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“More like a wedding than a date night, right?” he joked.
Why did the thought of her in a wedding gown turn him on even more than the skimpy bikini?
“It’s incredible,” she said.
“Ready to eat?” he asked.
“I didn’t think I could,” she said with a smile. “But seeing this… I’m suddenly ravenous.”
“Do you like off-world foods?” he asked her.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But I like trying new things.”
He had a few things in mind, but pushed those thoughts aside.
For now.
“Sit,” he told her. “I’ll fix you a plate.”
She curled up on one of the beach divans, as he had instructed, looking pleased.
A caveman instinct from deep inside him delivered a jolt of endorphins at seeing her do as she was told.
He moved between the small tables, choosing delicacies from all over the galaxy for her to try.
“Um,” she said suddenly.
But when he turned to her, she only bit her lip.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I know it’s incredibly rude, but I’d like to check the school portal, just to make sure my students had a good day,” she said, looking ashamed.
“Sure, go ahead,” he told her, unable to believe that she was thinking about work right now. “But I don’t think we can check comms from here. They were adamant about no communication with anyone outside the Center.”
“Oberon got them to make an exception for me to check the school portal,” she told him, her fingers already dancing on her bracelet. “He could tell I was miserable not knowing what was going on.”
“Don’t you have a substitute teacher?” he asked.
“I do,” she said, nodding. “But I didn’t get to choose them or talk to them. And the day-to-day stuff is really important for kindergarteners. This is their first exposure to school. It sets their expectations.”
He thought about his own first-year experience. He remembered the teacher didn’t like him, and he remembered trading erasers with another boy. That was about it.
“Like the attendance roster,” she told him, her eyes scanning a hologram projecting from her bracelet. “I have a little boy whose mother works a double shift on Wednesdays and gets home in the middle of the night. She sometimes oversleeps and doesn’t bring him in on Thursdays, so I usually call her when I’m getting dressed to try and make sure they’re up. But I can’t do that from here.”
“You give your student’s mother a wake-up call?” Jubal asked in disbelief.
“It only takes a minute,” she said shrugging. “And I’m sure it’s easier for her to get up when she knows someone else cares about her son. Missing school on Thursdays is really bad.”
“Why?” Jubal asked in spite of himself.
“Because Thursday is the spelling test day,” she told him, her eyes still scanning. “Ugh.”
“The mom didn’t bring the boy?” he guessed.
“No, he was there,” she said. “But the spelling test results aren’t posted.”
“Didn’t you say the test was today?” he asked.
