Winter

by Michelle Love

  “I didn’t mean it the way you took it. They’ll be fine,” I say but I’m pretty damn positive they won’t. And they shouldn’t be. Gia shouldn’t be a pawn in the man’s ploy to distract his family from what he’s done. “I’ll have a car bring us in from the airport. See you around five or so, I’ll call you when we hit the ground.”

  “Great, bye.”

  With the call ended and all my plans settled, I sit back in my chair and put my hands behind my head. Things may work out after all. Putting one’s mind to work and shoving emotions to one side really works much better than living on emotions alone.

  GIA

  Damien has left me alone most of the time in the last two days. His disappointment in me isn’t an easy thing to take. I find myself feeling like a child who has misbehaved when he has come to see me for shorts amount of time.

  I asked him if he wanted to end it all and he told me he didn’t. He said he needed me and I am to still play the part of loving girlfriend, even though he doesn’t wish to touch me anymore.

  Deep inside, I feel like I did what anyone would do, being put in that position. People need to vent, every once in a while. It’s been years since I’ve vented about my situation with him. When you add in that he’s been unfaithful the entire time and is using me as a cover, well, I had to vent!

  But to tell Ryker was stupid. I could’ve talked to my sisters about it. I told Ryker for my own selfish reasons. And now my selfishness is going to bite me in the butt.

  My cell rings and I see that it’s Ryker’s new assistant, Tony. Ryker, himself, hasn’t spoken to me. He’s let others do that for him. He’s keeping things very professional. I like it but then again, I don’t.

  Before I can say a word when I answer the phone, Tony starts talking, “Miss Flynn, I hope you’re having a pleasant day. I’m calling to let you know a car is being sent to get you and take you to the airport where the company jet is waiting. You need not bring a thing. Like I told you on Wednesday, Apollo Engineering is providing everything. Your uniform has been tailored to the measurements you gave me. The other women have been asked to gather their hair into a neat bun. We do expect paparazzi at both airports as this is an open topic. You are to wait for the driver to bring up one of the uniforms to you, so you can wear it. You will be expected to wear the uniforms you are given for this entire, two-day meeting, excluding bedtimes, of course.”

  “I understand, Tony. I’ll see you soon,” I say just before I get off the phone.

  It feels odd talking to Tony instead of Ryker. I feel very much a part of the group but not a part of Ryker. I find I miss him. More than I should. The man is my boss now. I should put my feelings for him, away.

  When my cell rings again, I look at it to find it’s Ryker and my heart jumps. I swipe the screen. “Ryker! Hi!”

  “Hello, to you too, Miss Flynn.” His voice is deep and smooth as it falls on my ears that missed hearing it so much.

  “Miss Flynn?” I ask as I look in the mirror to make sure my makeup still looks right.

  “I like to keep everything very professional during company outings when the press is around. In private meetings, I’m more lax. So, Miss Flynn, you will call me, what?”

  “Mr. Crawford. I get it, Ryker. Professional.” I find a smirk moving over my lips and try hard to stop it. It’s just so damn good to be talking to him!

  “Great,” he says. “See you on the plane.”

  Before I can say another word, I find he’s ended the call and a knock comes to my hotel room door. “Miss Flynn, I have your clothes,” a man’s voice calls out from the other side.

  Going to the door, I open it and take the black garment bag. “Thank you. You can come in and take a seat while I change.”

  The man nods and comes inside. I retreat to the bathroom to put on the clothes. In the privacy of the bathroom, I unzip the bag and pull out a skirt that looks to be knee length and pencil shaped. A military type of jacket is to be worn with it. The letter, A, is embossed on the silver buttons of the rust colored suit and the Apollo emblem is on the left side just above the pocket with my last name embroidered on it.

  A small black bag is in the bottom of the bag and I pick it up and untie it to find a matching rust colored bra and panty set. Picking up my cell, I tap in a text to Ryker.

  -I see you felt compelled to send me lingerie.-

  He texts back right away.

  -Not me, my assistant. Didn’t he tell you the company would be providing everything? That includes your underwear, Miss Flynn.-

  My cheeks heat with embarrassment and I don’t text back as I feel like a fool. It seems he intends on treating me professionally. Like we never meant a thing to one another.

  The thought has me feeling sad but as I get dressed and look in the mirror, I find a woman looking back at me that I haven’t seen in years. A real professional. The uniform makes me feel like part of a team. A team with a huge mission on its hands. A mission to get to Mars!

  RYKER

  Sitting at the back of the cabin, I watch Gia as she comes aboard. Her dark hair is slicked back into a tidy bun, just like the rest of the women I have on this team.

  Tony hops up from his seat at the very front and quickly introduces her to everyone as he leads her back to sit across from me. She was the last to get here, meaning we’ll be leaving soon.

  Looking at my tablet, I pretend not to notice her as she shakes everyone’s hands and greets them. I can see a rosiness to her cheeks that’s been missing. Her smile is confident and so is her grip.

  It’s been such a short amount of time but I see something inside of her shining brightly. She’s in her element. For the first time in years, she’s where she belongs.

  I offer her a curt nod as Tony says, “You’ll be sitting here, Miss Flynn. Once we’re in the air, drinks will be served. Do you have a preference?”

  “Red wine,” she says then I cut my eyes at her.

  “Try something different, Miss Flynn. Something you might have wanted to try for some time and just haven’t yet. Tony was a bartender while he went to college. I made sure we have a full bar on board for him to work with.”

  Her eyes dart to mine, as she asks me, “Any suggestions?”

  I look at Tony and nod. “Give her some ideas.”

  “How does aged rum, ginger, and vanilla sound to you?” he asks her.

  She smiles at him. “Very good.”

  “Then I’ll bring you a drink called, Midnight Oil.” When she nods, he leaves us and goes back to his seat, just as the pilot comes over the speaker to let us know we’re taking off.

  “It’s a pleasure to be working with you, Miss Flynn. I’m looking forward to it.”

  She nods and smiles, shyly. “I look forward to working with you too, Mr. Crawford.”

  We put on our seatbelts as we’ve been instructed to do and I find myself thinking about her and I, leaving on the first mission to Mars and how I wish she’d consider it. But I hold my tongue. I’m determined to treat her with respect and let her see how that feels. I know she’ll like it.

  She seems calm as we start to taxi down the runway, so I ask her, “Are you okay with flying?”

  “I am. Damien and I fly a lot.”

  “Of course,” I say, forgetting about that.

  With her looking the way she does, professional and part of my team, I seem to be forgetting that she’s with the man. And I’m kind of glad to see that happening.

  I want to reach out and hold her hand but I push that urge down and close my eyes, doing what I do many times when we’re taking off, pretending it’s a rocket ship. Once we level off, I open my eyes and see her looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

  “You like to think about going to Mars more than you like to think about anything else,” she says.

  I nod. “That’s true.”

  “And anything anyone can do to help you see that dream come true makes you pretty happy,” she says as she smiles at me.

  “Very happy, Mis
s Flynn. Having you with your exquisite brain on my team is a Godsend.”

  Pink fills her cheeks and she looks away. “I hope I don’t disappoint you.”

  “You won’t.” I reach over and pat the back of her hand. “I know you won’t.”

  A flash of anger moves through her eyes as she looks at me and whispers, “Is that because you have me over a barrel?”

  I’m surprised by her actions and words and shake my head as I whisper back, “I don’t have you over anything. I asked you to join us in this endeavor because I need your expertise and I thought you’d like to be a part of something. Especially since it’s your family farm that will be included in this. If you thought I meant to use what I know if you didn’t accept my offer, you’re mistaken. I used that threat only to get to talk to you. I won’t be using it anymore.”

  Her eyes go soft and she whispers, “I’m sorry I said that then. I had the wrong idea.”

  “Most likely because it was planted there,” I say as I think about Damien and his influence over the poor woman. “I want you to know, I believe in you. That’s why I asked you to come work with us.”

  She nods and looks down at her hands then smooths out her skirt and bites her lower lip. I know she wants to say more but she’s stopping herself. This isn’t the time or place to get into any of our personal business and she knows that.

  Tony starts serving drinks and conversations start to pop up as everyone begins to loosen up and move around a bit. The young woman, sitting in front of me, turns to look at Gia. “Mr. Crawford told us about what you invented. I think that’s fantastic. I too am into the food sciences. Hence, my presence on this team. He also said it’s your family’s farm we’re going to be using. Do you, by chance, know what the soil samples have in them?”

  Gia lights up as she begins to tell the other scientist about what kinds of things her father has used to increase nutrients in the soil that’s gone unused for three years. I sit back and enjoy how animated and excited she is about this and I know I did the right thing by using that threat when I did.

  It may seem unethical but I don’t give a crap!

  GIA

  Sipping on some coffee after eating Mom’s homemade apple pie for desert, I find myself feeling more than I’ve felt in what seems like, forever. Sandra, Tabitha, and I have formed a special team, within the team, to research everything we can about corn and its use as a fuel.

  Dad is talking to Ryker and some of the other men about the machines he uses to do what he does with the soil and the crops. While my mother and sisters take care of cleaning up after dinner. I offered to help but was quickly told by Ryker that I was here on his team and he expected me to work with his other scientists on this visit.

  To the side, he told me he’d bring me back anytime I wanted, to make a normal visit with my family. I love that he did that. I’m a viable asset to the mission, is what he told me. It made me feel pretty damn special and I haven’t felt that way in a very long time.

  “What if we infused nitrates into the seeds?” Tabitha asks as she writes things down on a tablet in front of her.

  “It could be done,” I say as I lean forward and tap into my tablet and bring up a site that shows every part of the seed there is and just how others have engineered them before. “I think I can get us some time at the local co-op. I worked there one summer when I was in high school. The old men there have more knowledge than we’ll ever get out of the internet.”

  The girls hold up their hands for high-fives and I give them what they’re looking for. Our attention goes to Ryker as he stands up and announces, “Bedtime, troops. We’ll get at it again at first light.”

  Murmuring is all I hear as everyone gets up and heads to the bedrooms my mother doled out to us all. I got my old room, of course. Before I head out, I go to find myself a bottle of water to take up to my room and find Mom in the kitchen.

  “Hey, Mom,” I say as I come in. “Thanks for doing all of this.”

  She nods then I see her gesture behind me and find Ryker is there, which I didn’t know. “Apollo Engineering is paying us well to host this conference. No thanks are necessary.”

  “You are?” I ask Ryker as he moves past me to get a bottle of water himself.

  He reaches into the fridge and pulls two of them out, handing me one. “Apollo is,” he corrects me. “This is business, Miss Flynn.”

  Mom laughs at him calling me that and she shakes her head as she leaves us alone in the kitchen. “Goodnight guys. I’m headed to bed.”

  We both say our goodnights to her and I open my water and find Ryker looking at me as he takes a drink of his. “I think I like you calling me that,” I tell him as I turn to head up to bed.

  “Good,” he says as he follows me. “You liked today, didn’t you?”

  “I have to admit that I did. I liked it very much. I never said I didn’t like to work or use my head, Ryker.”

  “You just didn’t do it,” he says as he moves up the stairs one step behind me. “I’d like to make sure you know that you have a place at my company, Gia. If, for some reason, you decided not to go back to Russia, I could advance you your first month’s salary. Our human resources department could help you find an apartment, there are several really nice complexes that give our workers discounts on the rent. And you would be issued a company car, as a traveling consultant.”

  “That’s a lot to think about. But I will think about it, Ryker,” I tell him as I stop at my bedroom door. “This is me.”

  He smiles as he looks at my old bedroom door. “Did they leave it just how it was?”

  I nod. “Would you care to see how teen me lived?”

  “Would I?” he chuckles as I push the door open, revealing lavender walls with pink accents.

  “Don’t touch my collection of my little ponies, Ryker, they’re priceless to me,” I tell him as I laugh and we walk into my old bedroom.

  “There’s a lot of fluffy pink material on that bed, Gia. One could get lost in there,” he says then goes to sit on the bed and looks surprised when he is enveloped in the goose feather mattress. “Whoa! You really could get lost in here.”

  “The winter nights can get cold,” I explain about the mattress. “That helps you stay warm. And in the warmer months, it does the opposite, making the bed cooler.” I watch him as he tries to escape the thing and reach out to help him out of it. “One rolls out of this kind of bed.”

  Once I have him up, we stand toe to toe and I find myself wanting to kiss him, so I back up and walk to where the suitcase is. “Are there even pajamas in here?” I ask him to help me think about other things.

  “There are. Apollo PJ’s.” He comes up behind me as I find the top and pull it out.

  “Rust colored again and little planets all over it. Sweet,” I say as I hold it up to me. “And it’ll fit too.”

  “Just like everything else. We run a pretty tight ship. How do you like everyone?” he asks me and I find a grin taking over my mouth.

  “I really like everyone. I’m going to miss them when I have to leave.” I toss the top on my old dresser and find the bottoms that are black. “Why black?”

  “To represent space,” he says as he takes them out of my hands and places them on the dresser too, then I freeze as he pulls me into his arms. “Gia, I want nothing more than to treat you like I do everyone else but I’m finding that impossible, now that we’re all alone.”

  My heart pumps and bumps and sputters as he holds me close then rests his forehead on mine. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”

  “It was,” he says then lets me out of his arms. “I shouldn’t have come in here. I wouldn’t do that with any of the others. Goodnight, Miss Flynn. I will see you bright and early. Put on your sleeping cap and in the morning trade it out for your thinking cap. We have much work to accomplish.”

  I wave as he leaves me. “Night, Mr. Crawford.” He smiles at me just before he closes the door behind him and I find my body aching for him while my mind is forming a new
kind of respect for the man.

  As I strip out of my Apollo uniform and put on my Apollo pajamas, I can’t stop humming with happiness. It’s fantastic to know Ryker still wants me. Even after our horrible fight and all we said to each other, he still likes me and the man respects me now. A thing I know he didn’t before.

  But then again, I’m not so sure I respected myself the way I should’ve. Climbing into my old bed, I feel at home. My eyes close without a problem and I find sleep is close by and I feel better, more secure, and happier than I have been. Since I made a life with Damien, that is.

  RYKER

  “I don’t know what any of you guys think but that damn rooster is an idiot and he’s mentally living in another time zone, it seems. He went off way before dawn,” I say as I sit down at the breakfast table.

  Gia laughs then says, “That kind of sound is what you will most likely wake up to in the mornings on Mars, you know.” She moves around behind me, placing a cup of piping hot coffee in front of me. Her breast barely grazes my shoulder as she does and it sends heat all through me.

  I want to grab her and pull her onto my lap and give her a good morning kiss but the uniform she has on reminds me of why she’s here and I give her a nod, instead. “Thanks for the coffee, Miss Flynn.”

  “You are welcome, sir. My mother said to tell you all the eggs are nearly done then breakfast will be served,” she takes the seat next to mine and I can smell her clean, fresh scent wafting into my nostrils and making me have a hard time thinking.

  “Miss Flynn, since you grew up here, do you know how to drive any of those big machines we saw in that barn out back?” one of the men asks her.

  She smiles and nods. “I can probably get my father to show you how to drive them if you guys want.”

  A couple of the younger guys nod enthusiastically and I look back to see Gia grinning like crazy. Again, I am reminded just how in her element she is with all of this.