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I sensed this was something I should pay attention to. It could explain why Kal could never bring himself to kiss me. He was never going to tell me why. Maybe his inebriated sister would.
“What happened?” I said.
“I’m not sure I should say,” Emana said.
“You can trust me,” I said. “I won’t tell a soul.”
“His wife died,” Emana blurted.
He had a wife? So that was why he was finding it so difficult to kiss me… He wasn’t over her yet.
Suddenly, my goal seemed a lot more difficult than I thought. He was never going to divulge his innermost secrets to me if he couldn’t get close to me, and he wasn’t going to get close to me if he couldn’t get over the memory of his wife.
Now it made sense. He was attracted to me but didn’t feel comfortable acting on it.
So, I wasn’t undesirable.
“When did she die?” I said.
Emana upended her glass and looked sad when she saw it was empty. I handed her mine.
“Are you sure?” she said, peering at me with eyes that wished she didn’t have to ask but knew it was impolite not to do so.
“I’m sure,” I said, itching to get back to our previous topic.
Emana grinned at the drink and supped on it.
“Mm,” she said. “Yellow.”
I waited for her to answer my previous question but she appeared to have forgotten it.
“When did she die?” I repeated.
“Who?”
“Your sister-in-law.”
She squinted at me.
“How do you know about that?” she said.
“You just told me.”
“Oh.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Almost two years ago.”
Two years… It was a long time. More than enough to get used to someone not being around any longer…
Unless it was your soulmate and you loved her with all your heart. People died of broken hearts all the time back home. Maybe Kal would have too if he wasn’t young and so much responsibility still rested on his shoulders.
But he was ready to move on. His inviting me here proved that much. He wanted to move on, he just needed a little helpful push in the right direction.
“How did it happen?” I said.
“She was coming back from visiting her parents and there was a problem with the shuttle,” Emana said. “It exploded.”
A shuttlecraft. My palms grew sweaty just thinking about it. I got airsick just hopping in the air.
“Anyway!” Emana said, linking her arm through mine. “Come on. Let’s head back to the party!”
