nobek trait, Stacy thought.
She had a swallow of leshella, then sprang the latest personal news on them. “I heard from my mother today.”
“Uh oh,” Etnil sing-songed, his eyes rounding. He gripped the edge of the table in pretended fear. “Are we in trouble for not breaking away to visit her on Haven before you started your election bid? Will she—” he gulped “—ground us?”
There was no way he behaved like such a goofball in front of his patients. Dr. Etnil’s clients were mostly Dramoks and Nobeks assigned to the space station, and they probably didn’t wish to be in therapy in the first place. His handsome face would have been cratered by a fist by now if he’d carried on around them as he did at home. Stacy believed the ridiculous, and admittedly amusing, behavior was how Etnil blew off steam after hearing hours of other people’s problems.
“She isn’t grounding us, though she’ll probably send you out an airlock after the first hour of listening to you in person. She and my sister are coming to visit Earth.”
The three men blinked at her. Etnil’s pretended anxiety shifted to the real deal for an instant. He made a joke of it by imitating having a heart attack and collapsing to the floor, where she couldn’t see him.
Rihep’s momentary surprise disappeared, replaced by his usual calm. He seemed pleased. “This is a big step for our relationship. On Kalquor, we don’t meet parents unless clanship is essentially a given.”
“Which is where we’re heading.” Whether it was sooner or later was up to if Stacy was voted to continue as Earth’s governor. It was one thing to date a Kalquorian clan and remain in charge of the world struggling to find its identity and footing; it was quite another to be in a formal relationship when so many humans continued to regard their former enemies with suspicion.
“I look forward to it,” Kuran said. “They’ll be staying at Government Hall in your living quarters? You’ll spend your nights there during their visit as well.”
